What is it Like to be a Police Officer?

In keeping with our series that explores what it is like to hold certain positions, please welcome Jeff Robinson-Badge #130, Patrol Officer, Central Station, who has 24 years of policing experience. Thank-you Jeff for engaging with Hamiltonians in The Hamiltonian!

Officer Robinson's introductory remarks:

I just want to preface this by stating that these answers I'm providing as an almost 25 year patrol officer are more than likely going to be completely different than that of a 5 or even 15 year officer. I think the reader needs to understand that any answers provided here are from a senior member and it would be interesting to compare my answers with more junior members of the service, because I think the answers I'm providing are not going to be the typical answers readers of the Hamiltonian may expect. Regardless, I hope they provide some insight from a long time patrol officer in Hamilton. 

1. Public perceptions of police work can vary widely. What are some lesser known responsibilities or challenges of being a police officer that the general public might not be aware of?  

I'm not sure the public is aware of just how busy things can be for a patrol officer. There are a lot of pressures involved for patrol officers as I'm sure your readers can imagine but the sheer number of calls and duties on a shift to shift basis I believe are much more than people realize. 

On top of answering 911 and non emergency call dispatches, officers are also trying to find time to complete proactive traffic enforcement, RIDE lanes, follow-up work from calls which have taken place previously, court requests by the Crown Attorney for upcoming cases, assigned follow-ups from supervisors if the matter is deemed time sensitive and can't wait until the return of the original investigating officer, community special attentions to attend hotspots of traffic problems or criminal activity, relentless pursuits where there is a warrant out for a high risk offender and locating the offender is a priority, missing person investigations which are  worked on 24/7 and assigned to patrol, and other community interaction and outreach based duties which are important for the public to know that the police are accessible and aware of their needs.

Patrol officers are always trying to squeeze in all of these extra responsibilities between the incoming

emergency calls. What makes it more difficult is that many of these duties involve outreach to witnesses, victims and the community and if there is some downtime in policing, it usually occurs after midnight until early in the morning, a time where it would be inappropriate to contact people involved in the above mentioned responsibilities. So the duties tend to have to be completed during the busiest times of the shift when the emergency calls are coming in. Trying to accomplish all of these things during a shift can be very difficult.  

2. In what ways has policing evolved over the past decade?

For me, the first thing I thought of when reading this question is the large percentage of younger and more junior officers that make up the total number of patrol officers on the street. I think 10 years ago, there was more of a balance of officers comprising different amounts of seniority on each patrol squad.  Now, due to the ebb and flow of hiring years ago, many to most of the 20 year + veterans who work in a patrol capacity are gone. And that's too bad. 

But before many people jump to the conclusion that this is bad for the residents of Hamilton, let me ease your mind. When I was hired in 2001, or in fact when anyone was hired back then, the department was really taking a bit of a dice roll on recruits. Sure they did the best background they could to be assured they were hiring the best candidates but at the end of the day, they never knew me personally or my work ethic. Today, as a result of the special constable program and now the police cadet program, there hasn't been a better way to pre-screen future applicants who are part of these programs.  And the junior members being hired on after being screened through these programs are excellent. 

That's also not to say there isn't a path for individuals that want to apply directly from another career or profession, and I believe that because these individuals tend to be older and have more life experience, they also make excellent police officers. Having life experience is incredibly valued as a police recruit. 

But with a larger number of younger officers on the squads, the significance of the fewer senior officers stepping up, recognizing their value and taking on mentorship, coaching and moving into leadership roles becomes much more important. But as far as an evolution in policing, one of the predominant facts of modern policing is the movement to a much younger police service.

3. What do you consider to be the most dangerous or high-risk aspect of your role as a police officer? 

I mean, there's going to be officers that answer this question simply, with the typical and expected responses. But here's what I think as a long time patrol officer. Sure, we deal with a lot of serious crime. Dispatch tells us there's a guy with a gun on the street, or we have someone who just threw themselves into the Harbour in January, or we get a call from an occupant hiding in their closet saying 4 masked suspects with knives and bats just kicked in their door and are in their house.  Can these be dangerous when we attend? Sure they can. But while making our way to the call, we begin to prepare mentally by establishing a plan not only in our heads but with other officers over the air who are also attending. It's this plan that stabilizes you before you arrive. You arrive and you act. This is what we do. To me, is there a certain amount of danger to showing up at these calls? Absolutely. 

But in my opinion, the most dangerous and high risk aspects of our job are when things happen that were unexpected. It's the unexpected and unplanned occurrences that add a whole new level risk and danger to our job. There is no time to prepare. It's clearing a building for a male who someone called in saying was acting strange. That's it. No big deal. After searching almost the whole building, and speaking with people who state they haven't seen him, everything points to it appearing as if he's gone. When you exit the stairwell on the last floor and you turn left he's charging at you down the hallway with a knife. It wasn't expected, you had no information he had a weapon, people just told you they haven't seen him. But you need to act. 

It's arriving with CAS to do a wellbeing check on 2 young children. You are standing in a filthy and unhealthy residence to keep the peace while CAS is asking questions to the cooperative mother in order to make a determination of the next steps. The mother is calm and answering all the questions. Without alerting you in advance, the CAS worker informs the mother that they will be apprehending the children. Without warning, the mother gets up from the kitchen table, opens a drawer, pulls out a knife and charges the worker. You never saw that coming. It's real and completely unexpected.  What happens next? These are the moments that to me, bring the most danger and risk to the job. The unknowns. The unexpected. Couldn't see them coming. But you have to act. 

In my career the most dangerous situations I have personally ever found myself in were the ones that no one could have seen coming. That’s the most risky aspect of policing. The unknowns.  The things that happen in front of you that you couldn't predict or prepare for. Those are the dangerous ones.    

4. Can you describe a particularly challenging incident you’ve responded to? How did you approach and resolve the situation? 

I think it would be easy to pick a single situation over my career and tell you what I did to resolve it to answer this question. But I'm not sure how much insight that would provide. I'm going to answer this one by explaining what I do, and what I believe most good officers do at challenging incidents to resolve them effectively. 

To me, the most important trait for police officers to have to resolve any situation, especially the most challenging ones, is the ability to pivot quickly from being a cop to a human being,  and identifying which one at any moment would lead to a more desired and successful outcome. If we arrive at a chaotic scene that needs to be controlled, of course the cop hat goes on. But once things have calmed down, shifting to more human approach will be more effective.  There are situations that we attend which require immediate direction, and there are situations we attend which will benefit incredibly by the police officer being a human being and listening. Some officers struggle in challenging situations because when compassion is required, they're serious. And in situations that require direction, they're nonchalant. The ability to pivot between the director and the human being is essential for not only a positive result at a call, but for a successful policing career. Good cops can do this fluidly and without thinking. They rely on their senses and pivot between these roles without even knowing its happening. For some officers it’s innate. For other officers it must be learned. But it can be learned. And this ability is crucial for the effective resolution of challenging calls.

The second approach officers must take at difficult calls, is the ability to work together as a team, with everyone taking a responsibility.  Often, challenging calls we deal with are not necessarily the most dramatic ones that you would think of. These aren't calls where "A" happens which result in us responding with "B". Someone does this so we obviously do that. A suspect has a firearm, so we respond by drawing our firearm. Someone commits a criminal offence, so we arrest them.

 So many of our most challenging calls are the ones where we arrive and there is no clear direction. We don't have a lot of information.  Or there are lots of witnesses at a scene giving us a lot of different and conflicting information. Often the scene is chaotic and people are running and we have no idea what's going on. Challenging calls can often be calls that could go in a lot of different directions. There is no this happens so we do that. Its how do we put the pieces of the puzzle together as information starts to trickle in? Where do we go with the little information or conflicting information we have? How do we handle it? What's the best course of action of many different options that would benefit the most people and lead to a successful result?  What order to we speak with the involved parties? Do we speak with them at the scene or do we bring them in? Is there evidence anywhere? Where is it? Can we identify a crime scene?  These calls with little or a lot of conflicting information can also be very challenging. The ability to get together with the other officers on scene and come up with a plan, where everyone contributes is essential to a successfully resolving challenging incidents.    

5. For individuals considering a career in law enforcement, what personal reflections or questions should they explore to determine if the profession is a good fit for them?  

This is a very very important question which I get asked a lot. And here's the answer I always give. 

Is policing a great profession? It is if you're the right person. 

If you are someone who projects forward and rarely looks back at the things that have happened in your life then you're suitable. I've always been someone to not dwell on the past and move on. That's not to say you shouldn't be upset or get disappointed at things that happen. But your turn around time needs to be quick. I've always been like that. My mother often says she doesn't understand how I can just move on and never dwell on anything. But that's who I've always been as a person. I don't believe that it is a learned trait. It's embedded in your DNA. I do it without thinking about having to do it. It just happens. This is a very important trait to have. A trait you must have.

Can policing be stressful? Absolutely to anyone regardless of your makeup. But you will struggle long term if you dwell on the past. You know people always use that cliché line "You have to leave work at work". In my experience, this is not a learned trait. It's embedded into who you are as a person and you do it without thinking about it. Dwelling on the scenes we witness and the tragedy we are involved with can devastate officers. That being said, you may have always been a forward thinking person but it's hard to predict how the calls and tragedy we witness will affect you. Sometimes there's something at a scene that will trigger officers and they will struggle, regardless of their makeup. Sometimes it’s not the first time or second time an officer experiences it but the 11th time. It's impossible to know. It happens. But coming into this profession as someone who projects forward and who doesn’t dwell on the past definitely gives you the best head start and the best chance for a long career in policing. 

6. What aspects of your job do you find the most rewarding, and which parts do you find more difficult or less fulfilling.  

This is an interesting one. And my answer will differ wildly from junior officers. Nonetheless, here we go. 

Most people would assume the answer to this would be helping people at the calls I attend. And of course that is rewarding. But here's the problem with that answer. We don't have the time to stay in touch with people to see how our interaction affects their life moving forward. It's not like a teacher who puts work and time into a child in her class and is there every day to see the constant development and progress throughout the school year. Or the personal trainer who designs a program for a client and meets with the client once a week over a year and sees the physical change. It's the seeing that's satisfying and rewarding. 

Unfortunately we don't see the short, medium and long term results of our involvement. We show up and we do the absolute best we can. We act if we need to act, and help when we need to help. We provide the best service we can in the moment. And then we move on. That's the job. Can there be a little bit of satisfaction in the small amount of time we spend with people? Yes. Of course. But the real satisfaction would come from that small amount of time we spend with people kick-starting and leading to a larger change which begins with our involvement and takes place over the next few weeks/months/years. We're just not around to see that. The progress and progression. We just can't be. And to me, that's where the reward would come from. As police we do the best we can at the call and try to set people on the right path. Then we have to move on. And that's just the nature of the job.   

So for me, the most rewarding part of the job? Being a coach officer and a mentor for junior officers. My phone ringing off the hook by junior members asking for advice and guidance. Calls when I'm on patrol with them. Calls when I'm their acting Sgt. Calls when I'm off duty at home and something personal has happened they want to talk about. That's the most rewarding part for me. Knowing I've earned each one of their trust, and being there for them. Celebrating their achievements and correcting and counselling them when they could have done things better. It's like the example I mentioned above of the teacher being around and seeing the change. I'm around these junior members all the time and it allows me to see the progress and growth. And thinking that when they succeed, maybe I had a small part of that. That's what's rewarding for me.  

More difficult and less fulfilling? Media fuelled negativity towards police. 

7. How has the use of technology, including artificial intelligence, influenced modern day policing? 

The chief pulled me aside the other day and asked me about my thoughts with regards to the AI report writing capabilities we are currently trialing with our new body worn cameras. My response? “Shockingly good”. For those who aren’t aware, all patrol officers are now fitted with body worn cameras which record all audio and video of interactions at calls. Upon arrival back at the station, the data is uploaded into our Digital Evidence Management System. Part of this system includes an auto report writing option which uses the audio recorded by the body worn cameras at each call.  This system is named DraftOne and is powered by AI. If there are 2 officers on the call, it will use the audio from both officers. If there are 6 officers on the call speaking with 6 different people, it will use data from all 6 officers. It will pull all relevant information from all officers and all sources, and complete full reports. Now this is all fine but how good are the reports?

 Like I said to the chief, shockingly good. There are fail safes built into the system like embedded irrelevant sentences which doesn’t make sense, which the AI does on purpose to confirm our reports are reviewed and edited by the officer before marked as completed. The program also requires officers to input 10% of new information into the report in order to access the complete button. But let me tell you, I often read these reports and other than removing the obvious embedded error designed to confirm the officer’s review of the report, there is often nothing I need to add to remove. It is a great report. And often times better than I could have explained the situation myself. What was once a 20 or 30 or 45 minute report is now completed before your eyes in 30 seconds.  And after review and adding in some detail, we are looking at 5-10 minutes tops. The result? Officers spending more time available and on patrol rather than crowding our report writing room. I can’t speak highly enough about the adoption of this system into policing. 

8. Police work often involves exposure to traumatic or distressing situations. How do you manage the emotional and psychological impact of these experiences?

First of all, and as I touched on earlier, much of this and how you are affected and manage the impact is dictated by the type of person you are, and have always been. Do you dwell on things? Or are you the person who lets things go. This plays a big part. 

What I do and what I like to tell other officers is if you spend all your time thinking about the problems in the world, you won’t be happy. You can’t watch the news or read things on social media these days without constantly being reminded of all the negativity in the world, even though we already see too much of it through our work. What officers need to understand is it's all about perspective. Because we are constantly surrounded by other peoples tragedy, heartbreaking emergencies and just seeing how other people live, let these things make you thankful for the things you have in your life. Let the serious problems we see others face in the course of our day to day shifts remind you that the problems you think you have are not actually that serious. 

Sometimes I think I’m having a bad day, and a few calls in to my shift and witnessing what other people are dealing with I’m reminded that in fact I’m not having a bad day at all. And my life is good. This is the healthy way to police. To have this outlook. And this is the perspective you need to get you through a long career in this profession. If you don’t have this outlook, you’ll tend to take this negativity home with you after work. And this is a recipe for disaster. Your spouse and your children don’t want a cop coming home. They don’t want to live with a cop. They want their husband/wife or boyfriend/girlfriend and their dad. Leave policing behind. For you and for them.  

The other things are health related. Maintaining a high level of fitness. Weight training. Cardio. Eating properly. Developing a good wakeup and go to bed routine to help the body deal with the shift work. Absolutely essential. 

And you really don’t have a choice. You need to take on the perspective I’ve described above. And you need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. These are non negotiables and the value of these things can’t be overstated.

9. Can you share an example of a time when you or your colleagues made a meaningful impact in the community? 

Back in 2008, I was asking by Steve Bull, another member of the police service, to assist as a leader with a program he began in 2006 called SWAMPY. (Streets to Wilderness Algonquin Mentoring Program for Youth). The program was run in tandem with Proaction Cops and Kids, who provides funding to approved programs that establish a positive relationship between cops and kids.  SWAMPY police leaders worked with The Living Rock and the YMCA. The Living Rock selected at risk street youth for the program whereas the YMCA selected new immigrant youth to Canada. Police leaders were paired up with one of the youth in a canoe and each police/youth team worked together over the course of 3 days to complete a route through Algonquin. Each trip also had youth workers attend from the Living Rock or the YMCA. 

For me, it was an amazing experience. I was part of the program from 2008 to 2020. Whether paired up with an at risk street youth, most of which were very apprehensive of police, or a new immigrant youth to Canada from countries where police were not trusted, the difference in the relationship between the youth and the police by the end of the trip was astounding. The one that stood out to me was a female from the Middle East. The first day of the trip, paddling across the first lake, she completely ignored me. I kept asking her questions about her family, herself, school. Nothing. Zero. By day 3 we were having water fights in the boat and she was always looking for a way to push me into the water when I was down near the shore. It was crazy the difference.

A few years back I was driving down Barton Street and saw a group of teens hanging around a corner in the evening and as I slowly rolled by in the cruiser trying to see what they were up to, I heard one of them start yelling my name and he came running toward the cruiser wearing a SWAMPY coolmax shirt we hand out on the trips. I recognized him as being one of the at risk youth who participated on a trip a few years back. The rest of the youth approached the cruiser and he introduced me as one of the police officers who took him to Algonquin and how amazing the experience was. These two examples are proof of the success of the program because this is exactly what the program was created for and hoped to do.   

Although Steve Bull, who created the program, has retired, another officer has taken up the reins and SWAMPY continues to this day. 

10. What proportion of your duties involves administrative tasks such as paperwork, compared to time spent actively in the field?

For me and I think most officers, it varies wildly. Some shifts seem very paper intensive. The calls you are dispatched to just happen to be full report type calls. And other days by the luck of the draw, they are just notebook entries or very brief end notes which are typed directly into the call in the cruiser. Again, it just really depends a lot on just the type of calls you happen to get during the shift. The department has over the years done the best they can to minimize patrol officers stuck in the station on paperwork, specifically with the creation of the Call Management Branch, the Case Prep Unit and most recently the ARO (Alternate Response officer). The job of all of these units has been to minimize the amount of time police officers spend typing, with the goal being to get them back out onto the street quicker. The creation of these units has been extremely valuable. But I think the real excitement lately has been the AI generated reports through body camera audio.   

So to circle back to the question, it’s hard to say and changes shift to shift. But in my opinion it is definitely less now than it used to be.

Thank-you Jeff for there very thoughtful answers. Thank-you to Jaimie Bannon. for facilitating our connection to Jeff, and thank-you to all the men and women in policing services who keep us safe!

Miss our interview with Chief Frank Bergen? See it here.