The Great Escape: EVOLUTION TO EXODUS

By: Joel E. Gordon

What a challenging time we continue to find ourselves in.

During the last many months and years, the trust people have placed in every level of government has greatly diminished. One result is the many new plans and restrictions that are being proposed and implemented in an attempt to hold police accountable. Where however, are the plans to hold those for criminal acts and all of the chaos and destruction accountable? Where are the plans to reduce the violence? Where are the plans to improve community relations instead using such divisive measures that only serve to portray police as the enemy? 

So who are the people that are mostly proposing plans for reform and police oversight? Is it professionals with extensive knowledge of the law, a perspective on the evolution of law enforcement and of the job itself? No, instead in many communities it is comprised of politicians and ordinary citizens with anti-police agendas; facts be damned. Would you want a committee of non-medical people organized to monitor doctors or non-educational persons to educate educators? Maybe there should be a committee of non-aviation people to tell pilots how to fly aircraft? 

Law Enforcement has evolved from a Reactionary Policing model to Proactive Policing to Community Policing to Broken Windows Theory to Intelligence Lead Policing into Evidence Based Policing. What is referred to as Evidence Based Policing is subjective and is the brainchild of academia. It makes judgments on outcomes opening the door to many unresolved contradictory ideas which routinely override long established mandates and opportunity for personal growth and promotion. Since subjective to the whims of political correctness many unintended consequences are resulting in an environment which is untenable to the newer generation of law enforcement leaders who were, in fact, in many cases born of the culture of the importance of the diversity philosophy.

Ever watched dominoes falling in real time? The sad reality is that many in law enforcement are throwing in the towel and just can't take it anymore. The pressure of the job and sudden pivot away from decades old reforms for diversity, increased training with community policing and de-escalation techniques being replaced by a cry for sweeping defunding have resulted in reevaluation of many considering entering the profession along with many resignations of many tenured and highly respected law enforcement leaders, a substantial number many of which who identified as minority professionals that successfully earned their way up in the ranks. From Dallas to Seattle. to an entire command staff in Rochester New York, along with many other chiefs nationwide, the time to move out of law enforcement had come on the heels of their defiance against those with an anti-police mindset, ideology and agenda. 

Will this result in more feckless police leadership remaining in office or in being hired who will be willing to put their officers in unsafe, retreating or defenseless positions at the behest of those lacking sufficient knowledge to make informed or rational judgments? Society can’t reasonably expect law enforcement to succumb to violence without responding in such a fashion as to protect the very lives of the protectors themselves. No one signed up to be physically harmed by becoming a law enforcement officer.

Although the job remains largely one of regulating human behavior, the desire to help others continues to be the driving motivational force and reason that some still answer the calling to keep the peace.

The bottom line appears to be that regardless of the current preferred practiced model of policing, or the high level of professional training implemented, the idea that the police are unwanted (until needed for selfish or individual safety reasons) has become the guiding principle of those politicians holding the power of life and death over our future.

The way forward remains a mystery. I have long professed that we must reject an "us versus them" mentality. In this current environment, through the actions of many others, it seems increasingly difficult to maintain this mindset. The truth remains, however, we are all in this TOGETHER. Unfortunately though, if things continue on their current trajectory this clearly isn’t likely to be ending well for the common good.

Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, 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