Much is Required and Latitude is Reasonable
Lately there has been a prevalence of comparisons between how civilians and police officers are investigated after a loss of life at their hands, respectively. The outcry is that when a civilian takes a life, they are immediately arrested by police and, allegedly, presumed guilty of said crime. In contrast, detractors argue that an officer who admits to taking a life, during the course of their employment, is sent home on a paid vacation. The argument is that both the officer and the civilian should be treated the same. Respectfully, this is not the case and I will explain why.
In an effort to avoid hypothetical scenarios, I will outline my path to getting hired and the professional training and experience that followed. While my experiences are not universal, they are not quite atypical either. Quite a bit of training and experience goes into becoming a credible officer, especially when working for a reputable and accredited agency. Unless you have been there and done that, it may be difficult to fathom. I am going to take you on my journey to becoming a sworn officer and the training that accompanied. So, stick with me, and I will see if I can help curtail the gap.
Let’s Start from the Beginning
Currently, I am working for my second law enforcement agency where I serve as a Patrol Sergeant. I lead with that, because these work experiences will add context later. In order to go back to the beginning, I have to time travel to Spring 2005. It was about that time that I completed an indication of interest for my first agency. It was a short form that identified who I was and that I was interested in embarking upon the hiring process.
I had kind of forgotten about submitting the form when I received a letter in the mail with a date and time for the written testing, the first official stage in the process. I drove the nearly three-hour drive to the state capital where the test was being held on a Saturday morning. The room was packed with a mixed bag of at least 150-200 applicants, from what I recall. There was nothing insane about the test. It was essentially a secondary school equivalency exam. After the test concluded, I drove back home to await correspondence as to whether I moved on to the next hiring phase or not.
A Letter Never Came
While I did not suspect I scored perfectly on the exam, I certainly had no reason to believe I had failed. After several week had gone by, I found an initial correspondence acknowledging my interest, and noticed tentative testing dates were outlined. According to this letter, the physical agility test was less than two weeks away. I began calling and emailing attempting to confirm whether I was to report or not. After several communications, I learned I did advance to the next phase and the test was 96 hours away. I made the nearly three-hour drive again on a Saturday. It was HOT, a nearly 100-degree Summer day. It was rough. My body wanted to quit. Yet, I finished. Before I left, I was handed an employment application. It was the most detailed employment application I had seen to date. The amount of information and documentation requested was astounding. I drove home feeling exhausted, yet accomplished. Oh, and the letter arrived, tattered and torn, the following week. Thanks for nothing, United States Postal Service.
After compiling all of the requested information, which may have even included legal rights to my first born, I submitted the application before the deadline. Given recent events, I sent the application via certified mail. The next phase was an interview board. It took place in a small room inside of the government center. It was five versus one. As I sat across the table from four stone-faced people, who ranked from officer to lieutenant, I began to question myself after every answer I gave. That is, until I looked over and saw the last officer, Scott. Scott was not stone-faced. I later learned through working with him, he was incapable of not smiling. Genuinely, one of the happiest and most positive people I have ever met. Whenever I felt like I was on a sinking ship, I looked at Scott. His beaming smile and head nods kept me in the interview. I left the interview unsure, realizing that Scott was the only positive gauge I had coming out of the interview. I drove three hours back home, wondering how things went, and awaited to hear if I was still in or now out.
More Interviewing to be Done
During the process an officer was assigned to conduct a background investigation on me. He came to the house unannounced and even spoke with my neighbors. Later, he scheduled a time to come to my home to sit down with me formally. And then, he was gone. At that point, I had more questions than answers but it seemed par for the course. Sometime later, I received a phone call advising me that the Superintendent (equivalent to the Chief of Police) was requesting a one-on-one interview with me. I was still in the process. We set up a date and time, and I inched closer to my calling. We agreed on a Tuesday in November. I did not know this interview was part of the process, and had no idea what to expect. It was laid back and cordial. It was more about me as a person, and less about me as an applicant. Honestly, at the time, I struggled to see what the benefit of it was. Now, nearly fifteen years in the business, I get it. He wanted a first-hand account and opportunity to see what kind of person I was. No scripted interview questions, no convoluted rubric to operate from. Just a conversation between two people. It was the first time in the process I felt like a person and not an applicant.
A couple of weeks later I received a phone call as I got ready for work. I was extended a conditional offer of employment. It would require successful completion of full physical and psychological examinations, to become official. At this point, only I could stand in my own way. It was really happening. On a Monday morning in December, I logged more miles and headed down to my physical. It was quite a detailed ordeal. From there, I was sent to see the psychologist. I will never forget the exam. It was about 250 questions and talked in circles. Then I had to stay until the test was scored and I physically spoke with the doctor. Having never experienced something like it before, I had no idea what to think. When it was done, I drove home reeling. All I could do was wait.
A couple of weeks went by and the wait was over-I got the call. I was given a laundry list of items to purchase and gather. I was to report to the training academy on January 9, 2006. The news brought many emotions. I was happy and excited. I was also sad and confused. Sad because I was walking away from work bonds stronger than any I had previously developed. Confused because I had zero idea what I was actually headed into. I put in my two-week’s notice and said my goodbyes. It was official. My calling was being realized. It took about six months for this moment to be realized. It required patience, discomfort, sacrifice, and perseverance-but it was worth it.
Time to Train
I walked into the law enforcement training academy bright and early on a Monday morning, a building I had never even seen before. I was assigned to a twelve-week Recruit School with twenty-seven others who were hired. While there I would embark on a bit of a preamble to what my next ten years of police work would be. We took weekly tests and even more quizzes. Everything we did, and said, was closely monitored and scrutinized. They also helped ensure that we were in sound physical condition. Only after successful completion of these twelve-weeks, were we afforded our badges and sworn in as law enforcement officers. After these twelve-weeks I was assigned to shadow a senior officer for two months. After those two months, I was assigned to the law enforcement academy again. This time, I was assigned to attend the certified officer’s academy where, upon graduation, I would receive my certification through the law enforcement training board. Through these twenty-seven weeks of In-Service training, I amassed at least 1100 hours of documented training and instruction on a variety of topics. And not once during this process, was I allowed to arrest a single person. That would have to wait.
After graduating as a certified law enforcement officer, I was assigned to work with several senior officers during the Field Training Officer (FTO) phase. During this phase, I worked directly alongside a senior officer for sixteen weeks to ensure that I received the guidance and individualized mentorship to make me successful for solo patrol, where as an officer I was trusted to work without the immediate supervision of a senior officer or other supervisor. Once released from FTO, I continued to log hundreds of annual training hours as I took advantage of several training opportunities.
After ten years I decided it was time to move on from my first agency. I won’t get into the “why” here, as that is another story for another day. When I left, I hit the reset button. I endured a similar process as outlined above. From written and physical testing, interviews, a background investigation, a polygraph, and physical and psychological testing. Once hired, I was required to participate in the FTO program again, which was abbreviated to twelve weeks because of my previous experience and progress through the FTO program. Working twelve-hour shifts, that amounted to at least an additional 470 hours of supervised training.
Much is Required
The minimum annual training required in my state is twenty-four hours of continuing education hours. Many of these have topical and time requirements associated with them. On top of the minimum requirements I, and many others, attend countless courses above the minimums throughout our careers. I have spent thousands of my own dollars seeking out training around the country. I strive to be the best version of myself I can be, and sometimes that requires taking vacation time, traveling, and coming out-of-pocket to do so. This is not an unusual practice among law enforcement officers. They routinely have memberships to Krav Maga and jujitsu studios to try to keep themselves in optimal performance condition. On top of that, officers are tasked to constantly review case law and other legal consideration and updates. This industry is ever-changing and requires us to constantly be a student if we are to be masterful at our craft.
As you can see, the hiring process is quite arduous to become a law enforcement professional. As previously mentioned, it requires patience, discomfort, sacrifice, and perseverance. However, it is worth it to someone who wholeheartedly vows to never sully the icon of public trust. If an officer constantly does the things that helps make them masterful, they deserve some latitude during the lawful and ethical performance of their duties. The fact of the matter is, the majority of officers do these things and sometimes more. Few professions require nearly as much “maintenance” and even fewer come with the mounds of scrutiny law enforcement does.
Street level law enforcement, and the criminal justice system as a whole, is the only industry where officers may be tasked to limit a citizen’s rights as set forth by the US Constitution, if probable cause exists to do so. It is also the only profession where they may be tasked to take a life in defense of others or self. Legal and reasonable probable cause would have to exist in order for either to be proper. Additionally, that probable cause would have to be rooted in established law, not politics or the emotions of public opinion. We saw it unfold in the tragic death of Trayvon Martin, where calls for his killer to face murder charges were answered, but the facts of the case did not support the legal definition of murder. As a result, he was acquitted.
Yes, an officer’s actions should be investigated when their use-of-force results in death. My professional opinion is that due to relative training, experience, and the absence of ignorance of the law, officers should be held to an elevated standard. However, when an officer goes through an administrative or criminal investigation, they are on anything but a “paid vacation” as we often hear. Their life, and their life’s work, gets combed and sifted through. It is as if it is either unknown or forgotten that the legal standard of judgement, after-the-fact, is not hindsight 20/20. Given the legal and ethical requirements outlined for them, in addition to the numerous appellate and Supreme Court decisions surrounding their body of work, if they are believed to have acted lawfully and ethically, they should never be sacrificed at the urging of a society who seeks revenge in the name of justice. Our justice system should be just that-justiceship. It should remain free of emotion, politics, grandstanding, gaslighting, and perversion. And yes, that knife should cut both ways.