By Tom Wetzel, C1 Contributor
Most Americans recognize that police officers risk their safety and lives to protect the public. I suspect, however, that too many may question how much their officers really care about them and their neighborhoods while serving a tour of duty, and especially once they complete their shifts.
Even worse are those who look upon their police officers as members of an occupying force and are only there because they have to be. Such feelings may have been caused through the actions of a few officers or it could have been a department culture that fostered an attitude of disconnect.
If it has happened, regardless of cause, police leadership needs to re-evaluate their service models so that they can present an agency viewed as professional and invested in a community. Doing so can make their officers safer as well as the communities they serve.
There are plenty of ways to go about this, but one idea worth considering is promoting a culture based on an empathetic police model of service.
An empathetic police model of service is essentially an enhancement of community policing in general and starts at the hiring process, is developed in the training function and continues throughout an officer’s career through a culture of professionalism and trust. Caring about those we serve to make going “above and beyond” the norm is what the empathetic police model is all about.
Think about the New York City police officer who recently used his own money to buy a down trodden man a new pair of boots in the winter and you will get the idea.
Empathetic policing is the officer who drives down a street looking for criminal activity but also contemplates how certain crime prevention tactics could make the local playground a safe place for kids to be.
It’s a model of policing that has an officer arrest a juvenile for a crime and later follow up with the parents to see how things are going for the kid. The officer will do this because he actually cares and realizes that keeping at-risk children on the straight and narrow will pay dividends later for the entire neighborhood as well as make the officer’s job safer.
This model of policing is not akin to policies, mandates, and standardizations but instead flows from the Golden Rule, our nation’s Judeo-Christian ethic, and an appreciation that all men and women are created in the image and likeness of God.
It allows officers to arrest prostitutes while not acting haughty when speaking to them. It involves catching a burglar and later wondering how his own life would have turned out if he walked in the shoes of one who had a fatherless childhood mired in suffering, neglect, and abuse.
Empathetic police work is doing a job that values justice and doesn’t make excuses for criminal behavior but also doesn’t forget that we’re all human and deserving of clemency when appropriate.
This model of police work is not designed to make officers soft or drop their guard when dealing with people. Police work is a dangerous business and officers have to remain alert and firm. It is not a replacement for sound tactics and control measures designed to protect officers.
Empathetic policing is still applicable even when an officer uses force (including deadly force): when the situation is over, the officer understands his actions saved a life or lives, and made the neighborhood he patrols a safer place for all. Because she has developed a relationship of trust with those she serves and her community knows her, they are less likely to abandon her, and instead support her aware of the risks she takes for them.
An empathetic model of service can apply to those in corrections as well; it’s the development of a culture that fosters professionalism and care for one’s fellow man, even those who must remain behind bars.
What’s your opinion on this issue?
Tom Wetzel is a lieutenant at a suburban police department. He serves as a SWAT officer and trainer and is a certified law enforcement executive. Tom has a black belt in Goshin Jujutsu and is published internationally in various police publications.