The longer you work in a jail, the more honed these senses become, so much so that a peaceful dinner out with family or a walk through a busy crowd can turn into sensory overload. Observation is the input. Some people demonstrate a keener sense of observation than others, but it is not just an inherited gift. The art of observation can be practiced and perfected, which most of us are doing whether we realize it or not.

There are several things that may hinder our observation, but I am only going to point out two. The first is complacency. Complacency is defined as “self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies.‚ (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) A complacent officer is a danger to everyone. The second is a person’s own hubris, or their “perceived expert knowledge‚. We must practice having an open mind while observingfiespecially human beings. When you think you’ve seen it all and there’s nothing new under the sun, that’s when you catch a right cross.

Identification

If we absorb information through observation, then through training and experience we filter, compute, then either store or delete that information. This process is called identification. We can observe our world all we want, but without the training and experience to identify what we’re observing, all that information just becomes noise. While in a housing unit, once we observe an activity, or hear a conversation, or smell a puff of cigarette smoke, we identify factors such as risk, legality, ethics, amount of resulting paperwork, and then we either progress with action, store the observed information, or delete it immediately. Identification is essential to officer safety, and this process happens most of the time instantaneously and without notice.

For example, when you go to open an inmate’s cell door; as the key enters the lock, you observe the path of the door and identify the threat posed by its swing and the orientation of your body. So, in the matter of a second you place your boot against the base of the door and prepare your body for a possible physical engagement.

Identification is our brain’s reaction to our sensory observation. Through on the job training (OJT), new officers endure sensory overload which can cause a clog in the identification process. That is why we spread the OJT process out over 6 weeks and provide only chunks of computable information at a time. The new officer’s Field Training Officer (FTO) helps them sort through the noise to begin developing a filter for sifting out only information that is relevant and useful. This allows a new officer to hone their observation and correctly adapt identification skills to the correctional environment. This process applies not only to new recruits, but to every officer. Allow time, even just seconds, to take in observations and identify. This is called the “tactical pause‚ and it will allow you to make a more calculated decision. Again, the problem is as we become more seasoned; we allow complacency and our “knowledge‚ to get in the way of observing and identifying with a fresh and ready mind. When we become complacent, we allow our filter to become more porous- allowing relevant and important information through unidentified. Vigilance is the enemy of complacency, and adopting a vigilant mindset allows us to identify relevant observed information quickly and accurately.