CommPoliceRel.html

Understanding Police Officers

Things You Should Know about how we act

First, You must remember that a Police Officer MUST act differently than any other person in the community. We are trained to ALWAYS be alert for possible dangers to us and to you. When we are around you, we may seem as if we are not interested in your conversation or not listening. This is because we are always looking for dangers to us and to you. We are usually doing our best to listen to you AND to stay alert for other dangers. Police Officers are constantly being ambushed and KILLED during common contact with the public. We see and hear of our fellow officers dying while on traffic stops, walking into convenience stores, and doing Normal things that we and you both do every day. We have to constantly watch out for, not only ourselves, but for you and for everyone around us. This is a HUGE responsibility. If we seem to be preoccupied, we usually are, because we care for you, your families and your friends. We want to be there when you need us. Most of us pursued this career so we could make a difference in this world. We want to help our fellow man. Unfortunately, we must also constantly make decisions that adversely affect lives also to protect the innocent. When we put on the badge, we also took an oath in which we promised our communities that we would see that Justice is done, no matter how we feel. We must enforce the law, without bias, prejudice, or emotions affecting our performance. This mixture of authority and care is one which makes our actions confusing to most.
FOR A GOOD VIEW OF COMMON EXPERIENCES FACED BY OFFICERS AND SOME INSIGHTS INTO THE STRESSES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT, VISIT THIS LINK TO SEE A HEARTFELT STATEMENT OF A 30 YEAR VETERAN OFFICER.

How we can Positively Communicate with Eachother

Effective Communication is the basis for a good relationship with Police Officers. There are a few things you can do to improve your communications with Officers.

Start Your conversation with a Friendly Greeting.
It is too common that Officers are usually greeted with a Demand from someone. We, like anyone else, would like for people to greet us in a friendly manner instead of demanding from us. Officers are trained to ALWAYS maintain control of all situations. We immediately feel like we are not in control when we are greeted with a demand. This places us in a defensive state of mind. We, like you, would much rather deal with a friend than someone we must argue with or take demands from.
Try not to direct your anger AT the Officer.
Officers understand that in many situations, people are angry. We are trained to deal with that but in some situations, people subconciously direct thier anger AT the officer rather than TO the officer. Please try to remember that we are human too and we too, get angry when provoked. We would much rather help YOU work your problems out than settle matters by arresting someone. Also remember that many situations REQUIRE an arrest. We don't arrest someone because we hate them. We are following the Oath that we took. Part of this Oath is a Trust by the People that we will enforce the Laws of the Land, regardless of our personal feelings and many of the laws require that we arrest, whether we, or you, think it is necessary.