A website that links all my ideas, thoughts and works to one site so you can pick and choose where you want to go and visit me
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
A must read story - LEO Retirement & Dark Demons Hidden
The Dark Demons of
LEO Retirement
It has always been one of the
most anticipated and peaceful thoughts in life to enjoy the benefits of
retirement as it are certainly one of the joys of living. Life as we have known
it was always a rat race and life in the fast lane that brought us success and
happiness on the journey to having it all and enjoying your retirement in the
sun.
There are many success stories of
people retiring while prospering and doing what they want to do with their time
after working but there are also demons hidden in the living style called
retirement. These demons exist in the lives of those retiring from law
enforcement and how they cope with the dynamics of no longer being part of what
is one of the world’s largest support groups and active lifestyle occupations.
I retired three years ago. I
can relate to the disconnection, the withdrawal of camaraderie and being a part
of a circle of friends that had before retiring consumed your day and schedule.
I would like to hear more from others and share experiences about this
withdrawal of my support system and finding a new way to be independent but yet
socially connected in some way different but satisfying to me as a retired law
enforcement officer.
The fact is that many law
enforcement officers (LEO) experience the darkness of suicides in a much higher
rate than it should be. A report
states it is as high as 40 suicides per year. The sudden disconnection of 20 to
40 years of service to an occupation leaves them in an “out of sight, out of
mind” situation that needs to be adjusted through some type of support
mechanism rarely available for many of them.
Aside from the fact that some officers poorly plan their retirement with
shallow or thin blankets of security there are many other jobs they can perform
after retirement in the security management business or loss prevention control
departments. However, many find this
type of job unsatisfying and this creates more stress.
It would be surreal to believe
that once you retire it is nothing but hunting and fishing and traveling around
the country as it just isn’t so in real life. Experiencing this withdrawal is
sudden and painful. It comes at the worst times and often accompanied with
stress and severe anxiety. Suddenly and unexpectedly the rat race has turned
into a snail’s pace and live is different all the way around. The dark demon
lurking inside them is the fact there are still too many post-traumatic stress
issues unresolved in their heads and mind that keeps them on the edge of life
most of the time.
Retirement is often the “quick
sign your papers and out of the door” experience. It has no after care or post
maintenance program for your body or your mind. Retirement does not include
elements of the emotional care you need when you leave your experience and your
energy at the back door in this workplace where you entered it with youth and
spirit through the front door.
Living the lifestyle of going
zero to 60 in nano seconds changes to life in the slow lane overnight. It leads
to problems never anticipated or thought of when working and productive. If it
wasn’t for friends or family that could relate to my problems it would have
been much worse to cope with and likely end up in a severe depression created
by the void of things we did when we were working. Hence it is important that
you sit down with your family and work out a productive plan to maintain
relationships, friendships and find alternative goals to be productive and
enjoy life to the fullest and have fun doing it. It is meant to be that way when
you work hard all your life to finally enjoy the fruits of your labor.
If you are interested in to see
how actual LEO suicide numbers stack up: http://www.badgeoflife.com/retirees.php?goback=%2Egde_151721_member_214342124
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Hiring the Right Person for Correctional Officer
There have always been some risk factors involved in the selection of
good men and women working as a correctional officer. Hiring the right people
is very critical in any business but in corrections it is the most important
element of running safe and secure prisons. Hiring and bringing in the wrong
person is not just a waste of money or time spent on training them in the
Academy or formal classroom but also creates a negative impact on the workplace
that could result in death or harm to others that depend on this new person to
acquire the necessary skills and use them appropriately.
As a prerequisite to employment corrections is looking for persons with
formal and completion of high school diplomas in addition to some college preferred
in social skills or criminal justice courses.
It is important to recognize the totality of the individual’s skills,
knowledge, education and experience as it is the main factor their hiring
decisions will be hinged on as well as the pre-hiring criteria for selection
and hiring good officers.
Ideally all agencies are looking for the right candidate; someone that
can follow the rules as well as customs, practices and procedures written and
unwritten. Often times there are little or few to choose from in a small town
or county where the demographics are rural and work is centralized and remote
from the cities. You must be willing to hire locally as well as from outside
the boundaries to complement your staffing pattern with a good mix of skills,
knowledge and experience.
You must look for the complete
package of skills, experience, abilities and education to hire the right
person. You must also accept the fact that this may diminish you job pool some
and ease up on the requirement to attain more qualified personnel. The less
significant the requirement, the smaller of quality of personnel you have to
choose from. It is best not to compromise on work habits that impact compliance
with regulations, absenteeism and reliability factors. It is acceptable to
lessen the educational and experience levels if they possess the skills to perform
the job and adjust or adapt to the environment.
The second element of hiring
good people is when you look at the complete package you include and not
exclude their attitude. Having skills but demonstrating poor attitudes is a
grave mistake inside prisons or large jails. Skills and knowledge are worthless
when they aren't put to use. Experience, no matter how vast, is useless when it
is not shared with others. The vast majority failed due to problems with
motivation, willingness to be coached, temperament, and emotional intelligence.
Remember you can train for almost any
skill but it is impossible to re-train someone on their attitude.
The next
thing to consider is the type of business correction is in reality as it
carries with it volatile and potentially dangerous elements that may cause
serious harm or even death under some circumstances. You need to be absolutely
truthful with candidate when explaining the job and rely on this truth to
decide compatibility based on reactions and suitability of the candidate for
such kind of work. Not everybody is suited to be a correctional officer in a
physical and mental sense or manner. Look for those that seem to have done a
little homework on the job and ask job related questions when inquiring about
the agency or department. Look for enthusiasm and motivation factors that will
make the candidate a good employee.
Most prison
complexes hire friends and family through a referral process that is often used
instead of advertisement and recruitment drives in schools, colleges or job
fairs. Don’t be too quick to jump at the chance to hire friends and relatives
as it may come back to haunt you as a bad decision.
On the
other hand, those familiar with current staff have a better understanding of
the job’s expectations, cultural diversity and social impacts. They make be excellent
people and you may be compelled to hire them out of your heart rather than
common sense. Be prepared for interpersonal conflicts, domestic related troubles
and family and friend feuds. It depends on the size of your agency and the geographical
location of the workplace. Adjust policies to reflect nepotism, favoritism and
ensure job assignments are not in conflict with the job requirement and sound
supervision methods.
Last you
must be prepared to make independent decisions regarding the hiring of new personnel.
Nothing compares to a formal and comprehensive hiring process but sometimes you
can use your intuition or experience of character to make up the difference
when a choice has to be made. Gut feelings are appropriate in hiring and can
often result in hiring good candidates not so solid on paper or testing. Looking and recognizing dispositions,
attitudes and motivational efforts is important for correctional officers that
often work by themselves with general or no direct supervision most of the time
they are on the job.
If you
are the kind of human resource administrator that recognizes good chances than
your shot of finding and hiring a good candidate are improved. Having the
ability to spot the lazy or person with attitudes or poor motivational habits
should be a clue to avoid them and move to the next suitable candidate for
hire. Take good chances. Good chances often turn out to be your
most inspired hires--and your best employees.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
A Rogue & Scoundrel
Never talking
about his line of work and hammering out boldly his ambitions to become rich
and famous, was this rogue scoundrel; almost everything a man wanted to be just
like him since childhood. No doubt a survivor and skilled in the art of mortal combat,
he could defeat any nemesis with one blow to the head as others walked around
him with fear and tremble as they could sense any mistake on their part could
cost them a limb or life if the reason was intense enough to trigger his silent
violent nature or propensity to kill when given the opportunity to do so.
Command presence
is not taken for granted as his every movement teaches other men how to walk
and move with a certain deadly grace and ease of motion. Able to leap a
vertical height of sixty six inches or more he was destined to be a basketball
star if it were not for his lack of height and ability to share the ball with
others around him making him a difficult member of any team chosen.
A personality
best described as short filled with temper and the ability to engage conflict
with more than one at a time, it was rare he lost his grip and controlled the
turmoil and changes around him with skills developed in his subvert years in
the military years ago. Cold as ice and with an emotional shell to keep him
under self-control at all times, he would compensate his energy and skills to
match his opponent. Not an introvert or extrovert by nature he appeared to be
more of an ambivert in conversation and triggering his mannerism for either
withdrawn or outgoing pleasures showing only what he wanted to show from the
start.
This rogue
scoundrel will not and does not allow any part of his job or nature to become
too close to him as if he didn’t belong where he was. Allowing this distance
between him and others as if he didn’t belong he knew when to retreat and bring
his manner into conforming with the need to get close and conversational in styles
that would prompt an analyst to believe he is either a dual personality or schizophrenic
in mindset.
Since he was so emotionless
and disheartened he would certainly not be missed if he was to be killed or assassinated
by another assassin’s bullet. In fact, there would not be one soul that would
mourn for him as they would not care or cry a tear and show no remorse or
sorrow of his passing.
A hardened man,
he was blessed despite his harsh vulgarity and profane words taking the Lord’s
name in vain with every sentence spoken. He was nearly without err as a human
as this was the thing that kept him alive and concealed for all these years.
Standing rogue
this scoundrel served his country well and learned the art of stealth quite
well in those years of Foreign Service away from American soil. His training
began at childhood with a .22 rifle his parents had bought him as it gave him
the basic lessons learned and the basics for killing while defying the threat
of torture or capture in a most brutally and painful world he lived in. One must say his instincts and his
levelheadness gave him the uncanny ability to keep his head calm even in the direst
of situations around him or others. Others
were certainly envious of his self-composed and sensible mannerism that kept
him ahead of the competition or those out to kill him. He had a hyperfocus ability
that is second to none. Simply put he has the ability to focus with single
dimensional precision and eliminate all distractions in the pursuit of his
objective or target. Deterrence was not in his vocabulary as his aggressiveness
gave him the edge on any fatal encounter from an assassin’s point of view.
This rogue
scoundrel was never a quitter and defied the meaning of the word in every
sense. His ability to push harder than any man could sets him apart from others
as he accomplishes what he needs to accomplish, a characteristic he deems
necessary to be a winner.
When it is all
and said his single mindedness was created for one reason and one reason only –
to survive. His mental focus and energy allowed him insights and visions beyond
the normal scopes of mankind and allowed him to survive in the damnest
situation faced throughout his time. His ability to withstand harshest weather
lashed out by Mother Nature speaks of a man that has ways to survive under the
harshest condition with no help from outside or someone. He can make things
better and does his job better than anyone else he competes with in this sport
of assassins and cold blooded killers.
He rarely speaks
of his prowess to conquer and manipulate other people while not missing a beat
of details to remain free and on the run when hunted by those claiming to be
the best of the best. A rare quality
hardly ever missed by his opponents or nemesis in business is his stubbornness to
resist help and his forever attitude of having a death wish as he takes the
risks to excel in a particular way when it deals with a certain person place or
thing. Always having one goal in mind
his only weakness is his non-existent self-doubt and his ever present gambling
approach to everything he sets his mind to do or pursue.
A rogue
scoundrel that acts on the order of others that pay him and pay him well. He reacts
to their weaknesses and makes it their strengths. Trumping situations with his
high risk taking approach in almost every situation, he gets a chance to reward
himself with plentiful cash and women as he spends his time in seclusion
waiting for the next order from someone up above.
So as he acts on
this voice from a higher power he has no friends and does not allow anyone to
get too close to him. His only allies are those he calls the tools of the trade
and when the mission is clear he discards all human form of contact and focuses
on the task before him with determination and logical extremism to finish the
mission satisfactorily and with outright zealotry and brutal gratification of
another job well done for his country or the highest bidder on this undeclared
war on humanity. His motto in life is “silence
is a friend who will never betray.”(Confucious)
The five Perils of Corrections
The five Perils
of Corrections
Corrections is
basically the end of the road career choices in the criminal justice system. That’s
not to demean the position but to illustrate how it is also the most forgotten
element of the criminal justice system. It is a mixture of boredom and pure
adrenalin rushes entwined in a terror filled and often a complacency world. Having
the power over life and death is often interrupted by a life threatening
situation that requires first responders to act quickly and effectively to
preserve life of themselves or others. It is a most violent world to work and
live in if you are the incarcerated felon. To admit that there are times were
you are scared is an understatement. These officers live with fear on duty and
off duty but none compare those moments when encountered by the reality of
prison work and its perils. It is one of the worst feelings an officer will
ever experience and live with their rest of their lives.
The first peril is dealing with the fact that correctional
officers must endure their time inside the penitentiary around a volatile
population of violent and nonviolent offenders. It stands to reason that the
focus of workplace dangers focuses on the violent sociopaths that prey among
the weak as well as the strong. Some are more brazen than others and will rock
your world if you drop your awareness even a little bit and give them an
opportunity to harm you. Working with felons with no compassion and histories
of being cop killers, rapists, child molesters and other violent behaviors it
must stand to reason that your own compassion for their lives is often
non-existent as they await a moment or opportunity to ambush you or your
coworkers.
Aside from the
fact that the public’s perception of these felons is often skewed or slanted there
are many other issues not discussed in the public’ ear shot or eyes. For no
other reasons that common sense and logic, it is basically an out of sight out
of mind environment.
For the
correctional officer the peril of harm or being killed relies on their skills
to recognize such dangers. They must be aware at all times that at any moment
they may encounter a violent predator and not hesitate to use the necessary force
to stop them in their tracks. Unlike a policeman or state trooper, they are not
armed and must rely on their self-defense skills, their use of Chemical Mace
and the hurried responders of fellow officers rushing to the scene to assist in
the takedown or restraint of an already convicted violent offender. There is no
room or time for second guessing and heavily criticized by the media and
nonelected politicians inside their own bureaucracy, they must face armchair
quarterbacking every time they use force to protect themselves. Being a
guardian of justice inside the penitentiary means to sacrifice their own
feeling and their own lives to protect others.
The second peril of working inside the penitentiary or
large jail is to cope with ever tightening budget cuts and staffing shortages. These
topics are often on top of the list of officers that work in such an environment
where the multitude of problems encountered are not just violent killers but
overcoming the higher risks imposed by reduced manpower or ineffective training
that is curtailed by funding. In a world where the population of incarcerated
felons exceed millions or more there are severe shortages in budget with more
cuts coming. It does not enhance the work environment one least bit and creates
more dangers than necessary for the job. Realizing the abandonment by society’s
lawmakers and budget creators, these officers don’t have time to wallow in self-pity
or other negative emotional feelings as they must take care of business
regardless of what they are given to work with.
The third peril related to correctional officers is the
perception of those outside the penitentiaries that these officers are given
the necessary tools and training to do the job. Without a doubt, the most
common phrase a rookie officer will hear from the veteran is “forget what you
learned at the academy” and do what I do and you will stay alive. When the need
for training is sabotaged or compromised by cultural indifference to the
process and practice of doing the job, there is much room for error and
mistakes that are often harmful or lethal for the officer. Training is a
critical element of survival and is crucial in the success of being a better
than average correctional officer. Due to budget cuts, training has become
redundant and boring for the officers giving them no new technology or
inventive skills to improve on. There is no intensity in training and that
makes it boring and for reasons as “that’s the way it has always been” there
are no signs of improving these lesson plans that can help the officers do
their jobs. Agencies have no incentives to find better training techniques as
that would incur additional costs that are not approved in their budgets.
The fourth peril is a silent killer. This peril revolves
around the stress and anxiety of the job and may lead to suicides. The mere workplace
culture, customs and traditions induce the fear and paranoia that is required
to stay alive. Thoughts of hostage taking, serious beatings or being stabbed
are real as well as knowing that any moment you may be assaulted with HIV
loaded feces or other urine of body fluids hurled at your presence by felons
with no regard for life or welfare of others. Correctional officers don’t talk
about PTSD as it is a dirty word and shows weakness. Officers don’t talk about
wimpy subjects and not realize that this silence in fact perpetuates the
problem even further. Suicide of another officer is often ignored and murder by
a convicted felon is considered a legitimate reason for the stress and anxiety
that fills their world. Working around considerable risky people is a risky
business not taken for granted by anyone inside prison.
The fifth and final peril is being targeted or working for
administrations that are hiring poor managers and out of touch management
styles. These officers must endure the most common peril shared in law enforcement
where the administration does not back up the officers in their efforts to
perform their duties under must distress and difficulties. Administrators are
often in a mode that ignore the realities of the job and therefore refuse to
hear or see what is considered to be a front line problem for them. They refuse
to discuss it, listen to the issues and pretend that it is the other way around
and it’s the officer’s fault or problem rather than the administration’s
responsibility.
This type of
ignorance by supervisors and managers leads to continued stress and will never
disappear or go away in the workplace. It appears to be an unnecessary evil to
endure. When the administration refuses to hear or see the problems then it
becomes more dangerous for all that work there. The truth is however that the
prison world is not dangerous place because of evil but rather it is dangerous because
often recorded and acknowledged in the history books, it is a dangerous place
because the narcissist and arrogant people in charge won’t admit it was their
fault and watch and let it happen again and again over and over.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Why clueless [Smucks] people often get promoted
Have you noticed that clueless people do very well on
their own and that they are the ones that appear to be selected or to be the
chosen ones to be promoted over others not so clueless and more in tune with
their workplace environment and culture? Certainly I won’t have to draw you a
picture of someone that is clueless as we all know someone that fits this
profile and is likely to be more successful and stress free than you.
Many times have I asked this question either to me of
my family as I ponder how such a person can be considered a value to any
organization or team? Many really don’t have a clue and know not much if
anything about themselves, their job or the way they do things in their lives.
These bumbling airheads make more money than me and get the promotion every
time an opportunity knocks on their door leaving my door closed and empty with
promises to succeed or advance legitimately through my own efforts and
responsible thinking,
Often, they are successful - even rich and wallow
endlessly in a stupor that easy to recognize to everyone except the bosses. Every
culture has such person as a role mode of what not to do but somehow, this fool
– this simpleton not only makes ends meet but get everything on a silver spoon
while the rest of us smucks work hard and suffer the ever present humiliation
of being passed over for promotions or other advances in the workplace.
So what makes these smucks so successful being clueless?
What is the psychoanalyst say about these kinds of fools that dwell in our
workplace and are coveted by others as well as envied and desired to be
associated with to reap similar benefits.
Clueless people are considered to be lazy or disorganized
to say the least. The behavior by itself is puzzling and hard to figure out but
regardless, many have tried to analyze this behavior. In their own pervasive
ways they are very successful people even if the concept is perverse in many
ways.
Maybe it’s me. Maybe I am looking at this all wrong. Maybe
these people are smarter than me; maybe they are not as dumb as they want me to
believe and maybe just maybe they engage in this type of behavior deliberately
and find it useful for their own needs and opportunities.
Perhaps they have learned the art of “playing the part”
better than I and are smarter and more logical candidates for things to be done
at the office or elsewhere. Maybe they pretend to pretend and become so successful;
they continue this behavior to ploy and con others along the way. Regardless,
this type of behavior is infectious and makes other people act the same or
mimic styles that appear to work for others. In its own way it’s another
version of perverse narcissism and a real lust to be noticed and eventually
paid for being clueless.
The answer appears to be located somewhere between being
in the right place at the right time making the clueless person not so clueless
at all. Not necessarily a hapless person, they may in fact planted themselves
in this position to attain a distinct advantage over others and in the end the
winner of an uneven race but nevertheless a race that was won by a clueless
person.
How to Find me on the Web
Since trying out social media I have done a piss poor job of promoting myself or selling my books, ebooks or articles. I have been reluctant to sell anything for that matter as I feel that knowledge when gained should be public and free. Free from containment, free from control and free to allow creativity to foster and spill over to others willing to carry on the banner of freedom of speech and other rights.
You may find me a bore, or moreso a boring person that has repeatedly acted foolish and put things out there for others to read so they can see through the windows of my soul and heart's four chambers. the first heart chamber is the one for passion as I believe that passion is the energy that drives one to excellence and success.
The second chamber is the soul where you can reach my morals, principles and values whether traditional Christian beliefs or non-orthodox progressive thinking that is often criticised by others that refuse to open up their sould and reveal their true self much like the turtle's soft underbelly skin that is vulnerable when exposed and easy to kill.
The third chamber is my searchlight for the truth and how it impacts our willingness to live by the spirit of the law or the letter of the law. They are so very much different and we often neglect to see that in the heat of the moment when we break the law either willfully or by unintentional devices or actions.
The fourth chamber is the chamber of vision as I seek to see the light and travel through the darkness relying much on my eyes and the light but developing another sense much like those of the sonar capabilities of our little flying friends, the bat.
When you mut them all together you will find me on the web searching, browsing or learning about the heart, soul, truth and vision that will allow me to see and feel what humans are meant to experience living among the dead and those dying. It has been a great ride in my life as I have traveled the world, seen hope, fantasy and brillance come to life and make things better for our future generations and our kids as well as grandkids.,
So take a chance and visit me at all my blogs, my writings and my videos as I document my heart and soul about humanity in the words of my own expression and my own feelings
Links to follow are on the front page ~ I have added www.atcontent.com as an alternative to some of the writings on my blogs but you are always welcome to visit me anywhere you desire by using the google and find what interests you the most. It is likely I have covered many of the topics you may search for but if ever I haven't email me at toersbijnsc@yahoo.com and I will find one for you.. Its my word that I will do this
You may find me a bore, or moreso a boring person that has repeatedly acted foolish and put things out there for others to read so they can see through the windows of my soul and heart's four chambers. the first heart chamber is the one for passion as I believe that passion is the energy that drives one to excellence and success.
The second chamber is the soul where you can reach my morals, principles and values whether traditional Christian beliefs or non-orthodox progressive thinking that is often criticised by others that refuse to open up their sould and reveal their true self much like the turtle's soft underbelly skin that is vulnerable when exposed and easy to kill.
The third chamber is my searchlight for the truth and how it impacts our willingness to live by the spirit of the law or the letter of the law. They are so very much different and we often neglect to see that in the heat of the moment when we break the law either willfully or by unintentional devices or actions.
The fourth chamber is the chamber of vision as I seek to see the light and travel through the darkness relying much on my eyes and the light but developing another sense much like those of the sonar capabilities of our little flying friends, the bat.
When you mut them all together you will find me on the web searching, browsing or learning about the heart, soul, truth and vision that will allow me to see and feel what humans are meant to experience living among the dead and those dying. It has been a great ride in my life as I have traveled the world, seen hope, fantasy and brillance come to life and make things better for our future generations and our kids as well as grandkids.,
So take a chance and visit me at all my blogs, my writings and my videos as I document my heart and soul about humanity in the words of my own expression and my own feelings
Links to follow are on the front page ~ I have added www.atcontent.com as an alternative to some of the writings on my blogs but you are always welcome to visit me anywhere you desire by using the google and find what interests you the most. It is likely I have covered many of the topics you may search for but if ever I haven't email me at toersbijnsc@yahoo.com and I will find one for you.. Its my word that I will do this
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