All a game of chess

Most of you have heard that sending criminals to prison is sometimes like sending them to college. Not the good traditional learn to be an upstanding member of society college, but the kind where they learn tricks of the criminal trade.

Some of those tricks are how to deal with or manipulate or even disarm the police. If you are a law enfocement officer and you're reading this then you can probably recall a time when your suspect(s) were moving in casual ways that put you at a disadvantage. Even if nothing happened they positioned themselves to have either the upper hand or at least a better chance at being the victor should things turn ugly.

Take a few moments to look back and reassess some of the many situations you have been in. How many of those did you allow the suspect to have the advantage because you:

- Didn't want to offend them?
- Were worried about how you would be percieved by the public?
- Were somewhat afraid (lets just be intellectually honest with ourselves - you don't have to tell anyone)
- Were just plain complacent that nothing was going to happen?
- Were out numbered and too ashamed to call for backup?

Lets face it. All of us at one time or another have allowed ourselves to be in bad situations that perhaps we didn't have the control that we would or should've had.

This post isn't about trying to make you feel bad or inadequet. It's about making you aware. With awareness there can be adjustment. Fix the problem by learning from your previous mistakes.

You don't have to be a jackass to the public in order to show that you are in control of a situation. It's actually very easy to behave in a matter of fact way the gives them the feeling of he's just doing his job.

Behave in a manner that shows confidence in your abilities, awareness of your environment, knowledge of your job. Doing this will go a long way to gaining the respect and cooperation of the people you are dealing with.

I don't remember the percentages but of the officers murdered, the killers most often said the picked them because of how they presented themselves. Because they didn't look like they could defend themselves or that they were sloppy in appearance and manner.

So go forth yon officers and be confident, strong and resilient. But most of all be safe.

518/901