Tag: Best Practices: Page 4

Training

Developing a Warrior Mindset

A mindset is developed when you employ a fixed mental attitude that predetermines your response to a given situation. For example, your attitudes toward something help develop your response or approach. Your mindset becomes your approach.

May 23, 2012

Training

Performance Evaluations

Supervisors and officers tend to dislike dealing with performance evaluations (PEs) as much as they dislike internal affairs investigations and termination proceedings. Supervisors hate writing evaluations and officers hate reading them. But they persist anyway.

April 21, 2012

Training

Teamwork Minus the B.S.

We live in an age of political correctness where saying the right things seems to have more value than doing the right things. People use catch phrases to draw attention to themselves and make them seem wise and caring.

March 19, 2012

Patrol

Handling DUI Stops

There is a tendency to shy away from DUIs unless you are part of a specialty unit that deals with them all the time. But I think we can reverse this trend through understanding and training.

February 16, 2012

Patrol

Operations Plans

The saying "It's not over 'til the fat lady sings" is incorrect. It's not over until the paperwork is done. That includes a report after the fact, as well as an operations plan beforehand.

January 17, 2012

Patrol

Getting the Most Out of K-9 Units

K-9 teams are considered force multipliers. One K-9 team can do the work of many officers, which frees up officers for other duties. A K-9 team is an effective tool if its use is understood by those that call on them to support their operations.

December 18, 2011

Patrol

Leading by Example

What most agencies do well is produce managers; it helps with short-term goals but exasperates long-term ones. Please don't tell me you are part of that innocuous group of lost souls that think managing and leading are the same thing, because they're not.

November 17, 2011

Patrol

Working with Tactical Flight Officers

Although many agencies are trying cost-cutting alternatives, it's been my experience as a field supervisor that there is no substitute for a helicopter in the air with a well-trained flight crew. Effective coordination between ground and air units is imperative.

September 30, 2011

Patrol

The Art of Memo Writing

There is an ebb and flow to writing memos. The goal of any memo is either to bring attention to a problem by providing information, or to solve a problem by defining what action should be taken.

September 21, 2011

Training

Communication Breakdowns

Within your first year, however, your experiences tell you that things are not exactly like what your academy instructors said they would be. During your first few days at your agency, you hear words like family to describe your new workplace. And yet somehow, the word dysfunctional is omitted.

August 23, 2011

Technology

The Threat of Technology

Officer safety remains a paramount concern even if some choose to ignore it. We are losing our basic skills by relying too much on modern toys to do our jobs for us. In today's world, one of the biggest unrecognized threats to officer safety and survival is technology.

July 10, 2011

Patrol

Setting Interpersonal Boundaries

Some days it seems there's always some schmuck hell-bent on ruining my day. There have been times when I was really good at not letting the person get to me, and then there were other times when I wasn't and just added to the drama. In reality it is my reaction to the situation that has either helped or made it worse.

June 26, 2011