“California catches fire every year. Risk management is not a class I teach; it’s a way of life. Do you really think I’d build my [freaking] house in the [freaking] woods?”
Those are the words of Gordon Graham, retired commander of the California Highway Patrol, attorney, highly valued speaker, and co-founder of Lexipol–a company designed to standardize policy, procedure and training in public safety operations. Today, most of the law enforcement agencies in California are using the Lexipol Knowledge Management System and nearly half of the States are now using this approach to law enforcement operations.
The context of the quote at the outset was Graham telling a story about a woman whose forest-built-home burned down three times after continuing to rebuild it in the same place.
Risk Management Using SROVT
Graham’s concepts are simple. “If it’s predictable, it’s preventable.” He developed a philosophy toward training that is easy to remember using SROVT—solid, realistic, ongoing, verifiable training.
Out of every person I’ve heard speak during the course of my career, no one compares with Graham. With him you get a combination of beat cop-legal scholar-stand up comedian. His talent is unparalleled. If you ever get a chance to hear him speak, do so!
“You will run into the unthinkable event someday, and you will have to make instantaneous decisions,” Graham has said during many lectures/improv comedy routines. “Whether you are prepared to do so is up to you.”
Attorneys Outnumber Police
The following is a paraphrase of facts he once reminded an auditorium full of cops in California: “There are about 100,000 of you (cops) and 300,000 of them (attorney’s) in this state. That means they have you outnumbered 3-1. In other words, three of them are looking to sue everyone one of you. Since half are unemployed, they are looking to make a buck off your errors. You not only need to do your job right, you need to be able to prove you did it right.”
6 Timeless Tips
Some of his rules of risk management include the following:
- Organizations must strive for continuous improvement in their personnel.
- Organizations must hire quality people — “If you hire stupid people, they are not going to get better over time.”
- An organization’s supervisors must spot problems before they become tragedies.
- An organization and its members must have a healthy respect for the dangers and risks they face.
- Organizations must establish performance metrics for its personnel and hold them accountable — “Rules without enforcement are just nice words,” Graham said.
- An organization and its personnel must be able and willing to learn from their mistakes.
Police work encounters high risk, low frequency events. We need to apply SROVT and basic principles of risk management to each one.
Practice What You Preach
Most of all, practice what you preach. Cops in the trenches can sniff out hypocrisy as fast as a narcotic detecting K9 can find dope. If you—as a leader—do not take your own advice, do not expect others to do so.
– Jim McNeff
(Feature image: Pixabay)
Jim worked in military and civilian law enforcement for thirty-one years. While in the USAF he flew as a crewmember aboard the National Emergency Airborne Command Post—a presidential support detail. Following his military service, he served for twenty-eight years with the Fountain Valley Police Department in Orange County, California where he retired as a lieutenant. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice from Southwest University and graduated from the prestigious Sherman Block Supervisory Leadership Institute as well as the IACP course, Leadership in Police Organizations.
Jim has authored three books: The Spirit behind Badge 145, Justice Revealed, and Jurisdiction.
