UNWISE: OVERPLAYING YOUR HAND

“Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic, for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.” - Vita Sackville-West

Overplaying one’s hand originated as a card-playing term. In a game such as poker or bridge every player is dealt a "hand" of cards at the beginning of the game and must decide how best to "play their hand" meaning how to use their cards to maximum advantage to win the game. If you err on the side of overconfidence and try to win in ways that your hand really isn't good enough to win, and lose as a result, you are said to have overplayed your hand.

So from there it is easy to understand the figurative use. If you are trying to score in some arena other than a card game, you are still figuratively trying to do the best you can to get your way or make your point with the hand you have been dealt. Those are your assets. Play them right and you will perhaps win whatever advantage or score you were looking for. If you attribute to them greater truth in meaning than they have, and become overconfident, you may end up being discredited, having overplayed your hand.

While playing a game with cards, it may be advantageous to “bluff” your way to making others surrender in the belief that you possess a winning hand; in the real world there is less room to rely on misinformation, deception or insincere practices.

Look at the job performance of Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, from his 15 days to slow the spread over one year ago to a seemingly never-ending cycle of changed viewpoints on everything from continuation of lockdowns, to effectiveness of treatments and specific medications, to when a COVID vaccine could or would be available, to the effectiveness and composition and number of masks to be worn (or not), to changes on guidance for social distancing, deep cleaning protocols, and on and on, causing a most predictable questioning of the validity of his breadth of knowledge and his ultimate motives. Now, by overplaying his hand before he apparently had sufficient evidence based upon true scientific fact, he has been consistently losing credibility.

If a police officer or official was as unclear in their direction, can you imagine the result in critical situations? In this day and age of de-escalation, I learned early on in my career to avoid

unnecessary escalation in dealing with uncooperative individuals who were unlawfully breaching the peace. Often times, these were individuals who were nonviolent but for whatever reasons simply angered and upset. The natural tendency for an inexperienced or rookie officer in these situations is to immediately threaten arrest for noncompliance. Once that threat is made however, all other options are off the table unless willing to lose all credibility in the eyes of the violator, further validating their noncompliance and underlying reason for it. Instead, in a nonviolent encounter, veteran officers know to speak to people from a position of strength, empathy and understanding with a willingness to be of help as a way to gain compliance. Of course, when faced with an enraged violent perpetrator, safety must be of upmost concern and appropriate levels of physical force must be used to stop any threat.

Don’t be seen as a joker, hoaxer or clown

Does it seem as though some are simply drunk with power in the eyes of those who are being told what they must do? Today, too many dig in their heels and find themselves in the untenable position of defending the indefensible while overplaying their hand in error often with grave and unintended consequences. Remember, just because something is said doesn’t in and of itself make it so. Whether you are director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases or an officer on-the-beat, instruction and authoritative powers must be used judiciously to avoid a loss of credibility and ultimate control of the environment around you as we strive to work toward the common good.

Joel E. Gordon is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com