If You Ain’t Sworn…
Tim Dees
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
A recent conversation dwelled on a fundamental difference between people associated with law enforcement. There are the “sworn” folks, and everyone else. It also reflects a common attitude among cops. Where I was a cop, this was summed up in an axiom: “If you ain’t sworn, you ain’t born.”
“Sworn” is the generic term for people with guns, badges and arrest powers. When discussing their respective agencies, cops will ask each other “How many sworn?” A law enforcement agency might have 1000 employees, but only a few hundred sworn. The rest are clerical, administrative, communications, report takers, and others that perform eminently necessary but more mundane duties. The non-sworn folks can be highly skilled and possessed of credentials far beyond those of the cops, but they’re never going to be part of the fraternity.
No one should be a non-sworn employee if they have an inferiority complex. They will be eaten alive. Training, glory, pay incentives and other recognition will always go to the sworn component. The others will get only that which is left over. And we know that there is seldom anything left over.
No, this isn’t fair, but it’s not likely to change, either. It’s also not intended as a criticism of non-cops, that they are somehow inferior to the people with the badges. This is certainly not true. In fact, we are seeing a gradual shifting of responsibilities that have historically been those of the badges and guns to non-sworn people, such as community service officers and crime scene technicians.
But the cops will always have a body of experience which is like nothing else, and something that can’t be fully understood until you’ve been there. In some military communities, people with this kind of experience are said to have “seen the elephant.” That distinguishes the combat vet from the REMF (if you don’t understand this term, as someone who served in Vietnam). Police work is–most of the time–not as strenuous as combat, but both are a life-changing experience. After you have seen the elephant, you’ll never view the world in quite the same way.
And I don’t think you can really understand it through research. My personal body of experience includes having assisted with the birth of five babies (none while as a cop, by the way - I was an EMT in college). I suppose that gives me a different perspective than most people, especially men, have on childbirth, but I wouldn’t pretend to know what it’s like to be the mother who is giving birth. Actually, that was the aspect that made my involvement in this process so terrifying. I had, and still have, no sense of how much pain was involved, or how the mother was tolerating it. I knew to expect bleeding, but I wasn’t at all sure how much was too much. There were a thousand things that could go wrong, and I wouldn’t have known they were happening or what to do about them. I’d read the book and seen the movie, but never been the lead in the play. That made all the difference in the world. This is why I won’t ever write much more about obstetrics than what you just read.
The unique body of a cop’s experience accumulates with time, although how much time is required will vary with locale, assignment and intrepidity. The questions he or she will be able to answer in the affirmative will differ from people in most other professions. Have you ever fought for your life? Have you ever had someone try to kill you? Have you shot or killed anyone? Have you ever had to make a decision that will profoundly alter the course of a stranger’s life? Have you ever had someone beg you not to do something, knowing that the decision was yours and yours alone to make? Have you ever had to “do the right thing,” when the “wrong thing” was politically expedient, potentially beneficial to both parties, and yet contrary to everything you had ever been taught? Have you ever spent a career in a profession where hard work, ability, potential, accomplishment, tenure and desire meant close to nothing in ensuring your success and advancement? These are the experiences of a cop, and I personally do not believe that anyone can understand the police personality, ethos and worldview without having them.
Certainly, the mechanics and technology of law enforcement can be well understood by outsiders. I doubt that the person who invented traffic radar or pepper spray had been a cop. If they were, it was coincidence. I’ve used police radios thousands of times, but I’d have difficulty explaining the theory that makes them function without using the word “magic” here and there. But for these things to be useful to police officers, the police officer has to be one of the elements of the equation
Given that my job title is now “editor in chief” (I like to point out to my police friends that this is the only job I am ever going to have that has the word “chief” in the title), one can argue that I am now a journalist. I’ll never think of myself that way, though. I’m a former cop that writes about policing, and encourages others to do so. Some people may believe that it’s not necessary or required to have the cop experience to do this. I believe that no one can fully embrace the subject without that experience. I don’t mean to say that there is no place for the layman, but the absence of that experience is going to be a limiting factor.
The other person in this conversation and I ended our talk with the acknowledgement that we would have to agree to disagree about this. Reflection hasn’t caused me to change my mind.
AMERICAN COPS ARE DOING EVERYTHING THE COMMUNIST COPS ONCE DID: http://chickenshitwellsandelko.blogspot.com
Tim:
A former boss of mine used to refer to this phenomenon as “…having the fraternity pin…” (he didn’t, and I did — that really bugged him, and made me smile from time to time). Nice job of summing up what it means to be in the brotherhood.
S.
More than once I have been in the position where all that could be done was to agree to disagree, no matter how wrong the other person’s opinions were.
As a prosecutor in a major metro area, I usually agree with your posts. Today’s fair is an exception. Your nostalgic view of law enforcement is about as useful to the modern day patrolman as a blackjack or a dump pouch. I think you do a tremendous dis-service to the thousands of men and women who may be considering a career in law enforcement. Let’s look at alternate definitions for “seeing the elephant”: post-traumatic-stress-disorder, psychological trauma, and general psychosis. There is no denying that this career path has some of the highest rates of suicide, alcoholism and divorce. Today’s officers are so brainwashed by State/Federal laws, departmental policies, and lawsuits that many do not know when it is appropriate to pull their weapons and defend themselves. If we are going to call it like we see it, let’s give an accurate picture for those that aren’t sworn: Law enforcement is a career path full of bad food, bad hours, and bad people (for sworn and unsworn).
This is a rather interesting albeit rather typical view of the position that white males older than 45 have regarding the “fraternity” of local law enforcement officers.
The current public perception of the “fraternity” of local law enforcement officers however looks very different in 2007 than it did 30 years ago. Unlike real professions such as doctors, engineers or (lawyers yes lawyers) there are no well accepted and uniformly enforced standards for training, education, ethical conduct or professiona competence for local law enforcement officers.
As such the “profession” of local law enforcement has slowly degraded to the point that police officers in many jurisdictions are more feared than the violent criminals communities seek to be protected from.
Statistics evaluating criminal conduct including violent offenses by local law enforcement officers have shown an ever increasing rate of criminal activity at a time when violent crime in the US population in general has declined or modestly increased.
So you may feel great pride in your membership to the fraternity of local law enforcement by comparing yourselves to the “unsworn” individuals who apparently so greatly envy your social position. That must be the reason the average starting salary for a sworn law enforcement officer is about the same as a park services employee in many major cities.
Don’t write a letter to the editor perpetuating your thoughts to any major city newspaper in the United States because you won’t get the atta boy you seek from your small internet forum of police officers.
The sad reality is that because standards are not what they should be for local law enforcement there are far too many individuals who are poorly educated, poorly trained or of poor moral character getting sworn in each day.
I was a local LEO for 6 years after getting out of college in 1991 in Chicago. It was that or teach at public school. It was hard to tell who the good guys and bad guys were if it weren’t for the uniforms and badges. I went to law school at night and passed the bar in 1996 in Illinois.
I applied for a position as an 1811 (criminal investigator/federal agent) at the ATF and went to work for ATF in 1997. Before becoming a field agent, I spent four months at the federal law enforcement training center as do all federal agents other than FBI which has its own academy.
I served in ATF until going to another large federal law enforcement agency after being detailed to Washington DC following 9/11. As a liason officer I worked the last several years with LLE officials at all levels all across the country every day. What I see is a very uneven degree of competence and capability. Some are smart, hard working, well trained and honest but far too many are not all of the above.
The people in the local law enforcement community, such as yourself should spend less time feeling good about your fraternity and more time reflecting on what has gone wrong with the “profession” in the last twenty years and what can be done to increase standards of professionalism, skill and moral standards for those in the public trust.
It will be most interesting to see if you can read this carefully, post it, reflect on it and not rant about it.
Editor’s Note: Mr. Clement, I tried to respond to you privately via e-mail, but the e-mail address you left was not active. If you’ll get in touch with me directly at editor@officer.com, I’d like to communicate with you. In any event, thank you for your well-reasoned and well-written comment.
Well writen comments. I see this type of civilian behavior all the time. I am a 27 year Vet,not including servicetime, and I see that once the civilian staff is within the “Womb” for a while they adapt a attitude in which they try to act like a real COP. They arn’t and never will be. Its really sick and they need to be handled witha strong hand to tell them that they are Chair Born and Not rangers!
As always, good stuff. I pray only that we remember - those who have “seen the elephant - that our day in the sun would be meaningless and impossible, without the far more patient, flexible and often compassionate work of the unsung civilians among us.
I like your essay. The people that are displaying an opposing view are the example of the one’s that have yet to see the elephant. My agency always used ” The view is much different on the inside of the glass”. Expresses the same sentiment.
Enough is enough, I cant’ help myself
1. This is a rather interesting albeit rather typical view of the position that white males older than 45 have regarding the “fraternity” of local law enforcement officers.
Now this just sounds like you have issues with us old white guys, If I was to use he same phrase with any other ethnic group I would be a racist. If the shoe fits wear it.
The current public perception of the “fraternity” of local law enforcement officers however looks very different in 2007 than it did 30 years ago. Unlike real professions such as doctors, engineers or (lawyers yes lawyers) there are no well accepted and uniformly enforced standards for training, education, ethical conduct or professiona competence for local law enforcement officers.
Fraternity again and perceptions in the same phrase and the standards issue for a real profession. Actually not a bad point maybe if we could get a national set of standards then Police Officers could get the pay and recognition they deserve, maybe we need a lobby group like the AMA, or ABA to work for us. . Incidentally if you are going to set standards one of them should be to use spell check, you spelled professional wrong.
As such the “profession” of local law enforcement has slowly degraded to the point that police officers in many jurisdictions are more feared than the violent criminals communities seek to be protected from.
Where is this and how did you garner this information, please enlighten me I want to make sure I don’t move there quotes
Statistics evaluating criminal conduct including violent offenses by local law enforcement officers have shown an ever increasing rate of criminal activity at a time when violent crime in the US population in general has declined or modestly increased. Statistics are easily interpreted to mean anything you want and generally are used by the media and those unable to advance coherent arguments as a basis for any conclusion they want.
So you may feel great pride in your membership to the fraternity of local law enforcement by comparing yourselves to the “unsworn” individuals who apparently so greatly envy your social position. That must be the reason the average starting salary for a sworn law enforcement officer is about the same as a park services employee in many major cities.
What does this mean now you don’t like park services employees either you sound like you have issues
Don’t write a letter to the editor perpetuating your thoughts to any major city newspaper in the United States because you won’t get the atta boy you seek from your small internet forum of police officers.
He’s got you dead to rights there, if you did write to any major city newspaper they wouldn’t print it of course unless they could find a way to blame the republican party for it or any other conservative
The sad reality is that because standards are not what they should be for local law enforcement there are far too many individuals who are poorly educated, poorly trained or of poor moral character getting sworn in each day.
In some respects, a valid point but why would the average person want to be a police officer in this world you get to listen to drivel like this all the and be underpaid, overworked and unappreciated except of course when someone needs you then you are nice to have around
I was a local LEO for 6 years after getting out of college in 1991 in Chicago. It was that or teach at public school. It was hard to tell who the good guys and bad guys were if it weren’t for the uniforms and badges. I went to law school at night and passed the bar in 1996 in Illinois.
You should have taught High School apparently the experience has reduced your comprehension abilities, and as to becoming a lawyer that is an admirable goal, but apparently the must have lowered their standards too. I always had the impression that law school made you think and be incisive, apparently not but they do have a better lobby group.
I applied for a position as an 1811 (criminal investigator/federal agent) at the ATF and went to work for ATF in 1997. Before becoming a field agent, I spent four months at the federal law enforcement training center as do all federal agents other than FBI which has its own academy.
Be careful now you are using jargon here 1811!!, that is a “LEO” thing my goodness and you went to an academy. Again a failure of the education system we really do need a better lobby group or the academy staff was dreaming about being lawyers
I served in ATF until going to another large federal law enforcement agency after being detailed to Washington DC following 9/11. As a liason officer I worked the last several years with LLE officials at all levels all across the country every day. What I see is a very uneven degree of competence and capability. Some are smart, hard working, well trained and honest but far too many are not all of the above.
I work in a large state wide system and I could say the same about a lot of my coworkers but you know what for the most part the can at least admit where they work or was that larger agency a super secret squirrel one that if you told us you would have to you know kill us.. Oh by the way liason officers should not use jargon like LLE it confuses us mortals, I thought the Feds through NIMS/ICS wanted it to be AFE from now on.
The people in the local law enforcement community, such as yourself should spend less time feeling good about your fraternity and more time reflecting on what has gone wrong with the “profession” in the last twenty years and what can be done to increase standards of professionalism, skill and moral standards for those in the public trust.
Well as I reflect back on my time in the “profession” I do know some things have gone wrong but a lot more have gone right. The one thing I am truly happy about is that this “profession” has given me the ability to sort the wheat from the chaff. You, barrister, are chaff My Kudos to all the officers and other public safety employees who everyday do a difficult job keeping their communities safe.
It will be most interesting to see if you can read this carefully, post it, reflect on it and not rant about it.
That is pretty cute, read it but if you disagree it’s a rant. Ok consider it a rant, but you are still chaff.
Editor’s Note: This comment has been edited solely to distinguish Mr. Clement’s quotes (in italics) from those of Mr. Lee.
I carry a weapon, cuffs, spray, badge and have arrest powers. The ONLY people I deal with are murders, rapists, child molesters, thieves and drug dealers, day in and out. To some LEO’s I am a walking search warrant. To others I am the problem on the street. I am not “sworn,” yet I work side by side with my local officers.
I don’t know if they have the same ideology about being sworn as you do or not. Personally because I am not sworn, I am more effective. The only thing I can’t do is initiate a traffic stop. I am a probation & Parole Officer.
I have been recruited by our local agencies. Itell them no thanks. The powers that be have tried to get us sworn. We tell them no thanks. We have much more power and frankly are as if not more effective in fighting crime.
Because you have a badge, gun and arrest powers doesn’t make you special, it doesn’t put you in a fraternity. It’s what you believe that counts.
As one who also wears the so-called “fraternity pin”, I understand the camaraderie of which Mr. Dees has spoken. I can also understand Mr. Clement’s view and agree that standards should be in place to insure a competent, professional, and respectable force. I am myself a college-educated cop. I also attended the federal law enforcement training center and spent a number of years as a federal agent. In addition, I served for several months as an instructor at the academy from which I graduated. I finally realized, after a number of frustrating years fighting the bureaucratic horse manure that characterizes most federal law enforcement agencies, that if I ever wanted to be a real cop, that is, to do the job for which I was hired, I would have to look elsewhere. I left and went to work for a respectable state agency. I spent six months in their academy, was sworn, assigned a county, a patrol vehicle and a ticket book and told to sic ‘em. I took a big paycut (about $40,000/yr), but I love my job and have geat satisfaction that I am allowed and trusted to do my job. I treat everyone with whom I contact with courtesy and respect. In short, I do my job, my boss supports me and allows me to do my job with minimal intrusion. I’m honest, enforce the law without prejudice, and always operate within the law as far as my authorities are concerned. Character has far more to do with it than education. It’s how one is brought up that makes the difference. Education helps, but it’s not key. I know several highly respected lawmen who are honest fair and competent who never spent a day in a college classroom. We need to vet our applicants more carefully instead of hiring a guy with a degree over a guy without one, or hiring those who would provide good window dressing for our agencies. We need to start promoting good men to leadership positions, instead of playing the political game. Forget the EEO crap. If those of one particular color, culture, creed, or sex are the only applicants you can get without having to go to a college campus to recruit, then hire ‘em and hire the best ones. We need people in this profession who want to do the job, not those who were lured into it. Mr. Clement’s right. We need more training, education and higher standards, and those standards should be REAL HIGH. I mean character and that includes previous background. My two cents.
I would like to point out to Dean Berry that American cops are not doing everything Communist cops once did. Communist cops never had the right to go into someones’s home with a warrant and search it when they were not at home All searches had to have the homeowner present. This is also true in Russia today. It has always seemed strange to me that a “free country” like ours, cops armed with a warrant can legally break into your home like a common thief while Soviet cops could not. I would also like to know why cops seem to think they need that particular right. It only makes me think they have no backbone nor honor when they choose such an action. Maybe it somehow relates to the disparity between “us” and “them” with “them” being related to the Untermensch and deserving of no respect.