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3 ways to prevent COs from smuggling contraband

It’s up to us, the corrections administration and staff, to keep contraband from entering our facilities

There’s one source of contraband that no corrections officer wants to talk about; it’s the nightmare of everyone in supervision and administration. That source is the corrections officers themselves. It’s a sore subject, but it can’t be ignored. Just because a person is hired as a corrections officer by an agency does not automatically make them a good, upstanding person.

Time on the job changes us, which can also lead to contraband issues. Some become stronger and more responsible as they grow older, and others go the opposite direction. They are the ones that give everyone who works in corrections a bad name. Unfortunately, when the public sees news articles about a law enforcement processional doing something bad, they lump all of us into the same category.

As I was preparing to write this column, I read an article written by Commander Kristen Ziman of the Aurora Illinois Police Department. In her article, Commander Ziman made reference to two types of mistakes officers tend to make that made the light go off in my head. The Commander explains that when considering discipline of employees, she wonders if the mistake is “of the heart or of the head.” She defines mistakes of the head as being calculated, which is what we’ll discuss in this column.

Sources of contraband from officers often start small, but rapidly get worse. Here are three steps toward deterring and stopping contraband that might enter a facility through corrections officers.

Dig deep during interviews
The first step of prevention starts at the hiring process. This falls to the administration. A complete back ground check is critical for any employee working in a trusted position. Not just the question of prior convictions or driving records; I mean work history, what do they do away from work, what kind of a person is the person we are about to put in the almighty position of as corrections officer.

If your applicant has an extensive work history, ask yourself why. Are they that diverse, or can’t they keep a job? When the reason for separation reads “for a better job,” explanation available upon request or similar type wording it’s time to dig deep. I mean a lot of us left one job to step up to a better job; but unless the end date and start dates are the same you probably need to dig deeper.

Get to know your staff
The next part of prevention falls to the first line supervisors. It’s impossible to supervise from the comfort of your office. Get off your behind and go see what your subordinates are actually doing. Listen to what they are saying, see what they are doing. Pay attention to things that seem out of the ordinary.

Is the officer pay too much attention to certain housing units? Do they seem too friendly with certain prisoners? If you take the time to pay attention and, better yet, be seen in the trenches, your staff will be less likely to sneak around behind your back.

It may be because you hold them accountable or because they fear being caught, but the outcome is the same.

Hold coworkers accountable
The last line of defense is the c-workers, the peers the bad officer works with day in and day out.

I have read many comments on C1 Facebook posts where officers make comments that the COs are the worst cause of contraband, worse than the prisoners. I most often bite my tongue and don’t cause a full blown debate on those threads. Here however I can say my piece:

A coworker often knows when a fellow officer is falling into the gray area of right and wrong. They see the coworker every day and know how they act and know what they do and what to expect from them. If they sense something not right, they need to step up and intervene.

Sometimes the fellow officer hasn’t gone over to the dark side yet and a simple talking to them is the slap in the face they need. If they’ve already gone too far and crossed the line, you need to take it directly to your supervisor.

If your supervisor refuses to take you seriously, follow your chain of command and go as high as needed. After all, that bad officer may be bring in cigarettes today, but tomorrow it could be a weapon used to injure or kill you.

When we agreed to work with the evil our society has put behind the walls in which we work sometimes we must deal with the people we thought we there to have our backs and it is our responsibility to do what is right.

Safety is everybody’s job.

Sergeant Todd Gilchrist started his career in Public Safety as a part time firefighter in 1989 and became an Emergency Medical Technician in 1991. After graduating from the police academy, he started his career in law enforcement as a Corrections Deputy for the Muskegon County Sheriff’s Office in 1995. Todd was promoted to Sergeant in 2007 where he has supervised the correction, court services and transport divisions. He is also an instructor in Corrections and Emergency Medical Services and serves on the West Michigan Criminal Justice Corrections Training Consortium. Todd graduated from Northwestern University’s Center for Public Safety, School of Police Staff and Command in 2012 where he was awarded the Franklin M. Kreml leadership award.

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