There have been a number of news reports lately about high-profile prison escapes. In most of these escapes, critical mistakes were made when basic procedures put in place to prevent escapes were not followed. I am not going to blame any one person — the investigations nationwide have not yet been completed, and the facts are not all known — but this is an excellent opportunity to review our mission as a profession, and encourage everyone to get back to the basics.
Budgets to Blame
Part of the problem is increased budgetary constraints. Many departments around the nation are critically understaffed. This is leading to forced overtime for many officers, sometimes even three or four days per week. Couple that with a cut in the training budget, and you have a recipe for disaster. In the early days of the last century, there were no academies for correctional officers, and you often worked overtime four or five times per week to put food on the table. Officers were underpaid and overworked, and it showed in our performance.
But today, academies are standard in most states, and limits on overtime have been put in place to avoid fatigue (and therefore reduce mistakes). The problem is, now that we are under budgetary pressure, we seem to be coming full circle, and it is not good.
Pay Attention to Procedure
Blame also has to be placed on officers forgetting the basic tenants of their mission. Our mission is to keep the public safe from those the justice system has condemned to our prisons. No matter what else we do, if we do not succeed in that area, we fail. As you traverse the many years of your career, you may start taking short-cuts because you’ve become too confident in your abilities. But there are reasons a procedure is written a certain way. If you find the procedure cumbersome, address it with your supervisor. Often, the supervisor can explain the part of the procedure that you find cumbersome. More often, you will find that the part you thought was cumbersome is actually in place as a safeguard. In my experience, short-cuts will only cut short the final product of your labor. There are times and places we can change things to make them easier, we just have to be careful not to compromise the safety and security of the public or our partners.
It is good to regularly reevaluate yourself. Make it a point to review the basic tenets of your mission to ensure you are not compromising anyone. Then, as you go about your business and you find yourself taking a short-cut, take the time to evaluate that decision.
Fighting for Funding
Funding is hard to come by, even for police officers and fire fighters. These brave men and women work in the open to keep the community safe. They are seen daily carrying out their tasks, and people are aware of what they do. I have often said that when we are doing our jobs correctly, the public does not even know we are there. This lack of visibility makes it difficult to for corrections officials to get needed budgetary consideration, especially when there are already very few people lobbying for our profession.
The last thing we want to do during this crisis is to get away from the basics. Getting away from the basics will cause mistakes that will be very public. This will hurt every officer out there, for generations to come.
So please, get back to the basics! Double lock your handcuffs, train with your equipment, cuff the inmate properly, conduct your searches and wear your uniform with pride. The more we go back to the basics, the more funding we will have to do our jobs safer, and with enough staff. Please be safe out there, and as always, watch your six.