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The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | April 2018
What are the characteristics , traits , resume entries , and track records of police candidates that you are seeking ? Where does each of these rank on your list of priorities ? Is the absence of any of these a deal breaker ? Where is your line in the sand drawn ?
When you first were appointed Chief , did the existing officers line up to your priorities ? Will you be able to affect change when we know how hard it is to teach old dogs new tricks ? If you have risen through the ranks in your department , have you tried to lead by example continuously even when you were the rookie officer ? Have you built caring yet professional relationships all around you ? Have you passed over more senior officers any time you have been promoted ? 8 Is the department run the same way when you are there as when you are not ? Have you lived up to your own expectations ? 9
Many Chiefs would list extremely positive things like integrity , dedication , loyalty , discipline , honor , pride , leadership , humility , sense of duty , professionalism , courage , and honesty as what is important in a prospective officer ; but how do these things get measured in a 22 year old kid whose life experiences may be somewhat limited . Many of these " kids " however , are military veterans who have served our country valiantly and have been tested in the fire of battle .
How about a potential officer who demonstrates a teachable spirit ? This is a humble person who does not know what they do not know , but is eager to learn what they should know . This is a person who can be molded into an ever growing , maturing , and developing officer who will make you proud . Could this officer eventually be Chief someday ?
Should a new officer have a strong sense of right vs . wrong ? More importantly , can an officer have enough compassion to realize that the gray area might best serve certain situations ? No , driving while intoxicated can never be okay ; but someone driving home from work who makes a mistake on the road will remember the positive value of a discussion with the officer who made the stop . The gray area here is the discretion given to police officers in deciding whether or not to issue a traffic summons . Even though there was a violation of the motor vehicle laws , will that motorist have a better chance of learning from the mistake and understanding his or her responsibility instead of blaming that cop for ruining their day ?
A priority must be given to having a department full of ethical decision makers . If your son is stopped for running a red light , should he be issued a summons ? Should a blind eye be turned solely because he is your son ? This goes way beyond professional courtesy because he is the boss ' son . If the son of an elected official that you do not see eye to eye with is stopped for running the same red light 10 minutes later , should he be issued a summons ? Should the strict enforcement of the law be carried out ?
Ethical decision making goes much deeper than motor vehicle enforcement , but this example shows how complex of an issue it is . Officers must do the right thing especially when " nobody is looking ". Some years ago , I attended a leadership seminar hosted by the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police and presented by The Gallagher-Westfall Group . The basic premise focused on their leadership test . We were challenged to ask ourselves in every decision we made : " Am I doing the right thing , at the right time , in the right way , and for the right reason ?" 10 If the answer was anything but yes , then it was not an ethical decision . Wow !
Is the potential officer capable and willing to serve each person equally and blindly where race , ethnicity , skin color , religious beliefs , gender , age , sexual preference , and / or country of origin do not matter ? Do your current officers serve the public this way ? Do you ?
Also of critical importance is an officer who will serve selflessly in protecting the community . While we will never forget September 11 , 2001 , we should also never forget the many first responders who rushed into the Twin Towers before they collapsed in an attempt to save as many people as possible . Many of these heroes perished , and many are still dying today from complications resulting from exposure almost 17 years ago . 11
While it may be tough to gauge a potential officer ' s commitment to strategically enter a school seeking an active shooter immediately upon the formation of a contact team , it may be prudent to ask questions structured to measure self confidence I am willing ) vs . cockiness ( I can do anything ). A confident officer will be receptive to training , discipline , constructive criticism , coaching , counseling , and mentoring while a cocky officer knows everything already .
I remember conducting panel interviews with candidates for the Police Academy who had not been hired by a police department yet but were paying their own way . One of the questions I always asked was that if the candidate were to do a self evaluation of their total self with 1 being low and 10 being high , where would they rate themselves and why . It was alarming how many times I was told that this unemployed person who could not get a job as a police officer yet , sometimes after several years of multiple attempts , saw themselves as a 10 !
These candidates were eliminated from further consideration after their interview because their cockiness showed throughout the various answers they gave . I believe that no one is a 10 , and that the type of officer you are looking for would rate themselves with honest humility instead of with an untested , unproven , unearned , and inflated ego .
I believe that if you are able to successfully hire officers who are and remain teachable , know the difference between right and 31
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