Missed Opportunities: Could have Improved Morale

 Morale in a police department is a tricky thing.  Most of the time the budget is set a year and a half in advance and has little flexibility to add something incredible for the officers to enjoy, unless it costs nothing.  Morale builders that cost nothing are unicorns.  In my department, the Chief missed an excellent opportunity to improve morale and, in reality, decreased it.  My father-in-law (who has since passed) was the chief of two police departments in my area.  Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, on his own dime, he would buy each shift a meal, knowing that they were sacrificing their families and holidays to be patrolling the streets.  Most departments in our area do it or get with their fire department colleagues and share a meal.  It makes a bad situation, better.

The PD has never provided anything for Thanksgiving or Christmas in my department.  The Chief would give out small gift cards, and we would partner with the FD for special meals.  Somehow, with time, we no longer eat with the FD.  So this Christmas, the chief did not bring dessert, provide a meal, give a gift, give out cards, or anything.  He didn't even wish the sworn a Merry Christmas, either in person or through email...I mean...nothing.  So that, our course, was the talk of roll call for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day.   The consensus was that the chief cared little or not at all for the wellbeing of his patrolmen and patrolwomen.  That idea was brought home when it was discovered that he took our social workers and support staff to Christmas lunch.

Before I was promoted, I worked closely with the Chief, and if I had told him his employee's feelings, he would have been shocked because he believed himself to be the "Chief of the People."  A quirk of this chief is that his likes and dislikes he assumes are also everyone else's likes and dislikes.  He will even argue with you when you say you like something, anything he doesn't like, he will tell you no, you really don't like that.  He doesn't care if someone does something nice for him on a holiday or even wishes him a merry (holiday here), so he doesn't think to do anything for the officers away from their families.  It also doesn't occur to him because he is home for the holidays.

So, for the price of a few meals, there was the opportunity for a real morale builder, but instead, it was a morale killer and won't be addressed because the head of our organization would never even think about it.

Have a very merry Christmas

 

Training

 Sometimes the simplest things can do the most good.  Every police training that I have been subjected to in my 26 years (soon 27) in this profession has begun with going around the room telling everyone your name, years of service, position within the department and one thing that makes you unique.  Everyone hates it and it serves no purpose, it is supposed to be an ice breaker and loosen up the training environment, in reality it is just another exercise that you have to endure and get it over with to start the training day.

I recently had a training day (Activate-Critical Incident Tabletop Training for Police Leaders).  It was a little unique since two of the three instructors were military with only one the police.  When we went around the room the only things we had to do was tell the room our first name and the police department we worked with.  I know it sounds like a simple thing but it was significant in that we all appreciated we didn't have to have to practice our public speaking and creative skills (Got to come up with something interesting that does not make you lame but not so weird that everyone talks about what your said for the rest of your career), we just got on with the training.  Everyone universally appreciated it.

Just a simple thing that would make all training better.

  

Story One of the Safe-T Act

 

This fine young gentleman had a hammer in his backpack and walked down Golf Rd, breaking out the back windows of multiple cars.  He hit Schaumburg for 80 different cars, and what the article does not mention, he also hit our town for at least 60 more (business parking lots), that we know of; a lot of the owners didn't bother to report it since there will never be restitution made.  So this is where the current system succeeded.  He could not post bail and had to stay in lockup for the weekend until he could attend bond court.  He could have been charged with at least 140 Criminal Damages to Property-all felonies.  He is only 20 years old and has a serious criminal history.  When he was staying with us, he was unable to victimize anyone else, at least for the weekend.  He, of course, was immediately released without having to post bond on electronic monitoring, when he got to bond court.  So he is now free to go berserk once more.  He is also extremely mentally ill, but since he refused all offers of aid and did not say in any officer's presence that he was going to kill himself, no one could compel him into the hospital for mental evaluation (a discussion for another time).

Had this occurred after January 1, 2023, we could not have held on to him.  The second he was captured and processed, he would have to be released and given a notification to go to court.  The number of victims does not come into account, and worse yet, this would be considered a non-violent crime since it is CDP.  He then would have the ability to go take out another 80 cars, be arrested, bonded out, rinse and repeat over and over.  One of the falsehoods that supporters of this bill are saying is that we have the ability to contact the on-call emergency judge and get a writ and hold him over for a pre-trail hearing.  The problem in Cook County District 3, is good luck in getting a hold of that judge; in emergency situations in the past (homocide, kidnapping, and sexual assault), we have sent a car to his/her home to wake them up.  Are we going to do that for a property crime?  It is a non-violent crime, and the judge, knowing that at the pretrail hearing, he will be immediately released on electronic monitoring (will discuss the 24 grace period with that later).  Further, how long can we hold onto a prisoner, where he is eligible for release, to dig up a judge and get the paperwork completed to hold him?  I see a lawsuit right there, "officer, you could have released my client immediately after processing, but you determined he was a threat to the public, so you held him for two hours in order to contact a judge?"  What if the judge doesn't grant it?  Then I illegally detained him for an extra two hours?  There is literally no process in place to address this.  So what are the perimeters to get him held, 80 cars, 140 cars, 2000 cars?  How many victims are needed before his supposed injustice of not being able to post bond is overcome?

Here is a brief list (and certainly not complete) of some of the extreme crimes that they will be immediately released:

Aggravated Battery

Aggravated DUI

Aggravated Fleeing and Eluding

Arson

Burglary

Drug-Induced Homicide

Intimidation

Kidnapping

Robbery

2nd Degree Murder

Threatening a Public Official

Nearly All Drug Offenses

The question is still in place how many of these crimes must be committed in a row before we can take the risk of holding a prisoner that could normally immediately hit the street, how long do we have, and what the point if even we get that writ, he goes to bond and is immediately released on electronic monitoring.

Safe-T act is only about making it safer for offenders to make new victims.

Love the Police...Kiss a Cop...Wait Don't

There are two, among many, unique aspects of the law enforcement profession.  The first is that police officers over time slowly withdraw all their socialization from any non-law enforcement source.  What that really means is that they only hang out with cops, drink at cop bars, golf with cops, work massive amounts of overtime with cops.  They even withdraw from their familial relationships.

The second aspect is that we are solely judged by the one percent that are crazy, incredibly stupid or both.  Think if any profession was judged this way.   A brilliant New York neurosurgeon made to take ethics classes because an toxicologist in Omaha felt his patients up in the examination room.  But guess what, this happens to us all the time.  I can not tell you how many trainings I had to sit through because some moron did something I would never do, have never seen, and my co-workers would never do.  Oh and then when that person gets caught, a bunch of breathless articles come out trying to find this unreported epidemic.

Put paragraph one and paragraph two together.  Think you may get tired of friends, family, acquaintances asking you about an idiot (and without doing this purposely) making you defend yourself and your profession all the time.

So just to drive myself nuts I just googled searched "police" and here is the three in depth article list below. I evidently lie, hate one of the three peoples of the book, and arrest kids for not cleaning up.  I have never lied at the stand, there is no reason to do so because if you want to keep your house you only arrest people that are so guilty its a dead bang.  No one in my state or area has placed a young man/woman into custody for not cleaning up and great... an idiot department in Florida did  something stupid in training.  There are 900,000 law enforcement personnel on the streets of the United States, they serve 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, we don't stop for weather, we don't stop for disaster, we miss our children birthday parties and Christmas.  So with millions of civilian contacts a year, 99% positive or trust me we would get raked over the coals over it...what, not one positive story?

Strange then why cops only seems to love cops.

Matthew 7:2
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

In-depth articles
1. 

   Why Police Officers Lie Under Oath - NYTimes.com

   THOUSANDS of people plead guilty to crimes every year in the United States because they know that the odds of a jury's believing their word over a police officer's are slim to ...

   New York Times
2. 

   The US schools with their own police - The Guardian

   More and more US schools have police patrolling the corridors. Pupils are being arrested for throwing paper planes and failing to pick up crumbs from the canteen floor.

   Guardian
3. 

   How We Train Our Cops to Fear Islam - Meg Stalcup ...

   There aren't nearly enough counterterrorism experts to instruct all of America's police. ... n a bright January morning in 2010, at Broward College in Davie, Florida, about sixty police officers ...

   washingtonmonthly.com

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

Rest

On a much needed vacation into the great southwest.  Throughout the Bible there is a theme of hard work followed by rest.  Started in creation with The Lord creating for six days and resting on the seventh and placed as a mandatory work week for the Israelites.  You then factor in all the time off they took for festivals, holidays and the like and you get a number of rest days throughout the year.

Police Officers tend to come in two flavors when it comes to the idea of work and rest.  The first is always at work.  The 80 hr a week guy.  The someday the spouse is going to make the calculation that he/she can have all your money and none of your time or half of your money and all of someone else's time.

The second is the vacation bank at zero guy.  The 35 hr a week guy.  The counting days till he/she can burn a sick/return/vacation/holiday guy.  The why did you ever pick this job because you hate it so much guy.  The selling real estate off his/her cell phone in the squad guy.

I have been both of those guys throughout my career and I have to say both have significant downsides.  The blend of rest and work is always the best way to go.  Strange how that Bible thing keeps saying to do what is best for all of us.


Genesis 2:2

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.

Geese Really? Didn't occur to you that it may go bad?

If you have read this blog for any length of time I am almost always a Police apologist and supporter, primarily because I am one and secondly, the information used to criticize  an Officer's conduct is usually either wrong or demonstrates a gross lack of understanding of our profession.

However the following story is an exception to my stance.  While this Sergeant is 1) stupid 2) a disgrace 3) morally bankrupt 4) should be locked away for at least 20 years...it is..... 5) really funny.


Charges: Cop using squad car to deliver pot

February 2, 2010

By MATT HANLEY mhanley@stmedianetwork.com

An Earlville police sergeant who lives in North Aurora is facing multiple felony charges after he allegedly made a marijuana delivery while on duty.

Sgt. Sergio Fuentes, 41, was charged with felonies possession of a controlled substance and official misconduct, according to the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Narcotics Team.

On Friday, Fuentes delivered marijuana to a person who was working with the narcotics team, police said. Fuentes was on duty at the time of the alleged delivery and drove his Earlville squad car to the delivery.

Fuentes was arrested a short time later at the Earlville police station.

After the arrest, officers found more marijuana in Fuentes' personal car, then recovered another illegal drug -- Clonazepam, a muscle relaxer -- during a search of his squad car, police said.

According to the Earlville Mayor Mike Hall, Fuentes has been suspended without pay. At the advice of the city's attorneys, Fuentes' medical benefits remain in place for the time being, Hall said.

Hall said Fuentes had been with the department several years and was generally thought to be doing a good job. He hurt his knee on the job and had been out on workman's compensation, returning a few months ago.

"As a city, obviously we're very disappointed," Hall said Monday. "We're shocked. The state's attorney and those people are handing this. We'll obviously cooperate in any way we can."

Official misconduct carries a possible sentence of up to five years. If convicted of possession of marijuana, Fuentes could be sentenced to up to three years.

The Tri-County Drug Enforcement Narcotics Team consists of police departments from LaSalle, Bureau and Putnam counties.

Psalm 14:1

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

Its been busy

I try to get at least one post a week and hopefully find time for two, but this week would not allow this. The week consisted of getting up in the early morning and coming back in the early morning so I was a little long in getting a post up. In the next day or two I will do a regular post but until then enjoy this.


Ex-con allegedly targets cops for robberyNew York | July 23, 2007 12:01:13 AM IST

An ex-con allegedly tried to rob two people in New York, police said, but didn't notice his intended victims were police officers -- in uniform.

Police said 33-year-old Jermaine Washington allegedly was so intent on robbing someone Saturday that he pulled a fake handgun on the two armed police officers as they walked through Riverside Park, The New York Daily News said Sunday.

It was stupid criminal tricks, a police source said. The guy didn't even look to see who was coming.

After Washington allegedly pulled his fake gun, the two officers drew their real weapons and Washington surrendered after a short but tense standoff.


Job Security is a great thing in these tough economic times.



Proverbs 14:7
Stay away from a foolish man, for you will not find knowledge on his lips.