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Our version ‘Goldilocks’ is a police officer in a training scenario who needs to have everything “just right” or their performance suffers

There is a lesson for police officers in the story of ‘Goldilocks and the three bears.’ Recall that in the original version, the bears kill Goldilocks — they’re called Grimm’s Fairy Tales for a reason.

In our version, a police officer in a training scenario — or a real-world incident — needs to have everything “just right” or their performance suffers.

Hopefully our Goldilocks is not killed, but we know that death — or great bodily harm — is always a possibility for the professional police officer.

Training and Quals
An officer takes the line prior to qualification. He kicks all the brass on the ground away so that he has a pristine shooting area. He adjusts his belt so that the holster is perfectly seated in the “sweet spot.”

When the target turns he tries to draw fast — instead of smooth — and the gun hangs up on the holster. Instead of working the problem out, he throws his hands in the air and turns to his instructors with a look of frustration. He knows he’s one of fastest and best shooters on the range.

His instructors shout encouragement, “stay in the fight!” and “never quit!” but he makes no attempt to clear the holster. The target turns back when the time is up. The officer — like Goldilocks — needs everything “just right.”

One slip and the officer becomes mentally derailed.

If things aren’t just ight then it’s all wrong and the officer expects a “do-over.” This is unacceptable.

On The Street
A female officer is assaulted by a drunk who decided he didn’t want to go to jail and sure as hell wasn’t going to be taken there by any woman. She finally gets him down and cuffed before back up arrives, but she’s hurt and the car camera video doesn’t look like any of her training kicked in. The video makes the police circuit where it’s viewed by thousands of cops.

The viewer comments included, “Never send a woman to do a man’s job” and “Shoulda stayed home baking cookies” and “All female cops should be fired and replaced with men, never worked with one that was worth a damn.”

She gets beaten up four times. First by the suspect and then by herself, she couldn’t understand what happened, she had trained hard in the academy, stayed in shape and continued to train hard. She was disappointed in herself and her performance because things hadn’t gone “just right.”

She had set herself up for failure by expecting perfection, but nothing — and no one — is perfect.

She starts to doubt her abilities and then all the bears on the department start with talk of how they would have done it “just right.”

No one steps up to offer a word that none of us are perfect. No one says or does the things that would make it ok, explaining that it happens to us all. No one explains to her that under the stress of the moment the brain cannot make a “just right” decision. It cannot weigh the options and come to the best solution, it makes a decision in a split second that will work.

If Goldilocks had the ability to pick and choose the circumstances of her life and surroundings wouldn’t she be merrily skipping through the woods today, humming a happy tune in the fairy tale forest?

The three bears determined the time and location of her last fight. You have no say in how the fight will start, but you do have a say in how it ends. Train to fight the beasts, on their ground, at their choosing. A fight will not be what you expect it to be, it will be what it is: ugly, dangerous, and never “just right.”

No tool — hand, chemical agent, baton, TASER, pistol, rifle, or shotgun — is always “just right.”

They can malfunction, fail to work properly, or work fine and still fail to stop an attacker. Train to change weapons and targets as the situation dictates. Train to escalate and de-escalate in a split second.

Train until there is no situation you are not mentally and physically prepared to deal with. Training means studying human aggression and the strategies, verbal and physical, that will lead you to victory. “Talk when you can, fight when you must” and learn to know which is which.

Your Three Bears
Who are the three bears of law enforcement? One bear lives in your head: in the negative thoughts and attitudes of doubt, fear, complacency, laziness, and arrogance.

Another bear lives in your heart: jealousy, hatred, prejudice, envy, and the rest of the destructive emotions that live in that cave.

The third bear lives outside you: in the hearts and minds of those who surround you, the cops, suspects, friends, and enemies.

Don’t’ feed those bears.

About the author

In February 2014, Duane Wolfe retired from his career as a Minnesota Peace Officer after more than 25 years of service (beginning in 1988). During his career he served as patrolman, sergeant, S.R.T., Use of Force and Firearms Instructor, and is currently employed by the Parkers Prairie Police Department. He is also a full time instructor in the Law Enforcement Program at Alexandria Technical College, Alexandria, Minnesota. Duane has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Bemidji State University, and a Masters Degree in Education from Southwest State University. Duance has previously published articles on Calibre Press and IALEFI and served on the Advisory Board for Lt. Col. Dave Grossmans book, On Combat. Contact Duane Wolfe

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Ego Management

Lt. Jim Glennon

The #1 obstacle to effective leadership is ourselves

Pop Quiz: What’s the most formidable obstacle a supervisor will need to overcome in order to a truly lead people effectively?

Answer: Their own personality!

Does the answer seem too obvious? Is it something everyone in a management position readily realizes? Or agrees with? Unfortunately, the answer to those questions in many cases is an unequivocal no!

I characterize this as unfortunate because denial of personal responsibility is the surest way to continue down a failing path. We can’t afford failure by our law enforcement leaders. Supervisors can go to classes, learn particular management techniques, earn lofty degrees and meditate in the Himalayas with Tibetan monks, but if they don’t recognize that their greatest enemy is themselves, than no training is going to help them lead others.

Listen, no one’s perfect—and I don’t claim to have been, or to be, close to the perfect supervisor. But, I tried constantly to do my best and continually focused on the art of leading, at least up until my last year or so on the job. At that point, admittedly, I went on auto-pilot. I was distracted with writing, teaching and working for my own company. However, my shift was still happy and successful, productive and engaged, but I give most of the credit to them and my sergeants.

With that said, I’m a student of effective leaders and leadership skills. I read biographies, history and, most importantly, books that cite research. In addition, I travel the country teaching seminars so I’m constantly engaged with officers and employees on every level in a myriad of organizations. I sit and talk with chiefs, sheriffs and CEOs. I listen to mid-level managers and line-level working stiffs.

Because of these conversations, at the very beginning of my Finding the Leader in You seminars, I highlight a slide with the following observation: “Law enforcement leadership—or rather the lack of true leadership in law enforcement—may be the most serious issue facing our profession today.”

The reason: The overwhelming sentiment of a large portion of officers I encounter is frustration with their immediate command. And I hear this from virtually every level.

A Lesson on Ego I was teaching a class for Northwestern University’s Staff and Command School in Philadelphia several years ago. Many in attendance were supervisors from the city, surrounding towns and the Pennsylvania State Police. At some point, a freewheeling discussion ensued among the group of approximately 50 after I asked, “How many of you are lousy, hated and ineffective supervisors?”

There was a collective laugh after the question and obviously no one admitted that they matched the description in the query I had just posed.

So I continued.

“OK. You all know each other fairly well. Many of you work in the same agency. So let me ask this: Are there any lousy ineffective supervisors in this room?” Laughter erupted again, but this time it was a little less robust. So I said, “OK, point them out.” Not surprisingly, there were no takers. No one wanted to ‘out’ the poor supervisors.

Still the discussions continued and it was acknowledged that there are more educational opportunities for bosses than ever before. Available books on leadership are abundant, internet sources are readily available and organizations regularly spend money on training their supervisors.

So I floated another question: “OK, if supervisors are smarter than 20 years ago, better trained and more educated, how come we still have the same—or worse—problems between line and management?”

A Philly Captain, Tom H., who I was forced to have a couple of beers with the night before in an Irish bar immediately shouted the following observation, “Jimmy, I know the answer! It’s simple. You can’t educate the EGO out of assholes.”

The group erupted in wild agreement, raucous laughter and approving applause. So I followed with: “But Tom, apparently people like that are in this room. So why don’t they do something about it?”

He replied, “Because their egos won’t let them contemplate the fact that they do indeed suck!”

The truth: If your ego has the power than you’re stuck. We can’t even begin to discuss what leaders should be focused on and what they need to know about people and organizations in order to effectively lead if their dysfunctional egos are in charge.

The Principles of Effective Leadership

1. Mission 2. People 3. Communal Spirit

Simply put: Organizations exist only to accomplish a mission. Missions can’t be accomplished without people. People thrive in a positive and energized communal spirit. If anything overrides those three principles, then you have a problem because all three have to work hand-in-hand. One can’t exist without the others; eliminate one and you’ll fail. The problem: Ego often overrides all three. For many managers, their ego takes precedent over the organizational purpose and certainly the people hired to accomplish the mission.

Sounds both simple and sound, doesn’t it? Can you even argue with the premise? Of course you can’t. So then why is it that these straightforward principles are ignored and lost in the day-to-day process of leadership in a LE organization?

The answer: Ego. Personal idiosyncrasies, obsessive compulsive disorders, micromanaging, lack of trust and personal pursuits too often—all supersede the organizational mission, the people and the communal spirit. I’ve heard every conceivable example of these violations and regularly address them in classes. In many cases these blatant examples still tend to be justified by egomaniacal supervisors who are struggling to lead and incapable of seeing the reality of their actions.

In my next article, I’ll go over some of those examples and excuses made by clueless supervisors.

Lt. Jim Glennon, a third generation LEO, retired from the Lombard, Ill. PD after 29 years of service. Rising to the rank of lieutenant, he commanded both patrol and the Investigations Unit. In 1998, he was selected as the first Commander of Investigations for the newly formed DuPage County Major Crimes (Homicide) Task Force. He is the owner of LifeLine Training & the Calibre Press Street Survival Seminar.

Toxic Leadership

BY Lt. Jim Glennon

Managerial behavior that distorts the real mission of an organization shouldn’t be tolerated

My article last month, Ego Management, was about a major obstacle to effective leadership: personality. The principles for effective leadership are simple, but must be focused on all the time.

1. People 2. Mission 3. Communal spirit

Simply put: Organizations exist only to accomplish a mission. Missions can’t be accomplished without people. People thrive in a positive and energized communal spirit. If anything overrides those three principles, then you have a problem. All three must work hand-in-hand. One can’t exist without the others; eliminate one and you’ll fail. The problem: Ego often overrides all three. For many managers, their ego takes precedent over the organizational purpose and certainly the people hired to accomplish the mission.

Personal idiosyncrasies, obsessive compulsive disorders, micromanaging, lack of trust and personal pursuits, too often supersede the organizational mission, the people and the communal spirit. This obviously leads to a toxic climate and mission failure.

Toxic Leadership Example A sergeant, fifteen years on the department but fairly new to the world of striped sleeves and formal authority, sits and waits in his squad car. He’s strategically parked on a side street approximately a block away from an industrial park. The engine is off and he’s positioned in the dark shadows to avoid the moonlight. Next to him on the passenger seat is a pair of binoculars and a black-hooded sweatshirt. It’s 2:00 am. He stares intently at the screen of his mobile data device hoping to get the information he needs. He’s intent on catching his prey tonight.

The sergeant has eight patrol officers working his shift at this very moment. Not coincidentally, he has the same number of individual boxes on his monitor—the GPS tracking the status of those in his charge. He’s been staring at these boxes for at least 90 minutes—waiting and watching. You see, one of these officers is the prey he’s been silently stalking for the better part of his shift.

The sergeant's actions above is a prime example of managerial behavior that’s toxic. We’ll refer to this first-line supervisor as Sgt. Slug. His purpose and motivation is as follows: He believes that his officers, too often, spend time parked rather than patrolling (the fact that this may actually happen isn’t the point here). GPS devices provide Slug with the tools he needs to catch police officers doing whatever he believes they’re doing.

On this particular night he’s after “George.” Why George? Well, it isn’t because George has a lack of productivity, is late getting to calls or causes any particular problems. It’s because this is George’s week to be under the microscope. Slug believes the officers’ numbers could be higher. He also thinks George spends too much time on his side business of fixing cars because he seems tired when he comes to work and often talks about how busy he is with auto repair and watching his two kids during the day. With this in mind, the sergeant believes George goes out after roll call, writes a couple of obligatory tickets and then sits in his squad car and sleeps for short periods of time during his shift. However, there’s no evidence or complaints that this is happening.

So rather than talking to George, Sgt. Slug stalks, parks, watches and waits. And when he believes his computer screen has determined a stationary position of George that’s lasted too long, the clueless supervisor will pounce.

George has been parked for 20 minutes with another officer driving a separate squad car—a “look-out” Slug believes. The sergeant’s M.O. is to exit his squad car, put on the black hoodie, grab his binoculars, skulk through the bushes and, with the spyglasses set to infrared, he’ll try to gather the evidence he so desperately seeks: An officer with his eyes closed—and maybe even a second officer aiding and abetting.

Key Lessons Learned Although this is only one story about a particular supervisor, I’ve been told similar stories by other officers around the country many times. The stories I will include in future articles will be true stories. Some I’m personally familiar with and others have been told to me and verified by several eye witnesses. I won’t reveal where these illustrations of idiocy have taken place, but I’ll state with certainty that these types of behavior aren’t limited to one department. Unfortunately, variations of this are happening with alarming frequency in thousands of organizations around the country on a daily basis.

For the above example, my questions are simple. Why is Sgt. Slug doing this? Why resort to this type of behavior? Why supervise in this manner? What’s his goal? What will this type of behavior do to the communal spirit on his shift? What will happen to the true purpose of his responsibility (the accomplishment of a mission)? What do his officers think of Sgt. Slug as a leader? My questions could go on forever. There are so many issues and obvious problems with this type of behavior. But, it’s happening and will continue to happen in organizations nationwide.

Why? The answer goes back to personality. Sgt. Slug would argue that his actions are actually for the good of the organizational mission. Meaning, motionless cops can’t be tolerated because they aren’t doing anything if they’re in a state of non-movement. Tickets need to be written, door knobs checked, nefarious sorts caught, etc.

But let’s say he catches George. Now what? He chews him out, gives him a letter of reprimand, maybe even a couple of suspension days? Yippee! Slug has proved he’s a working supervisor. He’ll keep his officers on their respective toes. No more screwing around. They’ll focus on the mission from now on—and he’s right. They’ll focus on the mission, but it won’t be the organization’s mission anymore. It’ll be a new one: Screw with Sgt. Slug, whenever possible.

On the upside, the new mission will create a stronger and more cohesive team. The downside? The organizational mission will be gone.

The real reason Sgt. Slug does what he does, did what he did and will unfortunately continue to do what he does is due to his own personality. The sergeant truly doesn’t understand that he’s foolish for behaving in such a manner. Sneaking up on his officers has nothing to do with the organizational mission. It discounts employees as individual people with real issues. And the communal spirit is decimated, destroying the team and refocusing their efforts. Because Slug sees the world through his own skewed and warped paradigm he can’t comprehend how dumb and damaging his actions are.

The next questions: Where is his supervisor? What type of command structure allows this type of managerial behavior? What else is happening in this department?

Conclusion The bottom line: If you really have a problem with sleeping cops then deal with it! Develop a relationship based on trust with George and talk to him. Let him know you care about him as an individual and an integral part of a positive and productive team that’s always laser-focused on accomplishing the real mission. Don’t make the mission blind adherence to idiosyncrasies that only makes sense to one person.

I know that some of you are thinking this advice is common sense. But way too many supervisors either lose or lack any semblance of common sense when it comes to leading. Don’t let your ego get in the way of becoming an effective leader.

More examples next month! If you want to share your own stories, write me at jim@lifelinetraining.com. We will share between us and then the readers of Law Office

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