Public Safety, Law Enforcement, and Security personnel are unique. When every other intelligent human being is heading away from a situation - angry man with a gun, erratic drunk driving, fist fight in a tavern - these professionals are going towards them. They go there to create order from chaos, safety from mayhem, and peace from disorder.
While there is no specific personality type that fits this job best, stereotypes abound: control freak, perfectionist, adrenaline junkie. The reality of police work requires tolerance of situations that are not any where near in control, being willing to settle for outcomes that are far from perfect, and a great deal of watching, waiting, paperwork, and routine tasks that look nothing like TV police work.
I have my own stereotypes, based upon my experience as a Cook County Juvenile Probation Officer, as an Expert Witness, and as primary Employee Assistance counselor for over 250 police officers:
• officers who enjoy their work receive more rewards from helping good guys than from catching bad guys: most of their job is helping people who aren't criminals
• officers often believe in values that many people look upon with cynicism: dignity, justice, selfless service to others, and honor
• officers are generally conflict tolerant: they are comfortable involving themselves in conflicts and take pride in resolving them intelligently and safely
• officers are effective assertive communicators: their safety and the safety of others requires that they communicate clearly and effectively
• officers who know their job well have been trained so frequently that many dread it: frequently changing laws, case law, procedures, and technology require constant updating of skills and information
Because officers have a strong desire for relevant information and little tolerance for skills and information that are not useful, they are comfortable telling you exactly what they think, are not uncomfortable being critical, and they are generally assertive communicators. Providing good training and debriefing for officers is a challenge.
Evan Peterson is experienced and comfortable working in a room with loaded weapons, noisy radios, sarcastic (and frequently funny) remarks, sleepy cops who have worked double shifts, and having his presentations challenged and criticized. He takes pride in meeting that challenge with something cops can use. In a 2004 Law Enforcement Customer Service training, officers completing anonymous participant surveys gave a 100% rating of good or excellent when asked if the material was presented in a clear and interesting way and an 88% of good or excellent when asked if the training content had job relevance.
In 2005, Evan Peterson began a collaborative staff development training program with Dartmouth College Department of Safety and Security in Hanover, New Hampshire. Click here to find out more.
Law Enforcement and Security training is written and customized by Mr. Peterson and designed to build skills, improve officer safety and effectiveness, and serve agency accreditation goals. Debriefing by Mr. Peterson is conducted on-site with utmost confidentiality, with the goal of reducing absenteeism, reducing errors in the workplace, and improving agency morale.
LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINING
RESPONDING TO TRAUMA EXPOSURE
BACK TO TRAINING
BACK TO DEBRIEFING
CONTACT EVAN
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