Are you a true professional?

Take a moment to do an honest gut check evaluation of yourself. Look hard and critically inside yourself and answer to yourself truthfully. Do you practice perishable skills such as firearms and tactics that you may use or be called to use every shift on patrol? Can you safely handcuff a combative suspect? Can you retain your firearm? Can you engage and neutralize a threat in close proximity, initially using striking/blocking techniques until you can acquire a higher level of force if required? Do you request training or do you make excuses, require overtime pay, etc. to better your skills? More importantly, do you practice and pass on training that you have received? Do you go to a class to "get the hours"...hoping an instructor will sign off on you just because you attended?

Here is an analogy I use when I conduct firearms qualifications. Understand that "qualification" is to a standard which is pretty basic and merely allows an officer to carry a firearm. I am more interested in knowing that an officer can actually fight with that firearm and win. That is where actual training comes in. There is a difference between training and qualification, qualification being the test of skills learned, while training is learning the skills. The analogy is this: I'll give you 50 nails to hammer into a board. You get most of them hammered in straight in the right place. Good job. Now, do you really think I'm going to hire you to build my new house? Get it? Skilled carpentry requires more than hammering nails. Winning gunfights requires more than punching 50 holes in a static target. Are you qualified or trained?

When I teach a lecture class on one of the "customer service" topics becoming so popular in our field, I require the same amount of learning and demonstration of material learned of the students. I get a lot of "deer in the headlights" looks when I make this clear at the beginning of the class. Most make it, but nobody gets signed off on if they don't make the grade. Anything less I would consider a dereliction of duty. Come to learn, I came to teach. If you find yourself in a class with less stringent requirements, get your money back, leave, and find some valid training. You owe that to yourself and the citizens you swore to protect and serve. Does that sound hard-nose? Sorry(not really) if I hurt your feelings, but you may be my backup and I would expect you to be squared away. Can you apply what you have learned in a class or training session in the field?

Are you switched on, confident in your skills and knowledge, hungry for more? Or do you coast along drawing a check? Do you maintain a high level of physical fitness? Can you write a good report quickly that conveys all the facts?

Our profession requires many skills. Many of these must be maintained. So, I ask again...are you a true professional?