I’ve heard the remarks countless times; “Why are you working so hard?”, “Why would you open yourself to such liability?”, “You’re going to get fired for doing your job”, “You should just take your calls and go home at the end of shift”, “You’ve got to be insane to go out and be proactive every single night”. An unfavorable opinion these days is to say that I became a Police Officer to be an actual Police Officer, and not someone who will hide behind a tree for hours on end waiting to be reactive.
Proactive Policing has given me the most job satisfaction that I could have ever asked for during my young policing career. Through university research and academic and other publications, it has been shown time and time again that proactive policing reduces crime. The theories; Broken Window, Hot Spot, and Stop & Frisk have been proven to statistically deter crime (when conducted within the Constitutional Boundaries).
I have worked hard during these first years to hone my proactive policing skills while working Patrol and then to working at a purely proactive assignment ‘Street Crimes Unit’. While the growing dichotomy between proactive policing and community relationships has never been more prevalent, I have seen it as an opportunity. Contrary to popular belief, it is entirely possible to be proactive and “put the bad guy in jail” while still keeping community relationships strong.
I have always done my absolute best to treat everyone with the utmost respect, regardless of whether I was talking with a clerk at a gas station or a gang member who had just run from me and was going to be charged with an abundance of felony offenses. The way I do this job and consistently be proactive has evolved and adapted with the years but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The skill of verbal/nonverbal communication is something that is practiced each shift in order to accomplish my proactive objective. For example, taking someone with a violent warrant into handcuffs or even defusing a violent confrontation as long as the outcome is getting the criminal into custody.
The love I have for this job hasn’t changed throughout the years. I have taken great pride in being the best Street Cop I can be and constantly learning how to be better. If I have to conform to a new policy or law, that just means that I will learn a new skill and new strategy to continue to reduce crime and make a difference. There is almost no better feeling than knowing that I can make even the smallest impact on crime reduction in the city where my loved ones live and work. That is more than enough to keep me motivated every single day.