The Great Cop!

Author: Edward J. Tully, January 1994

In my 31 years as an FBI Agent I do not think I ever met a perfect law enforcement officer. I know I wasn't perfect, not even close! I did, however, meet thousands of officers through my teaching at the FBI Academy, who tried to reach perfection and came very close. They were great cops! All of them had the same basic personal qualities, not to the same degree of course, but whatever the combination of individual traits, these men and women were made of the right stuff!

• Foremost, they formed a strong set of character traits. They were men and women of what we called good character.
• Second, they knew their job as a law enforcement officer, both technically and operationally.
• Third, they understood the concept of public trust and its implication in their lives.
• Fourth, they all had a great deal of self-respect and self-discipline.
• Fifth, they were all physically fit.
• Sixth, they understood the concept of duty.
• Seventh, they were courageous in actions and beliefs.
• Eighth, they were temperate in their habits.
• Finally, they all understood that being a great cop required lifelong education, experience on the street, and a strong desire be the best.

As a young police officer, I suspect you are interested in becoming the best officer you can be. Few officers aspire to be mediocre. If, however, one does not understand that greatness is not natural, but requires hard work and self discipline then excellence may never be achieved. So if you are interested in becoming the best, following is a discussion of the above nine points and a few suggestions you may wish to consider.

Alasdair MacIntyre, in After Virtue defines character as "a set of dispositions to behave systematically in one way or another, to lead a particular kind of life." Character can be either good or bad. It is, in either case, a series of learned habits. Character is something that is developed and ingrained. It can change, but it is difficult to alter your character, or the habits and attitudes that form character. Character cannot change from what we exhibit in our private lives to what we are on the job. Many people try to mask their true character, but it will eventually be exposed.

Many of our character traits come from our parents and early education as a child. We strengthen our character, for good or bad, through the process of education, religious training, watching other people and imitating their actions or by rejecting their actions.

Character is solidified by practice, or habit, through the process of thinking, making decisions, and forming opinions. Thus, it is critically important for the young police officer to identify persons in the department with excellent character. They should watch and listen to them. All too often, a young officer allows an individual with less than great character to influence them, particularly in those early years on the job when they probably do not know any better. Young officers tend to believe, or emulate, the officer who first shows them the ropes or takes them under their wing. It is natural to consider this person a hero, but it can often be a serious mistake! Be wary of the person who tells you to forget all you learned at the academy. Usually, this person is overly cynical without the foggiest idea of what is taught at the recruit level.

In most cases, bad advice, or a bad example, can be easily identified because of our previous learning or life experiences. We all have a simple understanding of the virtues of honesty, trustworthiness, respect for others, as well as a sense of justice, fairness, compassion and temperance. You are the one who decides how much of each, and to what degree these qualities will be present in your character. Virtues should not change, whether you are a private citizen, a father, a mother, or a police officer. If you have been overly influenced by a fellow officer whose demonstrated virtues are less than what makes you feel comfortable, pull back and do some self-examination.

In the law enforcement profession we are often influenced by the overly macho type officer. They like to be perceived as a "tough guy" who handles all situations with either strength or by some form of coercion. In fact, they are the weakest characters in the department. To imitate their behavior usually is serious mistake. Certainly, some situations require both physical and mental toughness do the job effectively. In an overall sense, except for obvious situations, the job of a police officer is not served well by individuals who believe and act as if the solution to all problems can be achieved by their overwhelming power. Officers who have these types of character traits will not be successful on the job, within the department, or at home.

Character building is a lifelong process. You have to learn it. At your present age do not for one minute think your character is completely formed, it is not. For example, take a minute to think of the five most important things in your life? Mentally list them in rank order. How do these values square with the job of a police officer? If you have valued material things beyond the means of your salary, could this mean you may be overly tempted to misuse your position to enrich yourself? Damn right it does!

Was being a good, decent, honest person one of the values you listed? I suspect this is something you want to be, but wishing for this type of reputation will not make it happen. You have to work to obtain a reputation of this caliber. Yes, you will occasionally fail. We all do. However, you should learn from your mistakes and resolve to continue the difficult effort to be known as an honest and honorable person.

It really is not any harder to be honest than it is dishonest. In fact, being a perfectly honest person brings a peace of mind and an inner strength to an individual. It is a worthwhile habit to cultivate and practice. Deciding how honest you want to be is your choice. After you make the decision, all it takes is practice on a daily basis in every facet of your life. This is a cornerstone of self-esteem and self-confidence.

In police work you will face far more tests of your virtues than the average individual. Temptation goes with the territory! The temptation may be in the form of sex, money, or using your power of discretion to unduly benefit yourself.In our work, temptation is almost constant. It takes a truly strong-willed honest individual to resist. If you have properly identified what you value and defended your values and virtues against the corrosive nature of our job, then it becomes easier, as the years go by, to resist temptations.

Remember, virtues are habits and all habits require constant repetition before becoming ingrained. The same is true of bad habits. If you start fudging on reports, taking an occasional small favor, or telling an occasional lie to make things temporarily more easy, you are making a mistake. This habit is as hard to break as any other. Eventually something in life that is not "small potatoes" will tempt you. Through the habit of making bad judgments you will succumb to the larger temptation. Unfortunately, there are many former police officers and FBI agents who followed this path and would now beg for the opportunity to tell you not to follow their example.

What is true in the example of honesty is also true of the other virtues that make up your character. You need to know what makes up good character and understand that it takes a lifetime to develop the habits that improve your character. I strongly suggest you buy a copy of Character and Cops Ethics in Policing by Edwin J. Delattre, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C. This book could become an important road map to becoming a great cop! It is a great first step in taking your life and profession seriously.

Job Knowledge

Unfortunately for many of us in law enforcement the first and last training we receive is at the recruit level. While this situation is changing, it is accurate to say all law enforcement officers need more regular training periods, despite rank or length of service. The job of a police officer, or a police manager, is too complex to be left solely to on-the-job training. If, however, the department does not give you proper training, then what are the alternatives? Most importantly, you must recognize the responsibility to educate yourself. Just because others will not, or cannot train you, hardly relieves you of the responsibility to take charge of your own life.

Knowledge is power to create alternatives for yourself in any situation you face. Since the world is creating knowledge at an incredible pace, including law enforcement knowledge, it is imperative for all of us to keep up lest we become completely out of touch. To be out of touch in our business is dangerous both operationally and professionally.

It is important to know your job responsibilities. Just what are the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required for the successful performance of the job you now hold? Attempt to develop friends within the department, as well as other departments, and seriously discuss the general aspects of the job. You should also subscribe to professional publications and read books on the law enforcement profession, trends in policing, and the law. Take a course or two at the local college, and perhaps pursue a higher degree in your spare time. Practice with your equipment until you become proficient. Read every department manual you can get your hands on! Know the department policies and procedures and try to develop an understanding of how each came into being. Know the law and understand how it constantly changes and the impact these changes will have on your performance. Ask questions of officers with more experience and listen carefully and with judgment to their answers. Understand, being an officer is not your whole world. You should consider joining a church, helping with community affairs, and fully participating with your family in affairs of interest to them. Become well rounded and try and become open minded. All of this takes time and commitment, but it is also what life is all about!

Public Trust

The concept of public trust is simple. It means, for a law enforcement officer, that the public has entrusted us to certain essential duties that they cannot do. To accomplish this, they have given us special powers. The public expects that we will not abuse these powers, and if we do, we will have violated their trust. Know that our penalty will be far more severe than if a citizen committed the same offense. This is the contract we are held to as police officers, it is not negotiable, nor should we expect any mercy should we violate it!

To gain an understanding of this concept you must realize a police officer has enormous power. This includes the power to deny freedom to individuals up to, and including, taking their life. Very few individuals within a democratic society have this level of power. To those so entrusted comes a higher level of expectation that the power will not be abused.

In the recent Rodney King case in Los Angeles the conduct of the officers was held to this higher standard. The punishments given to these officers reflected the violation of the public trust. Police officers should never resent the concept of public trust, rather they should hold it as an honor and responsibility not given to ordinary individuals.

Remember the concept of public trust when you begin to think you are above the law, or treat people unfairly, or decide to bypass rules, policies, or the law itself. It does not matter whether you or your colleagues actually believe society has afforded you the privilege and honor to serve. Society has entrusted you with great responsibility and demands that you discharge these responsibilities according to the law.

Although difficult at times, try to reject the rationalization that we are not paid enough money. This does not justify less than noble actions. Obviously most law enforcement officers are not paid enough. It is a condition of the job that we were perfectly aware of at the time of employment and a condition that we accepted. To now use poor salary as an excuse for a transgression is inconsistent and not worthy of serious consideration.

Self-Respect and Self-Confidence

Great police officers like themselves. In addition, they have an appropriate amount of self-confidence, arising primarily from the fact they know their job well and have experienced success. You owe it to your partner to have a healthy self-respect and confidence in your ability to do the job safely. Your partner owes it to you as well. People need both qualities if they have difficult, complex, and dangerous jobs. Self-confidence and self-respect are requisites to courage.

The human conscience can be a miserable and unforgiving thing. In most of us, that inner voice reminds us when we do things that are wrong or stupid. And it never lets us forget. Well, all of us fail at sometime or another. We have to learn from failure. Unfortunately, our inner voice, which seems to have the eyes of our mother, father, and favorite heroes, never lets us forget failures.

At times our conscience can be overwhelming. We can lose respect for ourselves and for all other things as well. You have to avoid this. Probably the best overall antidote is a sense of humor. We need to learn how to laugh at ourselves, particularly when we stumble and do stupid things. When you do make mistakes realize why a certain action was wrong, make whatever reparation is called for, and vow not to do the same again. This is being human. This natural process, if handled properly, is called growth. The process can make you mentally stronger and strengthen your self-respect.

Self-confidence is a little different. It usually comes from success. This can be as diverse as how you handle a weapon to how well you converse with a member of the opposite sex. No one is totally self-confident in all human endeavors, nor at any particular moment in time. Sometimes our confidence is temporarily lost and we are in a pickle until success allows us to regain it. Usually, it comes back. Confidence always comes to those who know their business.

In most areas the development of self confidence takes work and diligence. For example, you do not learn to have confidence with a firearm unless you know the weapon and can shoot it with reasonable accuracy. This only way to achieve this is to practice with the weapon until you have achieved success and are confident this success can be replicated at will. The same principle works in all other areas of human endeavor, whether working with computers, raising children, or driving an automobile. This sounds simple, but at times is difficult to put into practice. Like all other things worthy of pursuit, self-confidence can be very hard to obtain. You cannot obtain it from a bottle, a pill, or by treating other people as inferior, but only by your own actions.

Physical Fitness

For a police officer, excellent physical fitness is a cheap form of insurance against injury, death, and even poor judgment. You are aware of the other benefits of physical fitness, so there is little need to discuss them except to say that feeling better, having a better physical appearance, and being able to enjoy a full range of recreational activities are all worthy by-products of keeping physically fit. Physical strength, however, is important in the discharge of our duties. Almost on a daily basis, a police officer will encounter a situation in which his strength is used or its presence changes the complexion of a situation. In confrontation situations, and after exhausting the various techniques of oral communication, the officer is required to use the first level of the force continuum, physical strength. If this is not sufficient, then we must use the baton, gas, or in the worst case, our weapon. As force escalates, the ramifications of its use become more serious.

From a practical, psychological, and legal point we want to avoid force-escalation. There are many second-guessers about the use of force. It should not, however, cause us to back away from situations which call for force. Critics are part of the territory and there is no reason to think they will not always be with us. Critics are not the problem. Excessive force is the problem. Therefore, it is argued that officers with more than adequate strength are less likely to resort to higher forms of force. Strength gives an individual a great deal of self-confidence. This will allow you more time to spend on oral communication techniques to diffuse confrontations.

Finally, if a police officer is in excellent physical condition, medical evidence suggests that his chances of survival from a serious injury are significantly greater than an officer in poor shape. There is little reason a police officer should not take time, his own if necessary, to stay in good shape. While it is time consuming and hard work, it can also be fun, build esprit de corps, and provide a necessary release from the tensions of the job. If the above are not sufficient reasons to engage in the onerous activity of staying in shape, then perhaps you should know some experts say it will make you a better lover.

Duty

Duty, is a set of obligations we should all have to God, country, our family, our friends, and ourselves. Duty is the bond that holds our virtues, morals, and values together. It is a mental handshake that we will be true to our word and commitments. Not because we fear punishment, but because we want to do the right thing. As an individual we should take our personal growth seriously. It is one of the prime duties we have to ourselves.

Police officers have special duties by virtue of the office they hold. They have to obey and uphold the law, protect life and property, come to the aid of the distressed, and lead a life that is a good example for others to follow. By any stretch of the imagination, this is serious stuff. Understand that our duties are indeed serious, and after that, treat ourselves, our job, and our personal lives with due seriousness. This is not to mean one cannot enjoy life, laugh, and have fun. It only means we keep our obligations. We are faithful to our principles, values, and beliefs and we will not stray from our commitments.

Courage

One of the four cardinal virtues, is courage. The others are temperance, justice, and prudence. They are cardinal virtues because, as Thomas Acquinas explains, the whole of moral life "hinges" upon them. The virtue of courage has both mental and physical aspects.

Courage is the conquering of fear, the fear of death, injury, or perhaps the fear of rejection by your peers. The opposite of courage is, of course, cowardice. As Ed Delattre explains, "Cowards betray their obligations and forsake other people because they are inordinately concerned about their own survival, be it physical or occupational. They do not rise to their duties because they fear the consequences. Failure to control fear, rather than fear itself, makes them cowards. They fear death more than dishonor, fear losing their jobs more than failing in their duties, fear suffering harm more than causing harm to others by their neglect or flight."

Courage is at times, painful! However, courage is the virtue that separates the good officers from those who are not. Law enforcement has more than its share of heroes. Not a day goes by that we do not add the name of an officer who put his life on the line to save a life.

We have fewer heroes, though, in the area of mental courage. For example, those officers who, without regard for their own careers, will not tolerate corruption or brutality by fellow officers. There was little courage exhibited by the officers in the Rodney King case and in similar cases we have all encountered. The cause of our failure in these areas may be because of our belief in the mythical "code of silence" when it comes to the actions of our fellow officers. Well, the "code of silence" is a myth perpetrated by cowards! Have no part of it if you intend to be the best. If you see something wrong have the courage to take a stand against it. You may lose a friend or two or even your job! Whatever the costs, be prepared to pay them. In the end, where it really counts, you will gain a reputation as an individual who stood by their principles. This is a fundamental requirement of courage.

Temperance

Temperance is important to police officers because the temptations and stresses of the job are constant. Being temperate, or moderate, does not mean you should not enjoy yourself. It means that you do things that are both enjoyable and will help improve yourself as a human being. It means moderation in all things. It is okay to have a beer with other officers after the shift is over if you feel it will serve a good purpose. On the other hand, having a beer with other officers after work to relieve "job stress" or to be part of the "gang" serves no practical purpose. You should avoid this practice if it is at the expense of time with your family. This is a judgment you must make yourself. The virtue of temperance only says, do what is reasonable and right, using your own common sense as a guide.

Quest For Excellence

Finally, the great cops I have known understood the world in which they lived and worked was complex and rapidly changing. They all knew that lifelong education enabled them to remain competitive and relevant. They hungered to know how to investigate cases better, how to be a better manager, or how to handle crises situations effectively and efficiently. I remember, all too well, several hapless FBI Agents who used to brag how they had successfully avoided in-service training courses during their long careers. Later they found themselves unable to conduct adequate investigations of the new criminal cases. At the end of their careers they were considered, by all, to be incompetent agents. They had fooled themselves, and in the end they had become the fools!

As your lifelong goal, develop a set of values consistent with you and the responsibilities of the job you hold. We would all like to have a nice house, send our kids to college, buy a luxury automobile, and have plenty of money to spend on other material goods. If, on the other hand, we have to sacrifice our basic values, our virtue, and our reputation to achieve these material things, the price is far too high. I would rather be known as a decent, fair-minded, and honest person, than to have all of the great materials things and be known as a cheat.

Last, you should strive to achieve excellence in all that you do. This would range from being a great police officer to being a great parent. It may take your entire career to reach these goals. You may never reach them to your satisfaction. This is not as important as the process you go through, working to make yourself better. Going that extra mile in everything you do, will produce success. After 31 years in the law enforcement profession, my biggest single regret is that I did not go that extra mile as much as I could have, or should have, with either my job or my family. It was a mistake I will never be able to rectify. Try to not make the same mistake! God be with you!

The National Executive Institute Associates Leadership Bulletin editor is Edward J. Tully. He served with the FBI as a Special Agent from 1962 to 1993. He is presently the Executive Director of the National Executive Institute Associates and the Major City Chiefs. You can reach him via e-mail at tullye@aol.com or by writing to 308 Altoona Drive, Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401