Perfect LE Customer Service

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

Just recently I was teaching an in-service program about use of force and we were discussing how police officers go about deciding what level of force they should use or, absent any necessary force, how our behavior and actions are dictated. The best and simplest terms I could come up with was this: We're in the customer service business. We give citizens what they ask for within our power. Now, what's that mean exactly? There really isn't any reading into it. We base our actions and behaviors on the needs expressed by the citizenry we serve and protect. The only trick that exists in that is how citizens express their needs. To some extent, law enforcement officials often seem to read minds but what we're really doing is observing a citizen's behavior, body language and statements, evaluating them all together and then responding appropriately. Think about it... If a citizen comes to you in an obviously non-threatening fashion and asks for directions, your response is to provide those directions as best you can based on your knowledge of the area, your knowledge of traffic patterns and your experience driving that route. If you encounter a citizen who is obviously upset about something and in the course of the conversation as you try to determine whether or not you can help him (or her), they ball up their fists and assume a fighting stance - even if they aren't consciously deciding to threaten you - their behavior and actions combined put you in the position of answering the need they are expressing: they NEED you to go on the defensive and be prepared to fight. It's YOUR duty to fulfill that need: we don't want to disappoint them. Along those same lines... If you come across a crack dealer, in accordance with his behavior and actions, he's expressing his need to be arrested. It's your duty to fulfill that need and to arrest him. If, during the course of the arrest, he decides to resist your orders or control techniques, then he's expressing his need to have you take positive physical control over him in compliance with your Use of Force guidelines. If that person - or another person - attempts to do you serious bodily harm or kill you, then they are expressing their desire for you to deliver lethal force upon their person. All you are doing is your customer service duty and delivering to them that which they have expressed a need for! In this holiday season... as silly as people can get... as incapable as they sometimes are in expressing their needs, I believe that if we pay careful attention and remember our training, we can successfully fulfill all of the customer service duties that are required of us and go home happy to our families at the end of every shift. What do you think?

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