4. Impose a zero-defect attitude about safety. If an officer gets hurt at the range or during any training, your safety protocols will come under immediate scrutiny. As a firearms instructor, I can attest to the need for seriousness at all times on the range, but consider this scenario:

Usually, 15 officers and three instructors go to the range. Today, however, there are only two officers, both well-known to the only firearms instructor present. There is a negligent discharge.

Were all of the following safety steps followed?
• All safety procedures were read exactly the same way as is done every time officers go to the range
• All standard safety command and procedures were followed and no shortcuts were allowed
• The same courses of fire were administered exactly the same, whether two or 22 officers were present. 

If not, you have an unsafe range. If an officer is injured, head for the bank because you allowed an unsafe training environment to exist.

5. Get to know Clery, Title IX and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) provisions. There are a million ways to err when it comes to Clery and VAWA. It is easy to fail to identify facilities over which your institution has control and which, therefore, require Clery reporting. Guidance on when to issue timely warnings and emergency notifications can be confusing, federal and local codes about sexual assault may be contradictory. Definitions change. The rights of victims may eclipse those of alleged suspects. Local jurisdictions, upon whom you depend for data, do not understand these laws. And the administrative burden to implement these laws and regulations are becoming more of a burden, yet additional resources to deal with them are seldom forthcoming. 

I was a Clery officer for a year, holding this responsibility as a collateral duty, and it was a nightmare. As a rule, your department will get insufficient support from you campus, and officers will find it difficult to implement Clery/VAWA provisions accurately, fairly and in a timely manner. At $35,000 per violation, not to mention bad press for your department and institution and enhanced federal scrutiny, this is a headache and expense you don’t need. Get smart on Clery/VAWA and make sure your officers understand it. If you n
eed to spend the money for a department-wide training day, do so. Consider it an investment.

6. Address stress. For the most part, officers and even supervisors, are human. We want to be liked, we want things to go well and we like to avoid personal conflict. We like some people more than others. Great leaders recognize the individual differences between their followers. 

Officers come from different generations; are in different stages of adult development; have different experiences and needs have different family, cultural, economic, and medical pressures; and perceive reality through their own personal lenses. Some officers want increased autonomy to do their jobs while others want to follow orders and just do their jobs. 

Communications are not always two-way in hierarchical organizations, and our hierarchical organizations are slow to adapt to the dynamic environment around us. Add to this mix the inherent dangers involved in policing, and you have a recipe for stress. Stress originates in organizations because officers perceive unfairness, find their jobs unfulfilling, interact with cliques, etc. In short, officers are stressed out (i.e., under the influence), and we know that individuals under the influence, whether due to alcohol, drugs or other factors, do not always make good decisions. 

If you accept this premise, you need to ask if a few of your officers are likely to make poor decisions that will require you to make a trip to the bank. This brief essay is not the place to talk about strategies for dealing with stress, but the reader is encouraged to go to the International Association of Chiefs of Police website (www.iacp.org) and review the posted leadership materials. Leaders are also strongly encouraged to take the Leadership in Police Organizations curriculum offered by the IACP.

Campus Public Safety Isn’t Easy

Policing is perhaps one of the easiest jobs to screw up, what with dynamic environments, evolving cultures, competing expectations, dangerous circumstances and inadequate resource support. People don’t understand why and how we do what we do and often are quick to criticize us. Often, this criticism is embodied in a law suit. 

This reality is frustrating, maddening and daunting. But, we are sworn to serve the public as impartial professionals, so we know what we have to do. This brief article has identified some things to think about to avoid finding yourself behind the eight-ball. We’ve always known our profession is difficult. If we wanted something easier, we should have become brain surgeons.

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