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Training Article

Walking With the PredatorsTracy E. Barnhart

An officer, who is well liked and respected by his peers, returns from a well deserved breakat 0230. The malicious darkness looms of what seems like an ordinary and routine thirdshift in the facility. But for him it’s a restless night and he knows that time will continue todrag. He wonders if his shift will end uneventful and after only eight hours or if he will bemandated to work first shift. He remembers the day an operational manager once told himthat he was going to go places within the department. As quickly as the promise of his bigpromotional chance came, it vanished just a fast. Politics, idle talk, becoming a unionactivist, and not knowing who the resourceful players are has sent him down another path.In the darkness of a lonely midnight shift that leads to nowhere, he contemplates hiscurrent situation, his future. It is then that the exhaustion overwhelms him and eventhough he is comfortable, he begins to sweat.However, time is now his lifetime enemy as he ponders the future, wondering why he is nolonger energized and dedicated to the career or the people that he works side by side with.He is second guessing his motives for taking the career path he has chosen. He startscounting down the years until his retirement and counting those same years of more senior officers allowing him to ascend the ladder of seniority. He wonders if he has become ascold a person as he now feels. He is now at the point in his career where he feels too oldto effectively play the game anymore. He feels the promise that the union andmanagement have made is just empty hype and have fallen short of the desired results.

“Where do I go from here?”

He often thinks about quitting and taking out his pensionmoney to start a small business to escape the daily stress, fear, and micro management of the administration.

Sound oddly familiar?

This scenario is like many individuals in the corrections field everywhere. Those oncestrong officers that have been broken down by the years of career stress, poor management and the leadership failures. We all start our correctional careers excited andready to make a difference. Officers showing their desire to excel and bring their education and experience into the field, only to be denied the satisfaction of advancement.We turn cynical toward any decisions and skeptical of changes that the administrationsmake and often criticize those who take the side of supervision. Regardless of what stateyou live and what agency you work for, the difference is minimal depending on the securitylevel and department for which you work. Corrections work is unfair and the strongfeelings of frustration can be overwhelming throughout your career.It becomes difficult balancing long working hours, rotating shifts and different posts,watching the pain and conflict placed on one another by the inmates and management. Itmay be the reading of negative feed back portrayed by the media and watch dog inmateadvocates attempting to govern and change the way that we enforce our rules, policiesand laws. The constant pressure of being locked up with the predators of society for eightto sixteen hours a day contributes to that relentless monster called stress. We are under trained, understaffed and society cannot possibly comprehend what we endure each dayin an attempt to protect their public interests. It is difficult to comprehend why an officer punched a handcuffed inmate after a violent restraint, but those who do the work can

Training Article

sometimes empathize.

“It is the nature of man to rise to greatness, if greatness isexpected of him.”

John Steinbeck

We hope that our families can understand why we are short, angry and frustrated whenthings get confusing at home. It is often difficult to explain what our day actuallyencompassed because if you tell them the truth of what you endure, they may worry andbecome fearful everyday you leave for work. Along with our health and emotional wellbeing at stake, the levels of occupational and self induced stress contribute to the break upof many marriages and lead to large divisions between our children.We are more critical of our children each day because we see the result of poor parentingand undisciplined behavior in the inmates we are charged to correct. We are the keepersof the kept and it is difficult to separate our assertive demeanors from our family lives. Wewant so badly for our families to understand our dilemmas and plights but we don’t want toseem fearful, soft and out of control. Corrections is a career that demands assertivenesswithout panic and perfection without delay. Shortly into your career you will begin toquestion your desire to carry on the service and have to force yourself to come to workeach day. Everyday brings another reason dispensed to go to work and if you haveacquired enough sick time that day, those reasons may not be enough to make it intowork.Corrections officers are the forgotten peace officers of the law enforcement society. Wework in minimum, medium and maximum juvenile and adult correctional facilities. We areempowered by the state to maintain stability within the fences that cloak the occurrencesof extreme violence from the public. We walk among the predators of society regulatingthe rules, laws and policies each day without the notice of the loyalty of our duty. Theneighborhood that we police is inhabited by violent convicted felons who are authoritydefiant, aggressive and prone to assault us without any consequence of their actions. Theintestinal fortitude necessary to walk into a pod full of predators bent on manipulating,bewildering and sometimes disabling you is immense.

We walk among the predatorsand silently serve, because nobody else will!

Our specific job is to maintain order, establish safety and attempt some sort of rehabilitation while maintaining professionalism and composure. We are second guessedand micromanaged by individuals whom we question their knowledge and abilities. It iseasy to forget where you came from as you start the ascent up the ladder of success.Those same ineptness criticisms that you as an officer once spoke about your administrations is now how you may be managing your officers. As a leader of men youshould know that managers tell officers to do things but leaders say lets do things together.We need more leaders and fewer managers in the corrections field.

“Example is not themain thing in influencing others; it is the only thing.”

Everyday we attempt toestablish dominance within our institutions hoping that we can walk out the front doors atthe end of our shifts. All tribulations are often blamed on officer inadequacies.We are understaffed everyday as I have never known any institution that had too manyofficers. It is not uncommon to have a fourth of your officers out on some sort of leavesuch as sick, disability, and inmate related injuries and yet we are pressured and dividedby the administration while maintaining a low moral level because of our staff outages.