CPR: career saving advice for police officers.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has long been recognized as a lifesaving measure. As a basic component of emergency first aid, CPR plays a role in the academy training of every new police officer. In addition, most departments mandate regular refresher training to keep officers prepared for emergencies.

Yet, the term CPR has new meaning for today's police officers. Although not a lifesaving technique, civility, professionalism, and restraint can represent the lifeblood of a police department. These three symbiotic and complementary components serve as the foundation for all actions within a police department. Once internalized by all members of the department, this easy-to-remember moniker can provide a source for decision making during difficult situations.

Civility

Civility describes a state of affairs characterized by tolerance, kindness, consideration, and understanding. Civility can be represented by action or, in some cases, inaction. For example, a friendly greeting or other social courtesy, such as holding open a door, qualifies as a civil action. At the same time, when police officers exhibit self-control and fail to respond in kind to verbal assaults from upset citizens, they demonstrate civility, even without performing overt acts.

In The Police and the Public, A. J. Reiss lists three conditions of civility between the police and the public. First, citizens must act civil in their relations with one another and the police. Second, citizens must grant legitimacy to police authority and also show respect for the right of the police to intervene in their private affairs. Finally, to prevent police tyranny, the police may be held accountable to civil authority.(1) Balancing police and citizen responsibilities in this area might require expanding Reiss' conditions to include two more: that the police be civil in their relations with one another and with the public and that the police recognize the citizen's right to remain free of arbitrary intrusion and to maintain personal dignity.

These additions balance the equation and call for a civil reciprocity between the police and the public. In short, "civility must be met with civility."(2) Deviation from this standard by the police or by citizens requires corrective measures, which may range from mere verbal disapproval to incarceration of either the citizen or the officer.

While the police have a duty to uphold the constitutional rights of all citizens, they must juggle the competing demand of enforcing the law, and as a result, they must compel individuals to behave in certain ways. Yet, all citizens "...care about the officer's effort, concern, and respect in dealing with them - the equivalent of the physician's 'bedside manner'...."(3) Experienced police officers, particularly supervisors, are well aware of the large number of complaints that can stem from an officer's poor bedside manner, or lack of civility.

Rudeness likely is the most common complaint leveled by citizens against the police. Yet, as challenging as some encounters with citizens prove, officers must strive to avoid rudeness and to maintain civility. The chief of the Apache Junction, Arizona, Police Department deplores what he calls "attitude complaints" against his officers. He does not resent citizens for filing such complaints; rather, he resents the fact that an encounter between a citizen and one of his officers resulted in such a complaint. The chief holds his officers to high standards and, as a result, has increased the level of civility between his officers and citizens significantly.(4)

Clearly, civility represents a core component of an effective, modern police department, and officers should manifest it in all of their daily contacts with citizens. Moreover, officers must bear a greater burden than the citizens they serve. While the police officer's position in society demands no less, the Constitution allows citizens to talk back to public officials.(5)

Honest reflection by police officers will invariably bring to mind past incidents where they failed to live up to an acceptable standard of civility. Police officers are human, however, and should not be held to a standard of perfection. Nevertheless, they must constantly strive for perfection and be held accountable to the appropriate extent when they miss the mark. Only then will the art of civility become a beacon for leading policing into the future.

Professionalism

Professionalism, the second component of CPR, is defined, in the broadest sense, as a concept of excellence or a continual striving toward perfection.(6) Exhibiting professionalism in the purest fashion requires being recognized as a professional. The term "professional" encompasses a wide array of occupations. A number of markers identify a profession, among them:

* a consensus by customers regarding the profession's product or service;

* a specialized body of knowledge and skills usually attained through extensive training and education:

* certification or accreditation through a professonal organization:

* an orientation toward cleints or service;

* a primary objective other than profit;

* use of an esoteric language;

* development of symbols, artifacts, and journals; and

* considerable discretion given to members.

Can policing be considered a profession? Many experts think so. Reiss believes that policing respresents one of the few occupations that qualifies as a profession, possessing all of the necessary core elements, including technical knowledge, moral judgements, and practice with clients. Moreover, policing represents one of the few "moral call" occupations; the police are "duty bound to come when and where called, regardless of who calls them." Which marker or ingredient remains most critical to the establishment of a profession? According to Wilensky, "...the service ideal is the pivot around which the moral claim to professional status revolves."

In addition, professional status many depend largely on a community's attitude. In other words, the police only can be considered professionals if the public grants or bestows such status upon them.

Yet, a continuum of professionalism exists. One department may be more professional than another, but less professional than a third. Moreover, the level of professionalism in any organization depends entirely upon the level of professionalism of its members, and in fact, "professsionalism begins with workers and then overflows to encompass organizations."