FNG’S are not prepared
I have authored countless training articles in hopes that the information I provide will someday provide officers the ability to identify and prevent violence during their shift. I have said many times that the initial education and annual training correctional agencies all across the country provide are not meeting the requirements that will give new officers the ability to remain safe and be able to effectively interact in a correctional environment. It is always great when independent organizations support your education & beliefs and verify what you have been saying for years now. For those of you that follow my training and informational articles this is nothing new for this is the whole reason I started writing in the first place. Read more…
Below is an excerpt from the statement of Chief Judge Larry McKinney at the sentencing hearing of a former Federal Correctional Officer on October 4, 2007. A great friend of mine, Sgt. Michael Van Patten, Special Operations Sergeant Oregon State Penitentiary sent this to me and I feel all officers should read the information herein. Chief Judge McKinney uses the wording of Prison Guard which I don’t personally like, but the MESSAGE is clear and it relates directly to EVERYONE (not just the Officers) working for the DOC. Please take a minute to read. I have underlined some key spots that stuck out to me. 
Remember that one little question on your application process that stated, “Are you able to work mandatory overtime” and you marked yes because you were excited to get into the system and started on your chosen career? Looking back do you ever wish you would have marked NO? In no other profession is there such a high turnover rate requiring so much forced or mandatory overtime on its personnel. It was not uncommon for the entire third shift officers to be mandated to stay for the entire first shift 5 days a week making for an 80 hour work week. 40 plus hours of overtime a pay period was the normal not the unusual and after a while you began to hate telephone calls after 4:00 in the morning. I always wondered what the effects of the daily stress and forced overtime did to a body. 
In the past I have been fairly critical of the supervision I have seen within the law enforcement and correctional community. I have given very graphics examples and descriptions of the poor efforts being applied by many managers in all aspects of the administrative roles of our agencies. And yet I have been given an opportunity to offer a solution to the problems administrators of today as well as the supervisors of tomorrow will experience. An action plans so to speak, a detailed roadmap to deal with change and how to become a better decision maker and a leader whom your officers will want to follow and excel for. They will sacrifice and extend loyalty and they will grow and develop. 
“Lions for Lambs,” stems from an expression that German soldiers used in referring to their British counterparts during World War One. Admiring the bravery of the English infantry while condemning the idiocy of their superiors, the Germans would remark “Never before have such lions been led by such lambs.” 
Have you ever said, “How did this guy get into a leadership role?”