Tag Archives: sergeant

Change and Reputation

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As a police sergeant, I have 2 primary goals regarding the officers on my squad: 1. Keep them safe. 2. Assist them in being successful at reaching their goals. To assist them in being successful with their goals, I find it is necessary to help give them perspective on the “big picture.” In law enforcement, it is easy to get caught up on short-sighted issues that demoralize a squad like staffing, compensation, negative public perceptions, etc. With that being said, I wrote this and read it in one of my recent briefings.

Change and your reputation go hand in hand in any organization, but in a mid-sized police department it is even truer – there is nowhere to hide within a 400 person department. We all know the phenomenal street cop whose career was or is being derailed by their poor reputation/attitude. More times than not, their poor reputation/attitude is related to their inability to deal with change effectively.

Change is inevitable. The only thing that stays constant is that circumstances and situations are always changing. How you deal with change comes down to your own personal responsibility and accountability – What do you expect of yourself? This defines not only your ability to deal with change, but also develops your reputation within the organization. Are you a whiny victim of change or are you someone who can deal and work within the system that is present?

The sooner it is accepted that the system is what it is and will always be slow to respond, the easier it becomes to deal with organizational lapses. Organizations, like people, are inherently flawed – no organization is perfect because they are run by human beings who are made up of attitudes, egos, and emotions. To move beyond the lapses, though, you have to take the long view and not be focused on just the short-term. So, the question becomes, how can you react to change to get the best outcome and solidify a reputation as a positive, forward thinker?

First, when change is approaching, ask this question of yourself, “What can I do?” This is the most direct and proactive response you can have. Sometimes you’ll have the ability to affect change before it is upon you and sometimes you won’t. The key is to remember that working within yourself is the only thing you actually have true control over. By taking initiative and working from the front, you can often help direct change in a more palatable direction.

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But, what if there is nothing you can do to directly affect the change that is coming? I answer that question with a quote from Maya Angelou, “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”

If you can’t effect the situation directly, then whining, complaining, or having beat office bitch sessions will do nothing but hurt YOUR reputation. The perceived “problem” will rarely be blamed because it is so ambiguous and comes from “they” levels. You know who “they” are, right? I implore you not to see change as something that is out to get you – it is vital to your career success to be a person who can identify the positives and opportunities that come with change.

There are 3 things you are always in control of when it comes to change – your actions, your attitude, and your effort. The common denominator to all 3 of those is YOU – you are in control and no one can take that away unless you let them. It is all about being proactive, not reactive.

Here are 5 steps to help deal with change in a positive, forward-thinking manner. These steps are adapted from the book Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson.

Change Awareness

  1. Accept that change happens.
  2. Anticipate change.
  3. Affect change, if possible.
  4. Adapt to change quickly by adjusting your perspective.
  5. Enjoy change by being in personal control of your response to it.

Ultimately to succeed, not just within an organization, but in life, it is about survival of the fittest – your ability to adapt and overcome to change. Just like responding to a call, the situation is always going to be fluid. How you respond is your choice and builds your reputation either for better or for worse!

The mission at Thin Blue Line of Leadership is to share positive leadership tactics with the field of law enforcement. Positive leadership and creating a positive squad culture are on-going commitments that must be nurtured and developed over time by anyone in a law enforcement leadership position. By discussing topics like this, law enforcement leaders are tending to the welfare of the “whole” officer, not just the one in uniform.

Share your thoughts or comments with us below or on our Facebook page. Continue saving the world one call at a time and as always, LEAD ON!

Don’t Get Captured!

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“Work hard, have fun, be safe, and don’t get captured.” I end every patrol briefing with those four simple requests. The first three are pretty straightforward. It was the last one that generated snickers from my patrol officers, but that was fine by me; I knew they had heard it. Each briefing for a month and a half ended in the same way, but the snickers slowly faded. I assume they probably thought I was nuts to continue making the same dumb joke every shift. Then, I shared the meaning . . .

A few years ago, I was sitting in my living room watching one of the best television shows ever made, HBO’s The Wire. Jimmy McNulty, played by Dominic West, and the group of characters that had come together to run a wiretap had been disbanded and reassigned back to their old assignments. The scene opens with a Baltimore Police Department lieutenant giving a patrol briefing. At the very end of the briefing, he closes by saying, “Don’t get captured.”

As a patrol officer at the time, I thought that was a pretty funny way to end a briefing. The simplistic meaning I came up with was that it was a comedic way for the writers to get across the danger that exists on a daily basis working patrol in Baltimore. For some inexplicable reason, this phrase stuck with me. I decided, years before promoting, that I would end every briefing I lead with “don’t get captured,” but for very different reasons than the simplistic one I thought of the first time I heard it.

Don’t get captured truly has a much deeper meaning. Think about it, what does it really mean to be captured? Here are my two reasons for ending each briefing this way:

First, to be captured means you or someone leading you has created a situation that is beyond your control; too far behind enemy lines, surrounded. In law enforcement, it is very easy to metaphorically get too far behind those lines. It could be walking into a domestic violence call without backup, trying to break up a fight without recognizing the encircling crowd, or getting pulled into a foot pursuit without knowing what is around the corner. These are all situations that good patrol officers need to learn to recognize and respond to appropriately so they don’t get behind those lines. The same sentiment holds true for law enforcement supervisors that are running emergency traffic and leading officers during the most volatile moments policing has to offer.

Second, to be captured also means that you gave up and stopped fighting. As officers, we all accept the reality that we may have to physically defend ourselves and survive long enough for backup to arrive. If we give up, quit, and stop fighting; then the consequences could be life threatening. Babe Ruth said, “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” Could there be any truer statement than that for the patrol officer that is in a fight for their life?

So, why do I end every patrol briefing by saying, “don’t get captured?” I do this because it serves as a subtle reminder to the men and women I’m leading to always be cautious of what they are heading into and to never give up. Backup is coming . . . just keep fighting.

Thank you for reading our blog. The mission at Thin Blue Line of Leadership is to share positive leadership tactics with the field of law enforcement. Positive leadership and creating a positive squad culture are on-going commitments that must be nurtured and developed over time by anyone in a law enforcement leadership position. Development of a positive culture must be intentional; otherwise, who knows what will develop in its place.

Share your thoughts or comments with us below or on our Facebook page. Continue saving the world one call at a time and as always, LEAD ON!

Intentional Culture

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The mission at Thin Blue Line of Leadership is to share positive leadership tactics with the field of law enforcement. Positive leadership and creating a positive squad culture are on-going commitments that must be nurtured and developed over time by anyone in a law enforcement leadership position. Development of a positive culture must be intentional; otherwise, who knows what will develop in its place.

For demonstrative purposes, I am going to discuss culture as it relates to the position of a sergeant with his/her squad, but these concepts are applicable at any level within an organization. When speaking of culture, I am specifically defining it as the prevailing actions and attitudes that a group demonstrates on a consistent basis. Actions and attitudes are the building blocks of culture and both must be guided in a desired direction.

Here are 4 ways to develop an intentional culture . . .

  1. Cultural development begins the minute you assume a leadership position. The minute you walk into your first briefing, you are already beginning to develop the culture of the squad. Were you early, late, or right on time? Officers are watching every step you take and are trying to decipher what you like, what you don’t like, what you expect of them, and what they can get away with. You must know within yourself what direction you want to go or a power vacuum will form. The squad is seeking direction and leadership, either you give it to them or someone else will. There is not a minute to waste.
  2. Your style will teach your officers the culture. To be intentional about your squad’s culture, you must feed them examples of how you picture the culture. This cannot be done from the office. It requires being out on the road with them and demonstrating your style in action so they aren’t having to guess. Contact, communication, and connection between you and your officers is key. While in briefings, encourage your officers to ask “why” so they can better understand your decision-making process. The more they understand, the more the culture will begin to reflect the style you desire.
  3. What you reward will be repeated. You must reward desired actions and attitudes consistently. When you know within yourself the direction you want your squad to go, you will be able to easily recognize behaviors that deserve rewarding. This needs to be done even more blatantly if the desired behavior is a significant change from how things were prior to your being there. Positive reinforcement is a very powerful tool for a leader, but you must be careful in what you reward because that behavior will be repeated. When giving compliments, specifically define what was good. Instead of just saying something like, “Nice job;” specifically define the action or attitude that you observed. For example, “Nice job, I like the way you kept your cool back there when that guy was yelling at us. You didn’t lose your temper and maintained officer safety without lowering yourself to that level.”
  4. What you ignore, you condone. When taking over a leadership role, such as a sergeant starting with a new squad, there are always going to be things you see that you don’t necessarily agree with and differ from your desired culture. It is incumbent of you to not ignore them. Ultimately, what you don’t address will be assumed to be acceptable. On the flip-side, you must also be careful not to just bark orders about how you want things done or you’ll very quickly take on the persona of a micromanager. To make your redirections acceptable, you must define why it is important to you and why it should be important to that officer.

Before your can have any effect on the culture of a squad, you have to know what the culture is that you would like to have. If you cannot picture in your head what the perfect squad culture would look like, then how can you lead other people in that direction? Take the time to write out your thoughts and think about what has or has not worked in your previous assignments. What qualities made up the best squad/unit you have been a part of? This is your squad’s culture, be intentional about it!

What do you do at you department to be intentional about culture?

Share your thoughts or comments with us below or on our Facebook page. Continue saving the world one call at a time and as always, LEAD ON!

A Law Enforcement Recognition Idea

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The mission at Thin Blue Line of Leadership is to share positive leadership tactics with the field of law enforcement. Positive leadership and creating a positive squad culture are on-going commitments that must be nurtured and developed over time. One way to do this is by recognizing and rewarding great police work on a routine basis. Here is an idea that came to me the other day.

I found myself watching a college football game last weekend and was noticing the band, the cheerleaders, the crazy student section, the mascot, and of course the players. A thought struck me at that time regarding the strength of culture at these collegiate institutions. Then I began to pay particular attention to the helmets of the Florida State Seminoles and noticed that there were little tomahawk stickers on the player’s helmets. This was not something new as I have seen them on many other college team helmets, but today I guess it just struck me at the right time.

helmet

A Wikipedia search of “helmet stickers” revealed that recognition or pride stickers have been rewarded to players since the mid-1950’s for making excellent plays, selfless plays, and even for hard work at practices. The idea stemmed from fighter pilots that marked their planes to signify the number of kills or successful missions they had flown. Then I started to make a connection to police work.

Most police departments have awards that are given out on an annual basis, but if you really want to positively reinforce behavior then it needs to be done on a much more consistent basis than that. So, I created some law enforcement recognition stickers using the Thin Blue Line of Leadership logo and had them printed at evermine.com.

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For a very small cost ($15+shipping), I received over 100 custom recognition stickers (1″ diameter) to give out in briefings to reward the great things that officers do on a daily basis. I am not selling anything or being paid by evermine.com to tell you any of this; I am simply sharing an idea and evermine happened to be the website that popped up first.

TYPES OF STICKERS: Walking into briefing with a couple of recognition stickers immediately makes everyone wonder who is being recognized and for what. It provides the perfect opportunity to reinforce more of the “smaller” things that do not rise to the level of an official ribbon or annual award. If you catch an officer changing a flat tire, give them a sticker. Have an officer that routinely volunteers to hold over a couple of hours to accommodate staffing needs, give them a sticker. If an officer does an amazing investigation or writes a great report, give them a sticker after they talk about it with the squad so everyone has a chance to learn from that officers great moment. Any action that supports what the squad is all about, the desired culture, should be recognized. This sticker is only given out when I, the sergeant, want to personally thank them or recognize them for some good work they did or a sacrifice they made for the squad. What gets recognized and rewarded gets repeated.

After the success of the above recognition sticker,  I created a second sticker for our squad. These stickers can only be received by officers that are being recognized by a person outside of the squad or another officer on the squad.

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It is a squad logo created of a lion (think LE Memorial) and stars to represent the people on our squad. These stickers were used for two purposes. First, when someone from outside the squad wants to recognize a member of the squad for something. These commendations could come from citizens, other supervisors, upper staff, etc. Secondly, the most interesting use for these stickers was for officers to internally thank each other when someone sacrificed to help them out personally. For example, when an officer found a good arrest and had a ton of items to impound related to the arrest and their squad mates stayed late to help them get done quicker. The next shift, they would come ask me for however many stickers they needed and in briefing would thank the officers that helped them out. The coolest part of the stickers is that they ended up perpetuating officers going above and beyond for their fellow officers to a whole new level than I had ever seen in policing.

The officers decide where to collect their stickers, but my suggestion would be their ticket clipboards to display their accomplishments proudly. Some put them on their locker or some other place they see on a daily basis. This serves as a consistent reminder of their many accomplishments and makes a statement about having a positive squad culture.

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Do you have a similar way of rewarding officers in your department?

Share your thoughts or comments with us below or on our Facebook page. Continue saving the world one call at a time and as always, LEAD ON!

5 Basic Leadership Lessons

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The mission at Thin Blue Line of Leadership is to share positive leadership tactics with the field of law enforcement. Positive leadership and creating a positive squad culture are on-going commitments that must be nurtured and developed over time. The minute an officer decides to promote to a supervisor position within a law enforcement organization, they have chosen to take on the great responsibility of being a leader, coach, caretaker, psychologist, teacher, and many more.

Here are 5 basic leadership lessons for new law enforcement supervisors.

  1. Know the mission! As a leader in a law enforcement organization, it is your responsibility to know your department’s mission statement and goals. When guiding officers through calls, handling complaints, or evaluating a situation; the department’s mission is the guide. It should be more than just a few sentences in a general orders book of a framed picture on the wall; make it real by speaking of it regularly in briefing. Give examples of what it looks like on the road.
  2. Set clear expectations! This lesson is not referring to setting quotas or other quantitative measures. It is about clearly defining a path to success for your officers’ careers. It means defining how to treat people, use force appropriately, conduct thorough investigations, think critically under stress, and remembering that this is a career of service. The culture, your squad’s actions and attitudes, will be a reflection of the expectations you establish. (More on expectations.)
  3. Set goals! As a leader, you should obviously have your own goals, but this is specifically referring to assisting your officers in developing their own short and long term goals. Your own personal success will be derived from helping your officers reach their goals. Goals should be forward thinking and in agreement with department/district goals. In the short term, have your officers establishing goals they would like to accomplish in the next year that correspond to beat issues, crime trends, or other defined problems within their areas of responsibility. They should also consider trainings they would like to attend or other personnel development toward future assignments they would like to obtain. For the long term, discuss where they see their career in 5 years or 10 years; what specialty assignments they are interesting in, are they interesting in promoting, etc. Then you must assist them by providing training opportunities, helping them develop their strengths, and make connections with people that work in the officer’s area of interest. Use their goals as a springboard for having consistent, on-going evaluation conversations.
  4. Set the example! As a supervisor, it is vital that you are out with your officers on the road as much as possible. Not only does this show your willingness to be involved and “get your hands dirty,” but it also gives them the perfect opportunity to observe you in action setting the example of how they should be – representing your own expectations. Your officers will be watching closely to see how you treat people and make decisions; especially in the tough situation where they may not be sure how to act or react. When you come across a situation where your officers are unsure of a solution to their call, it provides you the perfect opportunity to teach them your decision-making process. Ask a standard set of questions to walk them through problems: What do you know? What do you think? Have you considered this? Then let them make the ultimate decision . . . example set!
  5. Recognize, reward, promote! As a supervisor, it is easy to see all of the things going wrong because typically you have just finished studying every nook and cranny of department policy to pass your supervisor test. The challenge is in stepping back and recognizing the good. Purposely train yourself to identify not only things that need fixing or reeducating, but those things that are being done above and beyond what you would expect normally from an officer. Once you begin recognizing the good, it is imperative that you find ways to reward those behaviors. (An idea on rewarding officers.) It does not have to be anything fancy or of monetary value, but simply telling an officer that they did a good job and specifically defining what they did good can go a long way. After recognizing and rewarding, it is just as important that you promote them. In terms of promote, that means to mention them to upper staff, bring it up in briefing, etc. Bringing these positive behaviors to light, will not only help the officer’s career, but will give other officers something to strive for.

Columnist Ann Landers once wrote, “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.” These 5 leadership lessons are nothing fancy or complicated. Years of research and development have not been done to come up with them. But, to successfully implement these leadership lessons in your daily routine as a supervisor it will take effort, time, dedication, and desire. As a supervisor, it is your job to recognize the opportunity.

Share your thoughts or comments with us below or on our Facebook page. Continue saving the world one call at a time and as always, LEAD ON!

Welcome to the Squad: New Officer Checklist

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The mission at Thin Blue Line of Leadership is to share positive leadership tactics with the field of law enforcement. Positive leadership and creating a positive squad culture begins the moment an officer arrives on the squad.

The world of law enforcement is hectic enough without having to reinvent the wheel every time a new officer gets assigned to the squad. Taking the time to establish a list of items to cover upon arrival promotes consistency, shows positive leadership, and continues the creation of a positive squad culture.

Below are some items to consider when creating a New Officer Checklist. They are in no particular order and each department and/or assignment may have their own specific items that should be included.

  1. Verify the officer knows their current chain of command.
  2. Describe the personalities of their new squad mates, their strengths, and the overall group dynamic.
  3. Go over squad expectations. Describe what a “rock star” looks like and how you plan to provide feedback consistently.
  4. Share any specific district/beat goals, issues, and initiatives that are on-going.
  5. Provide information on who to talk to regarding district resources and equipment.
  6. Ask the new officer about their background, family, strengths, goals, training they are interested in, and areas they would like to improve in.
  7. Ask the new officer what their expectations are of you as their new supervisor.

This list is not one to cram into the new officer’s first shift. Getting through the first 4 basic items will set them up with what they need to know immediately. The last 3 items will set the new officer up for future success.

 Is there anything else you would include in your New Officer Checklist?

Share your thoughts or comments with us below or on our Facebook page. Continue saving the world one call at a time and as always, LEAD ON!

The 3 Accountability Relationships in Law Enforcement

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The mission at Thin Blue Line of Leadership is to share positive leadership tactics with the field of law enforcement. Positive leadership cannot be achieved without recognizing the various levels of accountability that exist in law enforcement and learning to work those relationships.

Accountability is defined as the obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and disclose the results in a transparent manner. There are 3 primary accountability relationships within law enforcement: Department <–> Community, Department <–> Officers, and Supervisors <–> Officers. Each accountability relationship is a two-way street that must be equally travelled on both sides in order for there to be shared successes.

Department <–> Community

The relationship between a community and a police department is vital to both the safety of the community and the success of the department in providing that safety. Police departments are funded by tax dollars from the community they are entrusted to protect. The community is accountable to the department by giving them the funding to hire the proper number of officers, compensate them appropriately, and obtain the necessary equipment to meet the needs and expectations of the community. In turn, the department is expected to serve their community by treating them with dignity and respect at all times. Communities accept that police departments must at times use force, but expect it to be done with the utmost responsibility. Support from the community ultimately gives police departments the authority they need to get the job done. There cannot be an “Us versus Them” mentality in order for both side of this relationship to succeed.

Department <–> Officers

The relationship between a police department and their officers must be one of mutual respect and understanding. Officers must be accountable to the department that has hired them to hit the streets each day and keep the community they serve safe. The department must provide the necessary equipment, training, recognition, and pay to give their officers the most advantageous position possible for dealing with the law-breakers of the community. In other words, departments must take care of their officers and find ways to set them up for success. In order to demonstrate their success, officers must show through their community interactions and production that they are working for the wage they are being paid by meeting the mission and standards set forth by the department. Officers must have respect for the power bestowed upon them and be diligent in upholding the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics. Without officers there is no police department and without a police department there are no officers.

Supervisors <–> Officers

The relationship between supervisors and officers is the most direct accountability relationship of the three. There is direct influence on both sides based on the amount of contact, level of communication, and strength of connection developed while serving the community as a team. The supervisor must walk the tightrope of being the translator between the needs of the department and those of the officers. By taking the time to establish a positive squad culture with their officers and developing trust, the supervisor can take any department initiative, present it to their officers, and get buy-in. In turn, officers must be able to trust their direct supervisor and truly believe that the supervisor has their best interests in mind. As discussed in the blog “7 Macro and 7 Micro Ways of Creating a Positive Squad Culture” it is up to the supervisor to give their squad the “gift of going second” in establishing a trust-based relationship. Each side of this accountability relationship must give a little to gain a lot.

As written in multiple other Thin Blue Line of Leadership blogs, people are policing. Without strong relationships in these 3 areas of accountability; morale, trust, production, compensation and many other areas suffer. It would not be a stretch to say that on some level the events last month in Ferguson, Missouri are attributable to issues in at least one, if not all, of these accountability relationships. This is why these 3 relationships are so vital to policing.

Do you feel there is a more important accountability relationship we missed?

Share your thoughts or comments with us below or on our Facebook page. Continue saving the world one call at a time and as always, LEAD ON!

6 Ways to Positively Influence Officer Behavior

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Every law enforcement organization in the world has that “slug” or “lazy cop” that no longer goes above and beyond. Maybe above and beyond is even too much of an expectation. You know, the officer that occasionally causes you to wonder if you need to put a mirror under his/her nose to make sure they are still breathing. Unfortunately, the vast majority of officers that fall into this category are a product of their environment. An environment created by or allowed to be by their leadership.

These officers have been allowed to be in this useless state for so long because no one has ever held them accountable on a consistent basis for their actions, or lack thereof. Naturally, most cops want to do great work, but when allowed to become complacent or unmotivated, they become a blight on the whole department.

In the book EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey he writes, “If you as a leader allow people to halfway do their jobs and don’t demand excellence as a prerequisite to keeping their job, you will create a culture of mediocrity.”

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The bad news is that you cannot change people. Only they can decide to change themselves through their actions, attitude, and effort. So, the question becomes what can you change? The answer is the environment.

By making consistent, incremental positive changes in the environment, you can alter the behaviors of your officers. Here are 6 things you can start doing tomorrow to change your squad’s environment and create lasting on-the-job behavioral changes.

  1. Recognize and reward the positive actions and attitudes of your officers. When you see something great, recognize it immediately and find a way to reward it. Other officers will see that success and then begin to duplicate that behavior. A hand written note, a shout-out in briefing, buying them a coffee, getting them into a training they wanted, or speaking positively about them to upper staff are easy ways to reward positive behaviors.
  2. Have your officers submit weekly or monthly goals to you and find ways to assist them in reaching those goals. Ask your officers for specific and measurable goals related to current issues in their beats. For example, spending more time in a neighborhood hit hard by property crimes, working extra traffic enforcement on a stretch of road that has had a lot of collisions, meeting business owners in their beat, etc. Use these goals as a springboard for consistent interaction and evaluation. If you let them leave briefing just to drive circles until a call comes out, then you are doing them, yourself, the department, and the community a disservice.
  3. Discover each of your officers’ policing passion. Turn them into the “go to” expert on your squad by sending them to passion-specific trainings and giving them temporary duty assignments with related specialty units. This will develop their strength in that area and set them up for future success as they test for those specialty units or promote.
  4. Establish clear squad expectations that correlate with your department’s mission. You know what a “rock star” officer looks like. Share that vision with your squad regularly – what constitutes success should not be a guessing game. Need a suggestion for setting squad expectations? See the Culture in Just 4 Words blog.
  5. Conduct frequent evaluation conversations that do not merely glance back at the past, but are primarily future-focused. Most, if not all, police departments require annual evaluations, but do not let that be the only feedback your officers receive. It does little to no good to bring up negatives from 11 months ago; especially if there is no longer an issue. Discuss issues immediately by defining the problem, reinforcing your expectations, and setting specific changes you want to see from this point forward. If your officers are exhibiting positive behaviors, refer back to #1 on this list.
  6. Get officer buy-in by giving them a voice to make suggestions for improvement. Create a method where officers can submit suggestions for their squad, beat, district, or the department as a whole. This gives you a great way to handle and issues brought up in conversation or during briefing. Just advise them to send you an email with a suggested solution for the perceived problem. Then, as the sergeant or first-line supervisor, you present those suggestions to the appropriate department parties. One extremely important piece to this concept is to always remember to give credit where credit is due.

What ideas do you have for changing officer behavior by modifying their environment?

Share your thoughts or comments with us below or on our Facebook page. Continue saving the world one call at a time and as always, LEAD ON!

The mission at Thin Blue Line of Leadership is to share positive leadership tactics with the field of law enforcement. Positive leadership starts by building a positive squad culture. A positive squad culture nurtures your officer’s motivation and passion which, in turn, results in positive productivity and interactions with the community.

Defining the Thin Blue Line Leader

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The mission at Thin Blue Line of Leadership is to share positive leadership tactics with the field of law enforcement. It is undeniable that law enforcement is a unique working environment and one in which the word positive is not always easily associated. Law enforcement is not just about laws and policies. It is about the community – victims, civilians, officers, and even criminals. So, bringing the word “positive” more frequently into law enforcement is a necessity because policing is about people. This belief must be a core value of any Thin Blue Line Leader before even getting into a deeper list of qualities.

Leadership comes in many different styles. When it comes to developing one’s own style of leadership, it is most common to emulate leaders that had a significant and direct influence on you either personally or professionally. These role-models of leadership won your heart and then were able to influence your mind, but only after being respected by you for who they are first.

Here are 10 qualities that define a Thin Blue Line Leader . . .

WINNING RESPECT  – Getting people to listen.

1. Competent – Being competent should be a given. Knowing basic and advanced officer techniques along with any specialty unit knowledge/skills you possess starts building your officers’ views of your competency. Do not assume that reputation alone will carry you. Accurately recognizing your own strengths and weaknesses will assist you in developing your competency across the board. A TBL Leader proves their competency from call to call and shift to shift.

2. Integrity and Honesty – Most people would say that integrity and honesty are the same thing, but let’s define it more specifically. Integrity is when your actions match your words. Honesty is when your words match your actions.  Law enforcement officers are constantly in situations and circumstances that test their integrity and honesty. A TBL Leader exemplifies this by holding themselves and their officers to a standard that is above reproach at all times.

3. Initiative – Do not stand still. Leaders with initiative constantly ask why something is the way it is, can it be improved, and what can I do to help. Just assuming that things are fine because “that’s how we’ve always done it” leads to stagnation and mediocrity. Regardless of the time and effort required, the TBL Leader is always looking for innovative ways to improve themselves, their officers, their department, and their community.

WINNING HEARTS – Getting people to believe.

4. Servant – This is not to be confused with subservient. A servant leader recognizes that as the leader they have taken on the responsibility of being selfless for the good of their officers. It is no longer just about your career, but lifting up your officers in their careers. TBL Leaders find ways to make their officers’ jobs easier by providing them with resources, training, and guidance.

5. Authentic – Be yourself. Arrogance and false bravado will build a wall between you and your officers that will make leading effectively much more difficult. Share your experience openly from both law enforcement and your personal life. Talking about things like your marriage, children, hobbies, or pets allow those you lead to gain insight into your belief structure. If you make a mistake, own up to it and set the example by seeking to improve. You are still human and no one, regardless of your rank, expects you to be perfect at all times. TBL Leaders recognize that when it comes to being authentic, you get what you give.

6. Supportive – Being supportive starts by opening your ears. As a leader, you have to listen, recognize, validate, and only then act. Clear communication with your officers will give you all the information you need to proceed with a course of action. Standing up for your officers, when in the right, is a must because TBL Leaders are the glue that holds a squad together.

7. Passionate – Passion should be encourage and never discouraged as long as it is appropriately directed. By setting a clear vision and mission for your squad, the leader creates focus and defines what winning looks like. Police officers like to win and the more they win, the more passion that is generated. TBL Leaders do not fear passion; they work tirelessly to create an environment that generates it.

8. Rewarding – Catching your officers doing something right should be an on-going goal of a leader. Too often, excessive amounts of time and energy are wasted searching for things that are done wrong and rewarding what gets done right gets overlooked. Obviously, serious malfunctions in officer safety or investigations need to be addressed, but there is always a way to address this so it does not destroy the officer’s morale or belief in the mission. TBL Leaders realize that rewarding officers positively reinforces and defines the behaviors that you, the leader, want to promote.

WINNING MINDS – Getting people to change.

9. Learner/Educator – Learner and educator go hand in hand. A leader must be a life-long learner. Personal experience will only hold out so long before you are just repeating yourself over and over. Taking the initiative to seek out new information and experiences will allow you to continue growing. Then, as the leader, you must be willing to share and teach what you have learned so the development of those you are responsible for can continue. No one is an expert in everything. Use your network of resources within the department to find experts in areas where you are weak. The TBL Leader recognizes the great value of learning, but realizes that it is most valuable only when is disseminated.

10. Translator – As a leader, being a good communicator is vital, but more important than communication is the ability to receive information and translate it into support for the vision and mission of your squad. As a first-line supervisor, you are the translation conduit for information coming from the upper staff and going to the officers on your squad. The way in which you present the information you are given will dictate your officers’ response to it. TBL Leaders recognize the power of translation and are clear and direct in their messages.

These 10 qualities define a Thin Blue Line Leader. Thin Blue Line of Leadership can be reached at tblleadership@gmail.com for any questions, comments, or suggestions. You can Like us on Facebook now, as well.

LEAD ON!

Law Enforcement Lingo 101

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This post is for readers that are not familiar with basic law enforcement lingo. Understanding the full meaning of Thin Blue Line of Leadership’s tweets and blog posts will deepen your comprehension of our mission to share positive law enforcement leadership tactics.  As new terminology comes up, I will update this post with additional terms and their meanings.

ACRONYMS

CFS – Call for Service

LE – Law Enforcement

LEO – Law Enforcement Organization

LT – Lieutenant

OFC – Officer

SGT –  Sergeant

TERMINOLOGY

BRIEFING – A daily meeting for a squad or group of officers prior to the beginning of a shift. (15 – 30 minutes in length)

CALL – When an officer is assigned a task to complete. Typically this starts as a call to 9-1-1 or a department’s non-emergency number.

CALL FOR SERVICE (CFS) – Same as a “call.”

CHAIN OF COMMAND – Law enforcement organizations are setup as paramilitary organizations and the chain of command is the line of authority and responsibility along which orders are passed. Law enforcement chain of command positions are different from the military and also vary between police departments, sheriff’s departments, and federal law enforcement agencies. In a police department, the chain of command is usually some form of the following: Chief of Police, Assistant Chief of Police, Commander, Lieutenant, Sergeant, and Officer. Depending on the size of the organization, there may be more or less positions in the chain.

OFFICER/DEPUTY/AGENT – These are all similar positions, just different terminology, and make up the backbone of any law enforcement organization. The only difference is the type of jurisdiction they serve – city, county, state, or federal. The jurisdiction dictates if an organization is a police department, sheriff’s department, or federal law enforcement agency. Thin Blue Line of Leadership will be using the term officer as a default, but the knowledge shared applies to all law enforcement agencies regardless of name.

OFFICER SAFETY – This is a term used to describe the actions necessary to keep an officer safe in any given situation and get them safely home to their family. It encompasses things like using a backup officer, wearing a vest, proper officer positioning, and many more. A huge part of being a law enforcement leader is keeping your officers safe by sharing up-to-date officer safety information and verifying that they are applying all officer safety techniques available to them.

PARAMILITARY – An organization whose structure, training, and function are similar to that of the military, but is not a part of the nation’s formal armed forces. Police departments, sheriff’s departments, and federal law enforcement agencies are set up as paramilitary organizations.

SQUAD – A group of approximately 6 to 10 officers assigned to work the same general area and shift. Each squad will have a sergeant or equivalent first-line-supervisor assigned to oversee their activities. It is common for multiple squads to overlap each other due to the need for 24-7 coverage and staffing at busier times of day/night.

THIN BLUE LINE – A common law enforcement symbol showing 2 black lines with a thinner blue line in-between. It has 3 common meanings: (1) Represents the line between life and death an officer walks each time they start a shift. (2) Represents the line that officers maintain between the good and bad to prevent chaos and disorder. (3) Represents fallen law enforcement officers that have died in the line of duty.

Thin Blue Line of Leadership can be reached at tblleadership@gmail.com for any questions, comments, or suggestions.

LEAD ON!