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(1) Focus on what you can do to improve yourself instead of on your opposition: “The responsibility for preparing men and women for battle should never be taken lightly. What you say and do, or fail to say and do, may be the difference between winning and losing. More importantly, it may be the difference between living and dying.” Read more…
Corrections and law enforcement work by its very nature involves the slippery slope or the potential for gradual deterioration of social-moral inhibitions and perceived sense of permissibility for deviant conduct. In fact, the whole unspoken “dark” side of criminal justice work involves putting up with conditions that are at less than usual comfort levels. Read more…
The goal is to identify officers who pose a liability to the department and themselves. Even though obtaining a position in corrections and law enforcement is a difficult process at best we must consider the individuals who slip through the cracks. These are the officers who get the most complaints and consider themselves the mavericks or rock stars of the agency. These officers are the superheroes of the shift whose arrests or forcible takedowns are sometimes questionable and overly aggressive. Read more…
In my previous article I made mention that “When it comes right down to it, many officers do not even know what constitutes Misconduct, or how it’s investigated in the first place.” Incredibly, I know that a few of you probably said to yourself that misconduct could never happen to me or at my agency. As you read the following TRUE articles pulled out of recent news papers ask yourself this question, “Do I really know myself, and what I would do in situations like these?” Read more…
AKRON, Ohio — Stephen Krendick was identified this afternoon as the Summit County Sheriff’s deputy responsible for stomping on the head of inmate Mark D. McCullaugh Jr. during the fatal 2006 struggle at the county jail. Fellow deputy Keith Murray, who witnessed the struggle in McCullaugh’s fouled cell in the jail’s mental health unit, testified that McCullaugh was kneeling on the cell floor — his head over his bunk, his hands cuffed behind his back and his legs shackled — with four or five other deputies around him. ”I observed Deputy Krendick standing on the bunk, and I observed Deputy Krendick striking Mr. McCullaugh in the head with the bottom of his foot,” Murray said in questioning on the witness stand. Read more…
Every time you interact with a citizen or inmate it seems that they are constantly complaining that you have violated their rights or treated them poorly or wronged them in some way. When it comes right down to it, many officers do not even know what constitutes “Misconduct” or how it’s investigated in the first place. Read more…
I work in a most hostile environment within a maximum security juvenile prison in Ohio. My environment is one in which I deal with over 300 violent aggressive youth ages 16 to 21 that have been convicted of crimes that would rival that of any adult institution. Officers within our fence are required to utilize force to accomplish institutional security and maintain order at least five times a day. On a bad day, I have seen reportable incidents of over six incidents per shift. After these incidents I often look back in confidence of my law enforcement career knowing that every use of force was not only justified, required, and most of all, within reason. Read more…
So you want to be a corrections officer; it’ something that you have wanted to do ever since you were bullied on the schoolyard. “Whoa; wait a minute Mr. Barnhart; are you saying that some corrections and law enforcement officers are vindictive?” No I’m not making that generalization to all, but, some; well let me say it like this… “Everyone needs a job; but not everyone needs this job.”
Have you ever met an officer who could piss off the Pope? The officer who always seems to have the most physical restraints and reportable incidents? Well I am going to reference my good friend Gary Klugiewicz after I saw one of his informative verbal defense video clips. I am taking what he brought to light and expounding on the topic. Read more…