Gordon Graham
Category: Public Safety

Gordon Graham here with Today’s Tip from Lexipol. And Today’s Tip is the last in our series of risk management.

There has to be a bright line on ethics and integrity.

Last week we talked about the five pillars: people, policy, training, supervision and discipline and discussed people and policy. So, today we’ll start with TRAINING. Initial and Ongoing (SROVT or DTB).

The answer is in repetitive training up front. Repetitive training after the fact is “loodicrous” This is classic “lawyer-think” You are responsible for training. Every day must be a training day focusing on HR/LF and HR/LF/NDT’s – Playing the “What if” game works consistent with your good organizational policy.

Remember, there is always a better way! How close can we bring training pre-incident? Properly documented – Training records are essential HR/LF/NDT considerations in Decision Making. Do your people know their core critical tasks and have they been thoroughly trained in them?

People, Policy, Training and now we’ll talk about SUPERVISION.  

Supervisors must enforce organizational policy. Someone has to insure the systems are being implemented.  That is the role of Sergeants! Not some of the policies, but all of the policies. Enforcing only some rules does not work. Not some of the time, but all of the time. Not with some people, but with all the people. Not one or two two supervisors, but all supervisors.

What is the role of management here? Auditing, Inspections and Complaint Investigation MBWA leads to SBWA leads to proper conduct. Try to catch your people doing something right and then take the time to document it!  

Show me a tragedy in any public safety agency, and I will show you a proximate cause of whatever. The real problem lying in wait is all too often a lack of supervision. On any given day, no one knows where the Chief, Fire Chief or Sheriff is.  But on every give day, everyone knows who his/her supervisor is and they will modify their behavior based on which supervisor is on duty. Show me a tragedy in public safety operations and I will show you a proximate cause of “X”. The real cause oftentimes is a supervisor not behaving like a supervisor – or a supervisor who tried to behave like a supervisor and did not get support from her/his boss.

And finally, we’ll talk about DISCIPLINE. Prompt, fair, consistent, impartial. Not dependent on consequences. Remember it is a discretionary time task. Relations with “civil service” and HR. There has to be a bright line on ethics and integrity.

In order to be successful in your public safety operations, whether you are in law enforcement, custody or fire services, you must first get and keep good PEOPLE, derive and maintain good POLICY, make sure there is adequate TRAINING regarding the policies, have appropriate SUPERVISION of workers to make sure policies are being followed and take appropriate DISCIPLINE when there is deviation from established policy.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our series on Risk Management. If any of this sounds interesting to you, come see me in person and we can discuss these risk management concepts in greater detail.

And that is Today’s Tip from Lexipol. Gordon Graham signing off.