The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | May 2017
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So , how does West Point do it ? How do they prevent their officers becoming cynical , and their strings pulled by negative behaviors like some departments in law enforcement ?
West Point achieves this ambition through full immersion , 24 / 7 in the culture , in role models , high standards , quickly addressing gaps through accountability , obligation , and inspiration ( it is an honourable profession ), and development ( not simply attention ). Everyone at West Point has the same mission to achieve . These are their strings .
To be a leader of character , this is what law enforcement leaders need to aim for , guided by a high level of emotional intelligence ( another factor highlighted in good employee engagement ); the ability to understand oneself , one ’ s team , and those around you ( that ’ s those 3 dogs again – the street , the department and the family !), together with the ability to self-manage , i . e . do not let those 3 dogs and 5 strings pull you away from your mission and vision , otherwise you will be nothing more than a puppet .
Emotional intelligence is also very hard to put your finger on . Yet the FBI speaker told us that one of the hallmarks of an effective leader is the ability to deal with ambiguity ; after all our daily tasks are full of it . Another hallmark is the leader ’ s ability to be optimistic , even in the face of failure . Look again ; it says ‘ optimistic ’ here , NOT pessimistic . This is a mind change . Being negative or pessimistic makes you unapproachable , and one of the recommendations from the Joint Congressional Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor attack ( July 20 th 1946 ) which incidentally highlighted supervisory , administrative and organisational deficiencies in our military and naval establishments , talks about the fact that ‘ unapproachable or superior attitude of officials …. is fatal .’
The final presentation of Day Two concerned a topic that would seriously affect officers with children and young family more than most , but it was still alarming for others . Sextortion . Clearly articulated , this presentation outlined all the sneaky and underhand ways paedophiles manage to access our children . Yet again , another subject that quickly adds to the pressure on officers in terms of control and trust . This has a knock on effect to their families , and striking the right balance is not easy , as knowing this information pushes us further towards wanting to protect our children and the community . But reminded by Chief Williams ’ observations , we need to put this into perspective within our homes . Restraint and trust should be the order of the day , whilst informing your kids , alerting but not alarming them , or worse , controlling them by showing a lack of trust that your kids are capable of making the right choice and will indeed make the right choice . Remember , emotional intelligence is all about managing your emotions , all the time , when dealing with all three areas , on the street , in the department and at home . Do not use it exclusively at the expense of your home life .
On Day Three , Gordon Graham returned to the auditorium where the draw of his delivery style on the ubiquitous subject of Risk Management and ethical decision making tripled the number of law enforcement officers present . He has been a loyal friend and servant to the NJSACOP and I for one have listened to him on a number of occasions now , so I have no intention of going into any depth about his presentation . What I would say though is that he has studied tragedy for so long , looking for causes , that there is no greater person for us to listen to , as long as we take heed and start looking at risk management and pre-incident prevention through his eyes . After all , if you can identify cause , you can control it ( there ’ s that word again !), and you can prevent similar tragedies occurring by building in viable control measures . In the UK , we usually look for risks that impact seven areas :, public confidence in the police , our performance , financial risks , reputational risks , community cohesion , welfare of our staff , and diversity ( not necessarily in that order ).
When you study tragedy for as long as Gordon Graham has , you see there are always proximate causes , but you really need to get down to related causes , contributory causes , the root cause , culture , and all of those ‘ problems lying in wait ’, that someone knew about yet no-one did anything about . Take for instance the Challenger Space shuttle disaster . Group-think was at work , where in a drive for progress decision makers ignored things that were going wrong , ultimately leading to deaths ( read the
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