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Knowledge is power: Knowing is weakness
by Dr. Joel F. Shults
Chief, Adams State College Police Department
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When I was a young FTO – my career predates the 25 yrs of Street Survival© - I worked with new officers, reserve officers, civilian ride-alongs, and college interns. I enjoyed their curiosity and questions. Teaching was fun enough that I eventually became a police academy instructor and then a college professor. One of the most annoying trainees I had was an officer who became one of my good friends and a great partner, but he was a tough one to train. No matter what I had to share with him, his response was almost always the same: “I know”.
“I already knew that” doesn’t have to be articulated verbally. A roll of the eyes, a disgusted sigh, a hurt look, or a hurried nod will suffice. Any parent who has told their teenager to drive carefully and buckle up has heard the disgusted reply with the implied meaning “why do you think I’m so stupid?” Unfortunately we see this decidedly non-humble response in both rookies and veterans. We want to be respected for our knowledge and tend to be a little hurt if we believe that somebody assumes we know too little.
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was maligned for his confusing analysis of military intelligence when he said “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know." Although it’s a mouthful Rumsfeld was right on target. Sometimes we think we know when, in reality, we don’t know what we don’t know and mistake that for knowing!
Watching the videos at the Street Survival Seminar© in Colorado Springs recently reminded me how deadly “I know” can be. A careful observer can see the sequence. Officers get such a relief from the tension surrounding the unknown that when facts do become known a relaxation takes place. Why is this dude running? Aah! He has a warrant, now we settle into the warrant arrest routine. Why is this woman fidgeting so much? Aha I found the drugs, now settle into the drug arrest routine. Aha! He complied with my orders, I’ll settle into the compliant contact routine. In our self congratulatory posture, relieved that our training and experienced eye has won over the bad guy’s cunning, we subconsciously retreat from the edge of our caution zones. Peirce Brooks called this “relaxing too soon” in his seminal work on officer safety.
It’s always interesting to hear the audience of police officers watching the videos of officers’ deadly encounters. You can hear the groans when we all see what the officer on the screen seems not to perceive. We all want to scream “Watch that guy! Call for help! Take cover!” when we see the officer too relaxed too soon to avoid being the next name etched into memorial stones. The unspoken comments echoing in our heads, at least mine, include “Oh man, I’ve done that. That could have been me.”
A disciplined officer must always ask one more question, take one more precaution, observe one more second (unless, of course, it’s time to attack or pull the trigger), never being satisfied that he or she completely understands everything about the situation they are in. A step beyond listening to our intuition and articulating why we’re getting that “something’s not right” feeling is Calibre’s one plus rule: if you find one weapon, look for another; if you find one suspect, look for another. The cue that you are relaxing too soon is your own sense of contentment, your own sense of “Aha, now I know…” As Verbal Judo master Professor George Thompson says, “If it feels good, it’s no good.”
Ask yourself if you feel so good about your survival skills that you don’t need to attend another Street Survival Seminar©. Ask yourself if you resist going to that next training block because you already know that stuff inside and out. Ask yourself if you are so good on traffic stops that you can never be taken by surprise. Ask yourself if your knowledge includes knowing that you do not know. If the answer to the last question is “yes”, then you are the kind of lifetime learner who knows that the apprenticeship never ends.
About the author:
Joel Shults was appointed Chief of the Adams State College Police Department in Colorado in June of 2007. Shults completed his Doctorate in Educational Leadership while Associate Professor of Administration of Justice at Hannibal-LaGrange College in Hannibal, MO with a research emphasis on training and community policing. He has also served as Chief of Police for Walsenburg, CO, as a reserve officer and as a law enforcement chaplain. He currently serves as a Subject Matter Expert for the Colorado POST board curriculum committee. He can be reached at: jshults@adams.edu.
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| Seminar Location |
Dates |
Seminar Info. |
Street Survival
Seminar
Springfield, IL |
June 19-20, 2008 |
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Street Survival
Seminar
Ft. Lauderdale, FL |
August 19-20, 2008 |
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Street Survival
Seminar
Boise, ID |
September 4-5, 2008 |
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Street Survival
Seminar
Hartford/Windsor, CT |
September 4-5, 2008 |
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Street Survival
Seminar
Anaheim, CA |
September 11-12, 2008 |
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Street Survival
Seminar
Virginia Beach, VA |
September 15-16, 2008 |
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Street Survival
Seminar
Harrisburg, PA |
September 23-24, 2008 |
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Street Survival
Seminar
Fort Worth, TX |
October 7-8, 2008 |
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Street Survival
Seminar
Honolulu, HI
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October 16-17, 2008 |
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Street Survival
Seminar
Columbus, OH |
October 28-29, 2008 |
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