In the United States, nineteen police officers have been killed in the line of duty from January 1, 2011 to the first week of February. Last year, 163 U.S. police officers lost their lives. Many of these deaths were the result of assaults on officers. Is it any wonder that the majority of American police training is focused on the tactical disciplines and surviving deadly encounters? I cannot tell you if additional training would have prevented any of these deaths but, if we could prevent even one of these tragedies through better training it should, of course, be done. But, let’s not forget that policing is simply a dangerous job. These tragic cases serve to reinforce American police culture’s preoccupation with training the tactical disciplines. YouTube videos and reviews of deadly force incidents have many police officers convinced that there is an armed gunman around every corner. We are reminded every day, “there is no such thing as a routine traffic stop.” As a result we train for the worst. Why do we approach the soccer mom in her van with our hand on our gun? Because, we just watched a video of a guy jumping out of the back of a van with an assault rifle.
How do we balance the need for officer safety with customer service? In my conversations with other police officers I have heard comments like this; “You’re going to get someone killed with that warm and fuzzy crap.” I suspect this attitude is responsible for the lack of emphasis and training focusing on community engagement in the police world. I want to be clear; I am not talking about shaking the hand of drunk who wants to punch you in the face or taking some unnecessary risk to avoid offending someone. I am talking about something I call “tactical customer service”.
Despite the seriousness of dangers we face we still have a job to do, a very public job that by its very nature requires us to be skilled communicators. But we can’t communicate if we don’t engage the public. Police supervisors and trainers do their employees a disservice by denying them the opportunity to experience the intense job satisfaction of providing excellent customer service. Putting our police officers in a position where they will be exposed to more community engagement is a start. As a former community policing officer I strongly support foot patrol as one means to improve community engagement.
“If police officials were unimpressed with foot patrol, however, citizen responses were uniformly positive, even in predominately black neighborhoods patrolled by white officers. Overwhelmingly, fear declined and citizen appreciation for police soared. Foot patrol officers, in turn, were more favorably disposed toward citizens in their neighborhoods and experienced higher morale than did their colleagues who patrolled in cars.” (Kelling and Coles 18)
It is therefore, the responsibility of those in leadership positions to clearly communicate department values of community engagement by reinforcing positive behavior and providing training that enhances an officer’s ability to provide a high level of customer service.
Exactly what is customer service in policing? Is it a quick response, courtesy, fair treatment, giving advice, arresting suspects, resolving complaints? Depending on who you ask, it could be any one of these things. Satisfaction is linked to how well you perform any of the services we deliver. It may be hard to quantify but as Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said, “I know it when I see it.”
We do it to ourselves
Police culture is an interesting thing. Officers become bonded through mutual experiences and life threatening situations. They become protective and fiercely loyal to each other. At times though, I fear we are our own worst enemy. Department commendations were the most common way for us to recognize our employees. It is not uncommon for an employee who is recognized with some sort of award or commendation to be admonished by their peers. The locker room chatter can be harsh and don’t think it doesn’t have an impact, especially on young officers. It is not uncommon to hear comments like, “Anybody coulda done that”, “I do my job every day and I never get an award” or, “Who was handling your calls while you were milking that one?”
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| The defunct "Call Milker" award |
Clearly, organizational and cultural changes were required if we were to rise to the level of a customer service organization. These attitudes and beliefs are not uncommon in the police profession but fortunately, another promising development came recently as the State of Wisconsin included “professional communications” in the core curriculum of the police recruit academy.
The Simple Genius of WOW!
In September of 2010 the Green Bay Police Department joined a program called the WOW! Awards. WOW is a nonprofit organization based in the UK whose mission is to promote outstanding customer service. If a citizen experiences an act of outstanding customer service, they can easily nominate the employee on web based form. The nominations are reviewed by WOW in the UK and by our staff at Green Bay PD. If the nomination meets our criteria, the nomination is posted on our website and the employee is presented with framed certificate. [1]
“As a NOT FOR PROFIT team we are committed to helping organisations reap the benefits of increased Employee Engagement and Outstanding Customer Service by making it easy for your customers to tell you when your people are doing great things.... and then giving your people the recognition they deserve ... to inspire them, and their colleagues, to deliver fantastic service all the time.” ("Catching People Doing Things Right")
WOW! has made it much easier for the public to give our employees positive feedback. Before we implemented WOW! it was common for a citizen to call the shift supervisor to extend a “thank you” to the employee. The shift supervisor typically would call the employee or speak to them personally to pass on the compliment. Unfortunately, this method of recognition is fleeting and has a minimal impact. The simple genius of WOW is that the recognition comes directly from the community to the employee. The citizen gets a feeling of satisfaction knowing their “thank you” turned into something meaningful. The traditional methods of employee recognition still exist; WOW is simply another way for employees to get positive feedback.
When we first began WOW! several weeks went by without a nomination. It became clear we needed to advertise it to the community. We began by printing posters and business cards and distributed them throughout the community. Press releases and emails came with the WOW tag line. In a few short months we have achieved 27 nominations from the community for acts of outstanding customer service.
The stories were fascinating and it soon became apparent that our employees were performing extraordinary acts of customer service that most of us were unaware of. A brief but important nomination recognized two officers who saved a woman’s life who had collapsed at a Green Bay Packer football game. Another pair of officers were nominated for calmly resolving a landlord tenant dispute with a woman who was positively obnoxious. Another officer was “caught” shoveling the driveway of an elderly woman. We later found out the officer has done this regularly for a few elderly widows on his beat, something his supervisors never knew.
“On December 10th at roughly 8:15 am, I drove past a neighbor’s house on the 300 block of S. Jackson. I saw she had a police car parked in front of her house and was concerned because I knew she is an elderly woman living alone. When I drove closer to the house I saw that the officer was helping her shovel her driveway out. Wow! That is customer service! I thought how lucky we are to have officers who haven’t forgotten about the people they serve.” -Cheryl Renier-Wigg ("Recent Nominations")
Probably one of the most moving stories was that of a young man who committed suicide in his grandparents home. Police had been notified that the man was sending messages to a friend, indicating his intention to commit suicide. Exercising proper tactics, the officers surrounded the home and brought the other family members outside. While preparing for a tactical entry, the young man shot himself. Some of our officers were trained in critical incident management and looked after the family as they dealt with this tragedy. A few days later the grandfather of the suicide victim nominated the officers who handled the call. He was so impressed with the service he and his family had received from the Green Bay Police Department he wanted them to receive the award.
“All of the members of the Green Bay police that were involved with the incident were very professional. They were polite and extremely helpful. At the time of the incident we were very confused and did not understand everything that was happening. The officers helped us through a very difficult time.” -James Eland ("Recent Nominations")
We understood what a personal thing this was so we asked if he would like us to keep the nomination off the website and private. The man’s reply was “No, everyone should know what great service we received.” I delivered some of the nominations to a shift briefing and one of the officers approached me. He thought it was odd that he was receiving an award when they had failed to stop the young man from killing himself. “The guy died and now I’m getting an award? This seems kind of wacked.” I explained to him and the rest of the officers that the award was not from me or the department, it was from the family. They were receiving it not because of what happened but because they treated the family with compassion and provided outstanding customer service. The officer received a round of applause from his peers. Now, thanks to WOW!, everyone knows what excellent customer service these employees are providing. It has special meaning and credibility because it comes directly from the citizens we serve.
WOW! has also helped us to identify patterns of conduct. In just one month records clerk Lisa Wachowski was caught three times delivering outstanding customer service. The nominations are not limited to police officers and they reveal the value of involving all employees in the process.
“My WOW was in the incredible care Lisa took of me filing my first request for open records in Brown County. She led me through the procedure, never making be feel ignorant, and was very precise in her questioning. She's also a WOW person because her cubicle radiates sunshine on a gray Wisconsin day, like today, January 5, 2011, the day I met Lisa at the window.” -Thomas Gerleman ("Recent Nominations")
Derek Williams, founder of WOW! has stumbled across something that is having a remarkable impact on policing, employee morale and, at the same time, promotes positive community engagement. “When the spotlight shines on your peers and stories are told about their actions, they become role models (Kouses and Posner 313).”
Tactical Customer Service
I have said that it is possible to provide outstanding customer service and still be safe. The two concepts are not, as some would argue, mutually exclusive. For example, Officer Tracy Liska met with a family who had reported their son a runaway. Tracy works one of the busiest shifts but that did not keep her from following up with the family a few days later to offer additional assistance.
“She took the time to console me and my family while gathering information about my son. As she was driving away to look for him, my son pulled up. Tracy stopped and pulled Mathew (my son) aside to explain to him why he didn’t want this to happen and why he needed to follow a better path. Tracy even acted as a mediator between my son and I before she left. I thought that was it, but Tracy even called a couple of days later to make sure he was following the rules she helped to enforce. I think the fact that she stopped to talk to him was a WOW moment, but then she called to follow up! Tracy showed that she is a truly caring officer.” -Jeanine Hammes ("Recent Nominations")
The day the award came in I happened to see Tracy while she was in the station. I informed her of the nomination and congratulated her. Within an hour Tracy had made a traffic stop on a man intent on suicide by cop. Tracy acted according to her training, quickly and skillfully subdued the man before he could reach the knife he was carrying. Here was an example of an officer who had delivered excellent customer service and used proper tactics to diffuse a deadly situation.
My out of car experience
Many years ago as I walked my beat I had what I have often referred to as one of my “out of car experiences”. I had been on foot patrol in a neighborhood where a stolen car was pulled over the night before and spoke to a resident of the neighborhood. At least four squads were involved and you can imagine the spectacle it created with sirens, red and blue lights, and the sound of shotguns racking. This otherwise peaceful residential neighborhood witnessed what we train for, a felony stop with guns drawn. The incident was conducted in textbook fashion, complete with an officer giving commands over the PA, the suspects taken into custody, and finally the suspects were handcuffed and driven away. One squad remained behind for the tow truck. Once the car was removed, the squad drove quietly away. The officers performed admirably and did everything as they were trained. They safely took the suspects into custody, the car was recovered and the situation was contained. No one was hurt but what had we missed?
The woman explained to me what she witnessed the night before and asked repeatedly if it was safe to let her kids out to play. I assured it was, she had simply witnessed what we call a high risk stop and the occupants probably had nothing to do with the neighborhood. I saw relief in her eyes. As I walked away it occurred to me how simple it would have been to leave one officer behind for 10 minutes to knock on a few doors and let those people know that everything was OK. It would be an experience that I would remember the rest of my career.
Now, as a police supervisor, I assign staff to knock on the doors of the neighbors whenever there is a show of force like that. The reaction is always positive and the officers are almost always thanked for their service. We police supervisors should not deprive them of that experience. We should not deprive the public of this information. This is community engagement at its best.
So, you see I am not talking about shaking hands with a drunk that wants to smack you in the head or making nice with a psychopath while he is sizing you up. Use tactics when you need them, act swiftly and according to your training but, deliver good customer service when you can. Both are skills that are required of us as we serve the public. It’s up to us to know when to use them. This is what I call “tactical customer service”.
Works Cited
"Green Bay Police Department's WOW Awards." Recent Nominations. The WOW! Awards, 11 Jan 2011. Web. 6 Feb 2011. <http://www.us.thewowawardswebs.com/gbpolice/recent_nominations.php>.
Kelling, George, and Catherine Coles. Fixing Broken Windows. 1st Edition. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1996. 18. Print.
Kouzes, James, and Barry Posner. The Leadership Challenge. 4Th edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2007. 313. Print.
"The WOW! Awards." Catching People Doing Things Right. The WOW! Awards, n.d. Web. 6 Feb 2011. <http://www.thewowawards.co.uk>.
[1] WOW! began initially with business organizations but the Merseyside Police Department (UK) adopted the program under the leadership of Police Superintendent Andy Fisher. Fisher saw the value of WOW! in policing by the way that it promotes customer service and community engagement. Merseyside went on to win national recognition for customer service and WOW! has now spread to several other police departments in the U.K. and the U.S. (http://www.thewowawards.co.uk)
