POLICE
It seemed like the blame game began literally minutes after the assassin’s bullet ripped through former President Trump’s ear. Secret Service pointed at the local police, the media went through a score of scapegoats, and local leaders were forced to explain what happened to an information hungry world while the federal “powers that be” seemed lost and confused.
I think it’s wise to take a moment to glean some important lessons that are glaringly obvious as the facts continue to come out. It’s pretty apparent with our hindsight bias that all the threat signals were there within the noise of a massive gathering, and there is little doubt that the agents on the scene were capable of recognizing and reacting to the obvious potential threat…but didn’t. Why? Was their normalcy bias too strong so they rationalized a person walking around with a rangefinder as a normal or reasonable occurrence? Had the sheer volume and redundancy of huge gatherings in difficult to control settings become so routine that they essentially became de-trained?
Tragic events often occur when even well-trained folks do something over and over. It isn’t the rookie that has bad habits, takes shortcuts, or ignores danger signals. The average tenure of officers killed is around 12 years. Rookies still have the good old “pucker factor” to keep their skills at high alert, and many other professions use checklists and drills to keep their edges sharp and prevent tragedies. Even then, pilot error is the leading cause of aircraft accidents, approximately 250,000 patients die every year from health professionals’ mistakes, and on bodycam after bodycam we see officers injured or killed in what appear to be preventable tragedies.
Law enforcement should immediately embrace this powerful learning moment and emphasize the importance of training, supervision, and leadership. Sergeants and supervisors are the key feedback mechanism, the coaches on the field if you will, to stop bad habits from developing, make sure procedures are followed, and ensure training is reinforced. While routine de-trains us, feedback from others helps us counter that effect. One expert I read somewhere said that routine is invisible and relentless and must be constantly countered with training and supervision.
Bad habits, taking shortcuts, and normalcy bias are the phenomena of experience and redundancy. It kills, injures, and is a natural occurrence in human beings and our obligation as trainers, supervisors, and leaders is to resist it unrelentingly. Refreshing awareness of the risks is as important as refreshing our skills in high-stakes, high-liability professions. Doctors, soldiers, pilots, law enforcement and other professionals working in areas with the potential for loss of life and limb must retain their rituals, practices, protective instruments, and policies. Yet still events like those in that Pennsylvania fairground are going to occur to remind us of our humanity and our vulnerability, and we must ensure they prompt us to redouble our efforts to stay sharp.
Finally, a word about leadership. A true leader selfishly guards the honor and integrity of their organization. The damage done to the heroes of the Secret Service by its now former boss, was immense. She allowed rumors to swirl about, blamed others, and failed to respond to Congress with straightforward answers, and this left our nation stunned. Silence following a tragedy allows the media and the rumor mills to run rampant. Making excuses and dodging responsibility allows doubt about the honor and integrity of an organization to grow, and the men and women of the United States Secret Service deserve better.
I have met many Secret Service folks in my life and found them to always be topnotch. Allowing them to be dishonored in the manner they have been is terrible. Mistakes must be faced head on by leaders, and culpability accepted when it is appropriate. The media will always have a narrative, and leadership always needs to get whatever information they can out quickly to avoid the disaster of losing public confidence and creating a plethora of conspiracy theories that refuse to die. Deception hurts honor far more than mistakes, and a confessed error demonstrates that learning is happening and the organization will be better from now on.
Training, supervising, leading, learning, and growing are essential to keep your agency strong and healthy. From rookie to chief, every crime fighter in every agency must always combat the effects of routine, fatigue, budget cuts, and a hostile media to be the best they can be. I hope our country never forgets the heroes that protect her.
Dave Smith is an internationally recognized law enforcement trainer and is the creator of “JD Buck Savage.” You can follow Buck on Twitter at @thebucksavage
