What motivates you in Law Enforcement?
Written by Sgt. Robert Tornabene
In over the period of nineteen months I authored a newsletter for our patrol officers and supervisors as a training tool. My goal was to spark some thought, develop some personnel and inspire others about our commitment to the vocation of law enforcement. But as I began gathering information for an edition of the newsletter, which is titled "Beyond the Stop", it became apparent that my motivations for providing this newsletter were irrelevant to the officers.
For those officers in my department who have seen the roll call videos on officer safety, particularly the Sean Hannity video about the increase in attacks on officers. In particular those attacks at the later half of last year and into the beginning of 2010, you know how serious I take each and everyone’s safety here. My goal, each shift is to send my officer home safely to their family and loved ones, as should every supervisors.
Yet with difficult times facing all of us, either financially, personally or the recent issues facing the department asa whole professionally we all have a responsibilities. When I began to write this newsletter it was a really dreary day, wet,rainy and cold. Not exactly the type of weather that makes a person feel happy or want to be outside in it, I recall a comment that one of your asked me, how do you stay motivated. I don't need to reference who the officer was, just simply that the question was asked. My answer was not a simple one. But I will try to paraphrase it for simplicity sake. Everyone get’sfrustrated at times, difficulty is part of life and yet I must continue. My father surprised me one day with some simple philosophy.
I was having a discussion with my father and talking about the cold and crappy weather we have been experiencing. My father related a fact about the month of March that had an entirely different spin on it for me. He said, “March has the largest number of temperature swings in it than any other month.” When I heard that I paused and realized, “Wow, from my dad that is an almost philosophical statement.” My dad is not much of a deep thinker, but in my dad’s own way he was telling me that it will get better. We know it will be warmer, soon, with rain, comes cleaner roads, greener grass and eventually warmer and sunny weather.
Back to the question that one of my officer's posed, I turn to a comment that I have sitting on my desk near my kids picture, it is by Albert Einstein. “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” Since the day I read that line it has been a center piece to keep me looking forward. In times when we are all faced with tough financial times, family stresses, personal health issues or professional angst we need to look towards living our values in our lives.
In today’s very competitive world, whether it in the private sector or public sector how can I succeed where there are so many factors influencing my success that I can not control. What do I mean when I talk about values, most of us think moralistic values—trust, integrity, accountability. But we have moved away from pragmatic values—customer service, innovation, performance. But values no matter which ones you pick are meaningless if you do not live up to them.
In over the period of nineteen months I authored a newsletter for our patrol officers and supervisors as a training tool. My goal was to spark some thought, develop some personnel and inspire others about our commitment to the vocation of law enforcement. But as I began gathering information for an edition of the newsletter, which is titled "Beyond the Stop", it became apparent that my motivations for providing this newsletter were irrelevant to the officers.
For those officers in my department who have seen the roll call videos on officer safety, particularly the Sean Hannity video about the increase in attacks on officers. In particular those attacks at the later half of last year and into the beginning of 2010, you know how serious I take each and everyone’s safety here. My goal, each shift is to send my officer home safely to their family and loved ones, as should every supervisors.
Yet with difficult times facing all of us, either financially, personally or the recent issues facing the department asa whole professionally we all have a responsibilities. When I began to write this newsletter it was a really dreary day, wet,rainy and cold. Not exactly the type of weather that makes a person feel happy or want to be outside in it, I recall a comment that one of your asked me, how do you stay motivated. I don't need to reference who the officer was, just simply that the question was asked. My answer was not a simple one. But I will try to paraphrase it for simplicity sake. Everyone get’sfrustrated at times, difficulty is part of life and yet I must continue. My father surprised me one day with some simple philosophy.
I was having a discussion with my father and talking about the cold and crappy weather we have been experiencing. My father related a fact about the month of March that had an entirely different spin on it for me. He said, “March has the largest number of temperature swings in it than any other month.” When I heard that I paused and realized, “Wow, from my dad that is an almost philosophical statement.” My dad is not much of a deep thinker, but in my dad’s own way he was telling me that it will get better. We know it will be warmer, soon, with rain, comes cleaner roads, greener grass and eventually warmer and sunny weather.
Back to the question that one of my officer's posed, I turn to a comment that I have sitting on my desk near my kids picture, it is by Albert Einstein. “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” Since the day I read that line it has been a center piece to keep me looking forward. In times when we are all faced with tough financial times, family stresses, personal health issues or professional angst we need to look towards living our values in our lives.
In today’s very competitive world, whether it in the private sector or public sector how can I succeed where there are so many factors influencing my success that I can not control. What do I mean when I talk about values, most of us think moralistic values—trust, integrity, accountability. But we have moved away from pragmatic values—customer service, innovation, performance. But values no matter which ones you pick are meaningless if you do not live up to them.In the digitally connected hyper paced world we live in, what we say we stand for or what we say we do are without value if we do not set ourselves apart in how we do our profession. How we communicate, how we interact and how we treat others is what will set you apart from others. Being a Police Officer is a profession. Each and everyone of us chose this profession for one reason or another. One factor is for sure that becoming rich off of this profession was not a motivator. Why you chose this profession is a personal issue for you, but some of the common reasons include, “enjoy helping others.”, “making a difference”, “you wanted to serve” etc. The great thing about this profession and it is a profession is why you chose it does not matter, but rather because you chose it that makes you special, in comparison to others in society.
Setting yourself apart is a key value in your own psyche whether you believe so or not. However, continuing to be that person you were when you chose this profession is an entirely different thing. For those of you who have tested from other departments, you know the stress there is in having to take another psychological examination. Many candidates who are already law enforcement officer’s at another agency do not typically pass another psychological test, particularly after being on the job for an extended period of time. Why? Because your personality changes, you become jaded and influenced by the experiences you have, the tragedy, disappointments and outrage that you experience in your day to day interactions. As a result, you have been forever, irrevocably changed.
Still not sure, think of this! What are your answers to the following questions? When you go out to a restaurant, who sits with the back to the door? You or your spouse? How often do you catch yourself sizing up people when you encounter them, looking for weapons, signs of recognition, or threatening behavior? Do you find yourself hanging out with only law enforcement type people as friends? These are just some of the indicators to say that you have changed. It is not to say it is because there is something wrong with you. Simply that you are a different person, flavored by changes that were influenced by the type of profession that you are in.
We again experienced another line of duty death on November 26, 2010 in Chicago Police Officer Michael Flisk. Ofc. Flisk was a evidence technician processing a crime scene from burglary when he and a retired Housing Authority Officer (the burglary victim) were shot and killed. This is the fifth officer killed in the line of duty in just six months. But to recall another officer who died this year Chicago Police Sergeant Haymaker. Here is a man, who had strong religious beliefs, strong family ties and strong community roots. I wanted to relate a story about Sgt. Haymaker as it was related by a Commander from the Chicago Police Department. Sgt. Haymaker was a supervisor on a call of a infant, new born located in a pile of trash, possibly an abandoned baby. Sgt. Haymaker, located a blanket for the now obviously dead baby and wrapped the baby in the blanket and transported the baby in his arms to the hospital. When the mother or family could not be located, Sgt. Haymaker through his church paid for and handled all the arrangements of the wake, funeral and burial of the baby. His compassion and reverence for life was extraordinary. Sgt. Haymaker didn’t have to do anything at all, but his humanity and his strong moral convictions brought Sgt. Haymaker to a high level of involvement! Sgt. Haymaker was truly putting a high value on his definition of service, the service to the infant’s soul.
It is extremely easy to be positive and motivated when times are good, but when it seems that everything in life is not going well keeping that positive attitude is tough. Sometimes we need simple reminders, like the example my father gave me about the weather in March. At other times, it takes effort on your part to try and make the best of the situation at hand. Have you ever heard of “misery loves company?”. How true it is, when you are in bad situations and tough times, avoid being around those people who are simply going to “moan” and “groan” about what aches them. Negativity fuels the fire within everyone.
When we are down or caught off guard it spreads like a virus. Imagery! When we were all in Field Training we all utilized imagery in going through our tasks, visualizing the activity. Such as how we are going to respond to a dangerous confrontation. Using your mind to help you over come those things that truly may not
matter can improve your outlook on life. For those who have been in sports or read about professional athletes, in order to overcome plateaus in your career or game you have to visualize the task and focus your mind and body on overcoming that obstacle. You can do the same thing with your law enforcement career as well.
Lists. Make a list of things you enjoy doing. This list is a personal listing of everything in your life that actually makes you feel good. For example, smiles on your children’s faces, mom’s homemade cooking, the time you made that really outstanding arrest. Go through your list and pick something off of the list that brings a smile to your face or makes you feel good about yourself. Then do it.
When you look good your feel good. It is extremely important for you to always look as good as you can. One of the most important aspects of dealing with poor morale and self image in the military is to maintain a clean and healthy appearance. It is important to remain clean shaven, showered, hair groomed and styled, fingernails: cut, clipped or painted. Attention to your personal appearance helps you deal with difficult times.
Fitness! Physical fitness or activity is paramount to maintaining a strong healthy attitude. Exercise helps to dispel nervous energy, relax muscles and release valuable endorphins into the body which improves the mood. In addition, physical fitness or activity releases tension, reduces the risk to high blood pressure and heart attack. Get out and get active!
Be part of the solution, not part of the problem. If you have suggestions about improvements, special skills or knowledge that can improve your working environment then speak up. Make suggestions, offer to become involved in a particular aspect of what you are interested in. This not only makes you feel good about yourself in helping others, but it makes your job on day to day capacity much more interesting.
Those who see the end are immovable. They always have a light in the darkness. Sometimes the only difference between the incredible success and the failure is the ability to endure. Many times we have the right idea, the right plan and the right opportunity. But if we do not see it through, all the way to the end, we never know! We are left in that vague tormenting uncertainty, was the problem me or the problem the plan. We must always be ready to walk away from a bad plan. We need to know when it is time to quit. A bad
plan will never work regardless of how long we work hard at it. A person of character does not equate a bad plan with being a bad leader. Great leaders know when to walk away.
Do whatever it takes to keep your goal alive in your heart. The mark of a winner is not that he never falls or fails. He or she just keeps getting up. Maybe all you can do today is show up. But that’s better than any other option. The person who keeps showing up eventually shows up at the right place at the right time.
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