(This
column was published in the North
Shore News on
Mar. 11, 1998)
How to keep
police forces FIDO-free
By Leo Knight
LAST
week I examined the issue of morale in the Vancouver Police
Department (VPD) and how new chief Bruce Chambers has managed to
drive the level to a new low.
The
column generated a considerable response from serving members of
the department, all in agreement with the view I presented and
offering more information to underline the essential issue.
Along
with the supportive calls from VPD members, I also received a
reaction from several members of the public concerned about what
was described as the FIDO (F*** It. Drive On) syndrome.
While
FIDO is certainly prevalent among patrol officers in VPD, I
don't want to leave the reader with the impression the police
are refusing to do their job. It's much more complicated than
that.
The
police will answer all calls for assistance as promptly and
efficiently as the situation allows. In this, nothing has
changed. FIDO rears its ugly head when the officers on the
street don't feel they will get the support they need from the
executive branch of the department.
It
manifests itself in the way the officers conduct their routine
patrols. Let me explain.
Police
officers fresh from training tend to be very exuberant about the
job. They usually all want to make a difference, to "save
the world" so to speak.
As
their experience level grows, they begin to understand they
can't save the world, but, if they do their jobs properly, they
can make a difference in the lives they touch.
Most
officers do much more than just go from call to call. Much of a
cop's workday involves self-generated work.
At
the simple end, this would include writing traffic tickets. But
it can also include working with street information to track
down dope dealers, B&E artists, fences or any number of
criminal types who are generally responsible for the calls they
will ultimately receive. They try to be proactive as a matter of
course.
Unfortunately,
this usually leads to complaints about the officer. Bad guys
don't like getting locked up, funnily enough. The cop who works
hard will inevitably start drawing complaints about his or her
conduct usually in the form of excessive force or racism.
In
the vast majority of situations, these complaints are nothing
more than an attempt to get back at the cop who put the bad guy
out of action for a while.
Assuming
the executive recognizes this simple fact of life and supports
the street cop doing the proactive work at the sharp end, things
progress more or less on an even keel. The boat gets toppled,
however, when the executive decides to hang the cop out to dry,
so to speak.
Usually
this comes from a supervisor who is too politically correct or
politically motivated. They shy away from the fight they might
encounter in defending the officer in order to ensure they
themselves don't look bad. This cop-out (no pun intended) is the
genesis of the FIDO syndrome.
Realistically,
street cops are involved, or will potentially be involved, in
some type of a violent situation on virtually every shift. Think
about that. How would many of you respond to being physically
involved in a violent situation every time you went to work?
Most
of these situations end up with the cop gaining control of the
suspect, usually using their colleagues to outnumber the bad guy
and physically control the person until restraints are in place.
But
sometimes it requires an all-out fight for control. Fights
involve punches, kicks, choking, flashlights or batons. That is
simply the reality of a street fight. The Marquess of
Queensberry rules are unknown to the human flotsam and jetsam
cops deal with every day.
Understand
this very clearly. Cops don't start fights. But their ability to
do their job, and sometimes their very survival, depends on
their ability to finish fights.
This
is not politically correct stuff. It is, however, the reality of
a street cop's life.
When
the executive take away their support for the cop on the beat,
there becomes another enemy to fight. Human nature is such that
the path of least resistance is taken in most cases. If the
street cop has to fight off allegations of excessive force every
time a physical confrontation occurs, the easiest thing to do is
avoid the physical confrontation. Hence, the FIDO syndrome.
It's
not the way cops want to do their jobs. It becomes necessary
when the commanding officers are weak leaders or political
animals and they forget their responsibility to their
subordinates is as important as their responsibility to the
community they serve.
Being
a cop is one of the toughest jobs any of us can imagine. They
need all the tools available to be effective in protecting
society from the ravages of the minority of the public who
refuse to live by the rule of law. An important tool is the
support of the general public and the officers commanding those
who work the streets.
If that support exists then FIDO goes back to being the family pet, not a way of surviving a day at work.