Gordon Graham
Category: Corrections, Law Enforcement

Gordon Graham here with Today’s Tip from Lexipol. Today’s Tip is for corrections and law enforcement.

If you aren’t paying attention, you are putting your safety at risk.

Today’s Tip is primarily for my friends on the custody side, but some of it can apply to law enforcement too. Today’s Tip deals with situational awareness while escorting inmates.  

Your policies, procedures and training guide you as you escort inmates from one area of your facility to another. This may be a daily occurrence. Because this is usually an uneventful process, you might be tempted to get too comfortable or complacent.  

How many inmates are you escorting? Can you see them all? Are there any inmates behind you? Are you reading your notebook, talking or doing something else when you should be paying attention to the task at hand? 

If you aren’t paying attention, you are putting your safety at risk. You will not be ready to defend yourself if necessary. An inmate could launch an attack on you, and you would not know about it until it was too late.  

If you aren’t paying attention, you are also making it easier for inmates to move contraband throughout the jail.  Inmates could pass contraband when they walk by one another in the hall.  

Remember: Complacency Kills! Please help keep yourself safe and help cut down on contraband in the jail by keeping your head up and paying attention to your surroundings while you are escorting inmates. 

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