Police class motto causes concern

Last week, the Associated Press, Fox News and other news agencies picked up a story out of Boise. The story quickly infiltrated the Internet through Web sites and blogs, giving people across the United States the chance to discuss our state – and it wasn’t pretty.

Blogger 1: “Thank God I have no intention of visiting Idaho.”

Far from being the usual negative Idaho story – those about skinheads, racists or Idaho backwoods shootouts – this story was about the class motto of the latest graduating class of the Idaho Police Officer Standards and Training Academy – “Don’t suffer from PTSD, go out and cause it.”

Blogger 2: “Well, the runner-up slogan was: ‘We’re going to shoot your dog’ “

Blogger 3: “Followed by, ‘Tase him again, Bro!’ “

PTSD, short for post-traumatic stress disorder, is an anxiety disorder that can occur after a person has been through a traumatic event during which the person feels their life is in danger or they have no control over what is happening. It can become a disabling mental condition.

According to academy officials, each class is allowed to vote on their own class motto. This class, made up of officers soon to be assigned to 19 police agencies across the state, evidently felt, after all their education and training, that these words were the ones that best conveyed their willingness to go out and serve the citizens of Idaho.

Blogger 4: “To serve and protect?”

Concern about the choice of motto has had academy officials scrambling. Director of the academy, Jeff Black, recently told a reporter for The Spokesman-Review, “It shouldn’t have been there. It was inappropriate.” He blamed the motto on the class president who was “ex-military,” and said future mottos will be scrutinized.

Blogger 5: “One has to wonder if this kind of mindset wasn’t somehow cultivated by the instructors in the academy.”

The class president may have been ex-military, but the entire class of 43 officers voted on the motto. It was mature men, not kids, who gave this motto the majority vote. If this was a military graduating class, it would still be hard to for me to understand … but for local law enforcement officers, it is unacceptable.

Blogger 6: “That is a great motto for the Marines or the Rangers. It isn’t appropriate for domestic law enforcement.”

Law enforcement officers have a tough job. They respond to calls that most of us would never want to, many when most of us are tucked snugly in bed. They witness horrible accidents, violent crimes and unspeakable pain. They never know when their lives may be placed in jeopardy.

For all these reasons, they deserve our respect and support. But, this motto is disturbing. It is disturbing to see the escalating use of Tasers and the growing trend toward local law enforcement using more paramilitary tactics and procedures. The very idea this motto promotes – that “we” are the enemy, is not only disturbing, it is frightening.

To those in the graduating class of the Idaho State Officer Academy, I hope this was just an unfortunate choice of words, rather than how you really feel. To those who trained these officers, this motto stands as evidence that either this class didn’t understand what Black says is the intent of the training, “Not to go cause traumatic stress.” Or, the atmosphere of your training supports this sentiment. Either way, you have work to do.

Blogger 7: “Seems the attitude of law enforcement has changed from protect and serve, to cause maximum damage to those who fail to kneel.”

I don’t know if any of these officers are headed for North Idaho, but if they are, I hope their agencies keep a close eye on them to make sure they have been trained to protect themselves while showing compassion and a caring attitude, not belligerence and animosity, toward those they serve.

I showed a copy of the AP article to a local law enforcement officer and asked him what he thought of the issue. His only reaction was disbelief – first that the story was true; secondly, that fellow law enforcement officers had chosen this motto. As I left, he was still looking down at the motto written on a piece of paper in his hand, slowly shaking his head.