Survival Techniques for COs with Tracy Barnhart

Fightin' words: Does your attitude put you at risk?

By Tracy Barnhart
Ohio Department of Youth Services

So you want to be a corrections or law enforcement officer. It’s something that you have wanted to do ever since you were bullied on the schoolyard.

Whoa: Wait a minute, are you saying that some corrections and law enforcement officers are vindictive? 

No, I’m not making that generalization at all, but I will say this:  Everyone needs a job, but not everyone needs this job.

Have you ever met an officer who could piss off the Pope? This is the same officer who always seems to have the most physical restraints and reportable incidents. Well, Here I will reference my good friend Gary Klugiewicz after I saw one of his informative verbal defense video clips (see featured video). I am taking what he brought to light on this topic.

Now, as promised, I’m going to give you six ways to piss people off – and possibly invite a physical assault. I realize that there are many more ways to bait or induce individuals into a physical altercation, but these are the six major things that I see officers do every day that could be avoided.

The wrong facial expression

This may be the start of the altercation and you could have initiated it. Sometimes when we are multitasking and trying to do more with less, we get aggravated with others after they interrupt our thoughts. Now the individual may have a legitimate request or question about a procedure or task. But to us we think, “You a**hole, you have got to be kidding me, you disturbed me for that?”  Now our frustration shows in our facial expression and body posture.

A sigh or a look away with the click of our tongue and a head tilt will put the individual on immediate notice that their request, question, idea or presence is not wanted, was stupid, and not worthy of our time and trouble. This may be the start of the altercation as the individual; especially an inmate or criminal now feels slighted or disrespected. Think, “Did I cause this aggression?”

A bad attitude

Your attitude along with your facial expression will take you to another rung on the altercation ladder. Say that an inmate new to your pod asks you to unlock a restroom door and you expertly respond, “Listen a**hole, I will unlock a restroom for you when I decide that it benefits me and not until then. You go sit down and wait for that moment in time.”  Now we all know that inmates and criminal are needy and tasking to our patience but the second that we make those volatile attitude expressions we have made an unnecessary step toward unjustified force. Now again, we have to ask ourselves, “Did I cause this aggression?”

Mannerisms

I see the following mannerisms every day at our facility, with occasionally shocking results. As you read these, ask yourself how many times you have violated them — and how many people you pissed off.

• Crowding. You’ll see animals in the wild posture up close to one another in an attempt to make the other cower. They are intimidating others showing that they are bigger, meaner and have a worse bite than the other does. This is also evident in law enforcement and corrections. We attempt to show others that we are the authority and what we say goes without question. We will stare them down, get chest to chest or nose to nose attempting to get them to respond accordingly because we cannot accept questioning of our authority.
  
• Parental Finger. After we make it known that we are in charge we will often point our finger at the individual that defied our authority. This represents the parental finger to the individual that we are pointing it at. They feel as if we are attempting to parent them and treat them as if they are a small child. The parental finger always brings about conflict. “You ain’t my freaking mother or father; get that finger out of my face!”
  
• Touching. Never touch anyone unless you intend to take them to the ground. Chest poking, clothing grasping, shoulder-guiding will initiate the aggression upon you. You have now broken the personal barrier and, in effect, thrown down the gauntlet. By touching an inmate or criminal you have challenged them personally, even unknowingly. They will respond.

Profanities

Anytime you use profanities, you have shown weakness, and in effect, have brought yourself down to their level. In the mind of an inmate or criminal, once they view you as a peer or on their level they will be more apt to assault you because they do not see you as an authority figure.

“Listen Mother******! I said put your hands behind your back!” 

Think about how these words would be perceived by someone reading a report of the incident. No doubt, you would appear to be out of control. Sometimes the impressions that we leave in the minds of the citizens, and most of all witnesses, may have career-ending implications.

“But that type of language is all they understand!” or “They respond quicker when I talk to them like that.” 

I hear these excuses for profanity all the time. And while the inmate may understand your words and tone, the people who will be judging your actions later will not. Remember: You are not their peer or friend. You are the professional.

Derogatory words and insults

Now we have just stepped up another rung, straight into the out of control arena.

When you call people out with buzz words like punk, faggot, dyke, nigger, white trash and a host of others, you are blatantly challenging them. Never assume that they’re going to respect you just because you’re wearing that uniform – quite the contrary. Most will look at you with contempt because you have the authority to take away their liberties and tell them that they can’t do something. Don’t sink to that level.

Verbal Parting Shots

After the contact or physical altercation that we have probably aggravated how many times have we ended the situation with comments such as, “Have a nice Day!”  Or, “I will tell your wife, sister, girlfriend or mother, later tonight that you said hi!”  Verbal parting shots will send individuals off the deep end and may get you punched in the face. Your antagonism and parting comments are not needed.

You will always have the last word no matter what the situational outcome. Remain professional and keep your unnecessary comments to yourself. Remember, you want witnesses to justify your actions and verbalizations. You do not want a prosecutor to say that the officer was predisposed to exercise excessive force by his antagonizing verbiage.

There are ways we intentionally initiate aggression in others then wonder why things went bad. If you act in the manner outlined above, then how do you expect people to come to your defense after a restraint and convince others that you were authorized and, most of all, right?

In the world of corrections and law enforcement, the bottom line is this: If you always do what’s right, then you’re never wrong.