New Officer On The Block
Being a new Officer in Corrections is something
hard to tell anyone about. It stirs up all kinds of emotions. Thrill, knowing
that not everyone can do our job. A little fear, knowing that in our line of
work we might not go home someday. Doubt, not knowing if we will be able to
handle our jobs and meet everyone's requirements. Hope, that we will not let
our loved ones or fellow Officers down.
Almost every new Officer wonders, "How do I treat the inmates? Do I let them
know who is boss? Do I act as if I'm human?"
A few will try to be a good ol' boys and act friendly toward the inmates. A
few will try to show how big and bad they are. The smart ones will watch the
experienced staff. Of course sometimes that doesn't work because veteran staff
may have their own problems. In the end it all boils down to a training
experience as you learn what not to do and why.
So treat every assignment as a learning experience. If you make a mistake,
tell someone before the inmates do or before they act as if they are
protecting you. Inmates love it when new Officers make mistakes. What they
love even more is when you try to cover your mistake up. I guarantee you,
whatever you cover up, someday will come back to haunt you. When you make a
mistake, it'd be best that you let your supervisor know right away, before
inmates start working on you.
New staff looks for approval, but they must not seek it from the inmates. If
inmates tell new staff that they like it better when they are on duty,
staff need to stop, step back, and review how they are handling things. When
you hear this from an inmate, you can be sure of one thing: you are doing
something wrong. Not every Officer will step back and look at what they are
doing, but again not every Officer will be there at the end of six months or a
year. No one expects new staff to do everything correctly right off the bat.
But if you are ready to learn, you will learn from your mistakes and others'.
New Officers tend to overreact and that is part of the learning curve. If you
catch yourself getting uptight, stop, count to ten, take a deep breath, and
continue. New staff must realize that the inmates will continue to check you
out, and will try to push your buttons and manipulate you to see if it will
work. If you lose it, they won.
If an inmate tells you, "I do this all the time when Officer X is on duty,"
tell them you will check it out and see if it is OK. Until then, they must
wait for that other officer to come back on duty. The more they protest, the
more you know you have made the right decision by not giving in.
New staff must also learn not to get caught up in the rumor mill. At times
Corrections is a very boring job. Judge each staff member by the way they
treat you, not by the bad word someone puts out on them. The Officer someone
badmouthed may be the same Officer who puts his life on the line for you in a
crisis. Yes, that old grouch that people put down may just be tired of all the
cowboys and seeing so many staff come and go. If approached with respect, he
may be only too happy to help you all he can. I've been there and I've seen it
happen.
Take care,
The Old Screw
|
Copyright © 2004,
DesertWaters.com. All Rights Reserved. No reproduction allowed. |