Tim Dees
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
I’ve been in Toronto (the one in Canada) since last Thursday, attending the annual conference of the Police Futurists International. PFI is associated with the much larger World Future Society, which has been meeting here as well. As with most educational experiences, I have learned things I didn’t expect. Among these:
Tim Dees
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
A big difference between Enforcement Expo and the many others that market to the law enforcement trade is that there were far more “hands on” opportunities for attendees. Most trade shows allow you to look at the toys, but only VIPs and magazine contributors (like me) get to play with them. People want to try this stuff out, not just watch someone else do it and take their word that it’s super-neato. This year, just about everyone that wanted to get a first-hand experience was encouraged to do so.
All three major U.S. vehicle manufacturers were represented, and a good chunk of the parking lot was roped off as a test track. The new police package models were there, fully equipped and gassed up, and available for test drives. There’s an experience that you won’t often see at other shows and conferences. There was even a skid car available for test drives. The only complaint I heard about this portion of the show was from the vehicle reps, who were hoping that more cops would have come out to play. We’re going to work on that next year.
Tim Dees
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
I spent Thursday with my editor counterpart from Firehouse.com, creating videos of training presentations in connection with the Firehouse Expo in Baltimore. Firehouse Expo is the big fire service trade show, and between that, the hands-on training, and the classroom presentations that are offered, it draws thousands of firefighters from around the country. We’re going to be doing some similar work at IACP this October, so I needed to get a sense of the production process.
I’ve been to lots of police training sessions, both hands-on and practical, and some of them were fairly strenuous. Defensive tactics, baton training, and handcuffing techniques can all wear you out and have the potential to cause injury. But the hands-on training that the firefighters do is all that, and more.
Tim Dees
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
Hollywood has seen to it that officers who are assigned to internal affairs will forever be branded with the Mark of Cain. “The Rat Squad,” as they were called on NYPD Blue and other programs, was always staffed by shifty, malevolent-looking guys whom no one spoke to willingly, and whom you just knew spent their weekends wetting the bed and twisting the heads off of baby ducks. They stood in the way of every true crimefighter that ever walked, trying to hang him up for wearing socks that didn’t match while he was trying to bring serial babyrapers to justice.
Are things really like this? Well, sometimes, but when IA units are run this way, it’s usually more of a symptom of poor leadership instead of outcast cops being allowed to prey on their more competent and heroic colleagues.
Tim Dees
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
Our discussion forum continues to be a source of inspiration for me (hey, you try to think of something that appears to be clever and informative every week!) for ideas for columns. Over the past couple of weeks, contributors there have posted their own pearls of wisdom, gained from long and sometimes painful experience. Here are some of them (a few of which I actually wrote myself):
Tim Dees
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
An ongoing discussion in our forum concerns the practice of flirting, and how it impacts the perceived professionalism of law enforcement officers. The anecdotes that were described there brought back memories of incidents during my policing days where officers made their reputations–some good, some bad.
Female officers are not nearly as prone to this sort of snag. Women who become police officers have already set themselves apart as assertive individuals who are not easily swayed or conned. Further, only a small subset of men are drawn to powerful women in positions of authority. Some of them go for lady cops, and others for dominatrices. I wonder if it’s only a coincidence that both tend to wear dark clothing with leather accessories?