Years ago, I was facilitating a management training session with a guest instructor. At the very beginning he made a ground rules statement for his training. “NO PUKE WORDS” was written across the board. The audience was slightly set back by this and then he began to explain. He wanted all to converse in his class as equals and exchange ideas without prejudice. No fancy words, no vogue phrases and certainly no $20-dollar words. Just plain talk, that’s all he wanted. Engage in conversations that will beget good management principles. The more I thought I about this the better liked it. Somehow, we allow buzz words and catch phrases into our conversation and sooner or later it miraculously ends up in our culture.
I have assembled my list of expressions that I feel are overused and need to be rethought or reconfigured into more amenable expressions. Some are so irritating that they are akin to fingernails dragging across the chalkboard.
Tactical- If you know a SWAT operator, they will inevitably use the word in nearly every paragraph. I am not making jest of tactical operators, I appreciate your contribution and service. But tone it down a little. Go to a catalog and if it is either black or multi-pat camo, then it is a tactical everything. I fully understand marketing, catchy titles sell the products but really stop and rethink the over application of this term.
While on marketing or seeking to approve a product for purchase we must get in that this product is “Used by the US Navy Seals” or “Special Forces”. Now, a good friend of mine was a Special Forces operator in his heyday. He loves a special brand of fast food hamburgers, but I don’t see them advertising their burgers as used by Special Forces. Granted some items are selected and used by them, but this is taking over ‘tactical’ as an advertising ploy. When I was visiting the SHOT Show, I must have heard these statements a thousand times by sales representatives. Our fighting men and women use a lot of products on the market that are not governmental issue. Again, overused to the point it is getting annoying.
Mandatory- In the world of police, this word is similar to a legal, lawful order from above and failure to follow will prove near fatal. When I was a training director, we had annual recertification training requirements as set by the state. Nearly all of us have this to deal with, maintaining our professional certifications in some shape or form. Some of the topics are mundane; there is always a legal update and new laws to confuse all in attendance. Never enough tactical training I would frequently hear. Every cop and deputy understands that they must attend this training to keep their dance card punched. However, we advertise this as ‘mandatory’ which is a turn off, a no fun zone. Matters not if you use required, recommended but just stating that the training is offered and temper the mandatory use, makes it more appealing.
Minimum Force-In all of my years of attending, teaching and researching police use of force and defensive tactics, I probably never saw this term defined within police concepts. I have been indoctrinated to use the ‘proper amount of force’ or ‘correct amount of force’. I am not sure of what minimum force is other than a term conjured up by a defense lawyer, insurance liability attorney or some academic who has never made an arrest in their life. To me, minimum force would be to mail the warrant and handcuffs to the perpetrator and request them to arrest themselves, put on the handcuffs and turn themselves in. Always in your use of force reports state that you used the correct or proper amount of force to overcome the resistance and complete the arrest. If you used minimum force, well I guess you did mail the warrant to them after all.
Do more with less- In the world of a chief or sheriff this is the new war cry from the elected officials to you. Calls for service increase, prosecutorial demands are increasing, more non-traditional demands placed on police require more training, more stress on the budgets and now you are to do more with less? Every administrator has the ‘budget stretchers’ deployed by the end of the fiscal year. I understand their desires but to me this phrase is demeaning. Now, I like pizza, change that I love pizza. I have a pizza delivered to me and I enjoy it. But, now my pizza will be missing a slice or two and I am supposed to be satisfied as before? Not the best analogy, but I like it for this is basically what we are facing. This budgetary war cry has worn out its usefulness.
I am sure that I have twinged a nerve with some and know that there is a list far longer than mine of overused terms. Many of these are generational and hopefully come and go. Today’s police officers are far smarter than ever, so do not insult our intelligence with cutesy phrases and glittered up buzz words. Tell us the truth and no need for sugar coating or wrapping up in personal agendas, give it to us straight.
