Toxic Cultures Need Full Repair — A Military/Law Enforcement Experience

Any good officer — military or law enforcement — who has been on the force long enough, probably knows how a Derek Chauvin not only remains in the system, but is is given two trainees to shadow him.

Being in the Coast Guard, I experienced a mix of both military and law enforcement cultures and, of course, the worst tends to stay with you. One time I was screamed at in front of the Command hallway by a low-mid ranking member for nearly no reason. No one came out of their office to see what was happening, let alone correct the behavior.

(This member was upset he had to get up early for a boat trip across the Long Island Sound. The purpose of the trip was to take me to a CG related medical appointment, hence I was the reason he had to get up early and his adult tantrum ensued. These early trips and training exercises were not rare.)

I was low ranking and a woman, so of course he felt his dominance over my rank and cultural inferiority, thus I took the brunt of his childish anger and verbal abuse. That attitude towards me was as a fellow member of the force, one who was supposed to be part of “in group” ´favoritism (psychology). Clearly I wasn’t considered part of his team and it is easy to imagine how this person might act when addressing others in the public he perceives as part of the “out group” or “other.”

Why else did my existence anger him? I was applying to Officer Candidate School and this medical appointment was in support of that. The normal teasing of Officers (higher rank managerial roles) by enlisted was expected, but not the intense anger and hatred. This persons’ fragility from loss of control was causing rage. A result of not only a woman seeking a higher rank than him, but also the United States’ issues with economic divide and perceived elitism of a college education. I was a walking example of this person viewing themself as falling behind because I was moving up. (Recommended read).

In a comical light — he was a Farva from Super Troopers, putting soap in the rookies coffee, however in the darker moments, he was a menace that leadership did not control and contributed to the deterioration of the morale and values of the entire unit. Those that wanted to feel powerful sided with him to avoid his wrath. Obviously there are other stories.

Whoever was in charge did not regulate for reasons I do not know. They did not care he was a problem, they choose to be ignorant that he was a problem, they had too many other problems to deal with, or they did not feel empowered or know how to use the system to control this person who was a problem.

The law enforcement system is already sensitive members abusing their power, as demonstrated in the Stanford Prison Experiment, when researchers put college students in roles as either guards or prisoners and ended up having to end the experiment early because the guards became too extreme in their roles. When you get people prone to absorbing that power and using it to fill in for wherever in their life they feel inferior, you will have problems.

I am not going to comment on defunding the police movement because I haven’t educated myself on the facts, the statistics, the dollar amounts, the programs that might be enhanced and those programs´ success metrics. I haven’t spoken to Public Health experts who have studied this, I haven’t looked into where this has been a success or a failure. I don’t have the depth of knowledge and I am tired of people having such strong opinions without doing their unbiased homework. This movement has just started gaining attention and I highly doubt in the five days its been proposed that any basic citizen has done thorough enough analysis to draw an educated conclusion.

I understand why most officers are initially against this initiative, I have never seen an instance where a group, office, directorate, or unit welcomes a smaller budget.

I do think police officers are doing too much, I think they are overburdened without proper training for some instances in which they are asked to respond (mental health calls come to mind). I think their own mental health is often neglected, similar to other first responders and military members, from sleep disorders derived from odd work hours to PTSD. From my experience, these factors did not help, but were not major contributors to the toxic culture of a unit.

I will say, as I said in a previous post, the only way I could see my toxic unit improving is if they rid it of everyone and started fresh with respectable people, high quality leadership, and an adjusted mission to suit the environment. If a force already has that, go forward to do good things. If it is struggling, a major change is needed for the sake of the good officers.