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You may have seen the footage taken by ViralNewsNYC. It shows two NYPD officers attempt to detain a subject only to have the subject easily throw them off. They finally detain the subject with the direct aid of a security officer whose actions were described by one publication as follows: "That dude who came and saved the day is just a security officer at a nearby club who heard the commotion. He came over and literally said, **"I got him girls, I got him."** The girls certainly didn't care, because they were too busy letting him completely take over the situation, even though he is not a police officer."

This example is an invaluable training resource for security personnel. The security officer displayed exemplary tactical communication skills, ultimately succeeding in de-escalating a situation that seemed to spiral out of control, mainly due to the police's shortcomings in this particular incident: they proved unable to effectively end the situation through communication -- they entered the scene with a cockiness that immediately pushed the subject into fight to survive mode, and worse, once he was in that mode, they proved unable to follow up on their aggressive posturing with actual physicality.

Witnessing the subject almost effortlessly evading police intervention forces the objective observer to perhaps gasp, and then to seriously question the preparedness of our law enforcement institutions.

In contrast, the security officer’s deft handling of the situation stands as an example of professionalism, tactical communication skills and strategic empathy. His respectful, authoritative, and empathetic communication effectively diffuse the tension and secure cooperation.

Is this going to become a trend? Are the true professionals going to work security, while the less-skilled, and less-physical will work for PD?

Yes, at least in the big cities, look for this to become more common.

Firstly, the politicization of police recruitment processes in some big cities is clearly readily devolving these forces' abilities, focusing less on candidates' physical competence and more on administrative or demographic checkboxes. 

NYPD and LAPD are both weakening physicality requirements, and disturbingly, LAPD even appears to be dropping its writing requirement – a prime tool for assessing the candidate’s ability to communicate, an essential part of tactical communications.

This trend will absolutely impact both police physicality and also will likely affect the police’s mental abilities to handle confrontations, particularly those involving individuals under the influence of controlled substances. 

Secondly, we can expect that those officers who have common sense and wisdom, will use that common sense to direct themselves away from the big city departments. As society responds to increasing crime by putting more money into private security, as truly professional security officers become better compensated than their police peers, and as police work becomes more and more dangerous, in part because an officer's police colleagues are less-capable of dealing with an incident, the best officers will trend towards professional security services, drawn by the safer environment and even better compensation. Ask yourself, who would you most like to work with, the security officer who took command of the situation, or the cops who let it get out of hand?

And, it’s not just about pay and safety. The professional security officers of the future will be better able to make a real difference in people's lives because oftentimes the private security posts will allow the officer to stay in one location where he, probably like the officer in the viral video, can build relationships with those in the area and be a position to help them as the need arises, not unlike the “police walking the beat” policies of days past. This contrasts with the police who are chasing calls and just trying to stay alive and/or trying not to be prosecuted by a politicized justice system. These police officers are just trying to survive and aren’t going to be in a good place to help others.

If this current dynamic continues, at least in the big cities, we should anticipate more instances such as this where private security professionals are the true public safety leaders and they will more and more take center stage in maintaining public safety–while incompetent police stand by.

Our course, if you have yet to join us at The Network, and you desire to be a security professional, you are invited to join us today. The principles of tactical communication and apparent strategic empathy used by the officer in this video are principles underscored by The Professional Officer app, a training app that is accessible to all members starting at a silver level or higher in the network. The Security Officer Network dot com

What's your take? Do you agree, that in the future, we can expect that those really stepping up and providing true public safety are likely to be private security professionals while the police continue to deteriorate in their quality of service? 

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That's it for now.

Stay safe!