Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
I became a cop long enough ago that our issued gear was pretty simple: a revolver, a holster, a radio (if you had a portable one), a holder for it, a baton with a ring on your belt to carry it, and two speed-loaders in a pouch. Oh yeah, can't forget those chain-link handcuffs in their pouch as well. Everything used to carry the gear was leather with brass snaps and you got inspected before each shift to make sure the leather was shined and the brass was polished. Your gun may or may not have been loaded or clean, but that was seldom inspected.
Appearance mattered. You had to LOOK professional - and there's nothing wrong with that. Well known writer / trainer Massad Ayoob once espoused the belief that the more professional and squared away you looked the less likely a bad guy would be to mess with you. Why? Because if you LOOKED that squared away you probably weren't going to be a push-over in a fight; you were probably paying attention, aware of your surroundings and ready to put a bad guy down as hard as was necessary.
So why do I bring that up? Because, back then, if you wanted a good flashlight you most often had to go buy it yourself. If you wanted any tools in the trunk of your patrol car, you had to buy them yourself. Having supplies in your cruiser often meant scrounging or purchasing out of your own pocket and I know more than one cop who bought all the "spit and polish" stuff that went onto his dress blue uniform. It was an accepted reality: the agency was going to give you the stuff you absolutely
needed to do your job - on a minimal basis. If you wanted more, then you had to provide it yourself. The same was true of training: a minimum was given - and you had to pursue any more yourself.
As I type this I just recently read another author's article about training: Kevin Davis wrote an excellent piece about how either
reason or
force was what officers use to control bad guys on the street. The point he makes about training is that officers can't
just take the minimum that the agency offers and consider that sufficient. If you want to flourish in your law enforcement career - or sometimes just survive - you need to devote some of your own personal time and dollars into training and equipment.
Some of that time in training should be devoted to ourselves:
WE are our own first and best weapon when it comes to performance and defense. The law enforcement profession is not conducive to a healthy life style. If you want to remain fit - not only in appearance but in true physical function - then you need to eat a sensible diet and exercise your body properly.
If you want to maintain a contemporary base of knowledge necessary to perform the job, you need to seek out such knowledge outside of what you get at roll call - on your own time and usually at your own expense.
If you want to maintain your skills at a high level of proficiency, then minimum training standards are NEVER going to be sufficient. You will have to seek out training and practice on your own time and at your own expense.
The equipment the agency provides to you may be the absolute best... that they can afford. That doesn't mean it's the best on the market. Quite often your LIFE may depend on that equipment - so find a way to purchase the absolute best you can out of your own personal budget. How much do you budget? I don't know... what's your life worth? We all have limited budgets, but we need to do the best we can with what we have rather than just settling for whatever the agency does and accepting it as our reality.
Finally, we need to recognize that being a law enforcement professional is a profession of arms; we are
warriors first and foremost. Why?
Because a warrior CAN act in a peaceful fashion and perform his role within a structured society. A pacifist CAN NOT act the warrior role and CAN NOT perform any enforcement function in a structured society (or anywhere else for that matter). No matter what your persona is when you're off duty; no matter what your spouse says about how you SHOULD act off duty; remember this: YOU ARE A WARRIOR FIRST.
If not, then I think you might be challenged just to survive a 20+ year career in today's law enforcement arena - much less excel in it. THE WARRIOR finds a way to train, increase his knowledge and skill, acquire the necessary tools to do the job to the best of his ability.
In the end, some of the time and dollars must come out of your pocket and I submit to you that if your heart is in the right place; your motivation at proper levels... you'll only complain so loud about spending your own time and dollars. Should you HAVE to? No. But unfortunately we do.
What do you think?
