Routine and Complacency

A few nights ago I was on one of those shifts we have all been involved in. You know the time paradox ones where no matter what, time just seems to drag and drag and drag…So I started to catch up on some training articles. I came upon one of Dave “Buck Save” Smith’s articles about routine. I know that everyone here has heard that they should avoid routine and that routine kills. Well this is true, but for some reason we still find ourselves locked into them.

Humans are creatures of habit. We tend to find out what works and just go with that. It’s easy to fall into a routine, especially in a security or Law Enforcement role, and thus before we know it, we are already in one. The thing is, routine isn’t always a terrible thing. In the short time that I worked as a Municipal Peace Officer I quickly developed my own when I worked day shifts. The town I worked in had one school, and so everyday at 7:30, 11:30 and 15:20, I would set up with the laser and monitor speeders. It was a good way to increase my rapport with the staff and a few of the kids who then used to have bike races and see who could go the fastest. Another good routine to develop is a workout routine. Creating a daily workout schedule is something that each of us should strive for.

Unfortunately not all routines are good. One day I was learning the job that our mobile response officers perform when we stopped off at a health clinic that was closed for the night. When we walked into the building we passed a conference room. My training officer (T.O) looked in and moved on. I looked in and just stopped. I then called my T.O. over and asked him if the ceiling normally looked like that. To his surprise half of the ceiling tiles had come down. Upon closer inspection we discovered that a sprinkler pipe had burst. We joked about it at the time but I realise now that my T.O. was in a routine. He had stopped at that clinic hundreds of times. He had never found anything wrong in the building so he didn’t expect to see anything wrong when we walked through. My T.O. wasn’t lazy, instead he is a great officer and continues to do well in our agency. However he had become complacent and his mindset entering the building was “nothing is wrong here”.

My T.O. isn’t the only one who has made that mistake. I once responded to a call that a man in the hospital was carrying what appeared to be a gun case. The dispatcher also mentioned that some of the staff thought it might be an instrument case. My mindset at the time was “nothing ever happens here…it will just be an instrument case.” Imagine my surprise when my partner and I (after making a god-awful approach) opened the case and discovered a 12 gauge shotgun. After the puckering sensation had faded I realised that my entire mindset had set me up for failure and that it was dumb luck that the male didn’t have any bad intentions.

You may not realise it, but we all become complacent and fall into a routine at one time or another. A few years ago, once of the work-habits I fell into was to always do my patrols at the start of my rotation. At my site we have divided the day into blocks of time that we refer to as a rotation. During each rotation we are each responsible for a certain section of the building. I always used to perform my patrols at the very start before heading back to the office. I never perform patrols on the same floor more then once per rotation. While I have altered the routes that I use for these patrols, that is usually the extent of the changes I make. If I had noticed this back when I did regular patrols I would have made a greater effort to mix it up. There was no reason why I couldn’t perform 2 or 3 patrols of a floor…lord knows I had enough free time during my shift. Additionally there was no reason for me to do the patrols at the start of the rotation. I could easily mix it up.

My challenge to all of you is this. Take a look at the time you spend at work. What routines have you developed over the years and are they good or bad? If they are bad how can you change them?

Stay Safe,

Chris

*Please note that the opinions reflected in these articles are mine and mine alone. They are based upon my education, training and experience. They in no way reflect the opinions of my agency, ProtectionServices.ca or the site administrator. Always consult with your agency instructor and check your policy prior to attempting any new procedures or techniques.*