Public Safety Cycling and the Age of Social Media
by Bernie Hogancamp, IPMBA President
Every succeeding generation brings forth new talents, driving the need to evolve so as not to fall behind and stagnate. From the “Greatest Generation” to “Baby Boomers” to “Gen-X-ers” to “Millennials”, we look to incorporate the best of each new generation while trying to preserve what we value of the previous.
Public safety personnel in management and training have had to adapt to the strengths and limitations of those brought up with differing perspectives. The generation before mine grumbled at the way we chafed at the rigid paramilitary structure that had worked so smoothly for them. My generation wondered how the profession would survive with a work ethic that seemed to be less career-oriented than ours. The rise of technology and discomfort with the resulting changes threatened to leave many of us behind, reminiscing about “traditional police work” accomplished without reliance on technology at our fingertips.
Even those of us who have worked hard to embrace advancing technology are being tested in unexpected ways. Social media, in its ever-changing forms, has become the dominant communication media of our most recent first responders. These additional modes of communication have resulted in an overall increase in connection and communication, even on a global scale. Yet this increase has been at the expense of direct interpersonal contact, reducing the time we confer face-to-face and limiting the depth of the understanding that can come with personal contact. It is vital to understand that body language, cadence, tone, volume and facial expression can profoundly alter the meaning of verbal expression, and that the absence of these cues can easily lead to misunderstanding.
One of the challenges of training new hires is fostering an effective communication style that helps them solve the problems that we face with those we serve. Whether you call it “Verbal Judo”, “De-escalation”, or “Crisis Intervention”, these problem-solving skills are critical to successfully and safely performing our various missions. It has always taken time to develop the confidence to effectively use these skills and to find a personal communication style that fits.
How, then, do we interact with and train a generation that has become accustomed to communicating in 144 characters (or less), with arcane (at least to us) abbreviations (OMG, LOL, WTF!), while employing little symbols with ambiguous meanings?
A good friend, and police chief, in the Chicago suburbs has made development of this vital skill an integral part of the field training process. The entire shift is required to spend coffee and lunch breaks with each new officer to both encourage and assess his or her ability to communicate interpersonally. Most respond fairly well to this immersion, but some struggle to adapt. Those who have difficulty are made aware that this is a critical feature of the required training and that they must improve to be retained. Not all have succeeded.
To read – and hear – about a similar approach to teaching officers interpersonal skills, visit “In Social Media Age, Young Cops Get Trained For Real-Life Conversation”, at http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2017/01/12/509444309/in-social-media-age-young-cops-get-trained-for-real-life-conversation.
For all of their challenges, the Chicago Police Department has taken an innovative step that may improve interpersonal communication. Every recruit goes through bike patrol training (albeit abbreviated) in the academy and is likely to be assigned bike patrol duties after completing field training. The approachable nature of officers on bike patrol, the less formal uniforms, and the increased citizen contact likely on bike patrol, can possibly serve as a form of personal communication immersion that may more quickly hone this vital skill.
Public safety cycling has a long history of success in bringing together agencies and citizens in positive ways. In light of this potential, it is important to consider more than technical cycling skill when selecting new public safety cyclists. An understanding their role as emmissaries and the communication skills required should also be a part of the selection criteria.
As public safety cyclists and instructors, it is important to recognize our role in moving the profession forward. The depth and breadth of our connection to the communities that we serve can make all the difference in the success or failure of our mission. Effective communication is necessary to foster understanding, leading to greater mutual trust, making us all safer in the process.
(C) 2017 IPMBA. This column appeared in the Winter 2017 issue of IPMBA News.