I've worked security on and off for the last 5 years and have thought about trying out for a position in law enforcement. However one area I'm concerned about is dealing with argumentative or combative people. I've had some run ins with this type and can't say I've always been happy with my performance. That's not to say I've followed my first impulse, namely beating the crap out of the person, but I do allow it to affect me more then it should.
Let me give just one example. At my current site there aren't that many rules we need to enforce. But one very basic rule is customers and employees aren't suppose to use the emergency doors at the site. The doors are clearly marked and security gets an alarm in the control room any time someone leaves through one. But people use them regardless. When I do spot someone using them I'm always polite and explain why we'd prefer they didn't use them. The other day across the courtyard I spotted a well dressed older gentleman leaving through one of the emergency doors. It took me a minute to walk over to him and at that point he'd walked away from the door. I began to explain to him why we'd prefer people not use the door when he shot back that he hadn't used the door. I said that I just saw him walk through the door and his exact words were "well in the future I suggest you OPEN YOUR EYES and pay closer attention IDIOT, I said I didn't use that door!". The last thing I wanted to do was get into a confrontation over something as trivial as using a door. But at the same time this guy had just called me an idiot in front of a number of customers and employees. Now I was beginning to doubt what I saw, maybe I HAD made a mistake and misidentified the person. On top of that I couldn't call a supervisor to mediate as I AM the "SUPERVISOR"..meaning I'm the senior officer at this site, which in this case means I've been there over 4 months. So in this case I bit my tongue, swallowed my pride and told him if there's been a mistake I apologize. Naturally afterwards I was kicking myself thinking of all the things I COULD have said, and remained basically pissed off the rest of the day. I really don't know how LEO's handle this sort of thing day in and day out. But the last thing I want to do is go ballistic and end up in court or on one of those "Skater vs Security guard" videos.
Some seem to handle this better then others. And I have read one of the verbal judo books, but my usual technique of being polite and respectful while listening intently to his side of the story then attempting to empathize with him while explaining why it's important he comply with the rules, just wasn't working for me.
Let me give just one example. At my current site there aren't that many rules we need to enforce. But one very basic rule is customers and employees aren't suppose to use the emergency doors at the site. The doors are clearly marked and security gets an alarm in the control room any time someone leaves through one. But people use them regardless. When I do spot someone using them I'm always polite and explain why we'd prefer they didn't use them. The other day across the courtyard I spotted a well dressed older gentleman leaving through one of the emergency doors. It took me a minute to walk over to him and at that point he'd walked away from the door. I began to explain to him why we'd prefer people not use the door when he shot back that he hadn't used the door. I said that I just saw him walk through the door and his exact words were "well in the future I suggest you OPEN YOUR EYES and pay closer attention IDIOT, I said I didn't use that door!". The last thing I wanted to do was get into a confrontation over something as trivial as using a door. But at the same time this guy had just called me an idiot in front of a number of customers and employees. Now I was beginning to doubt what I saw, maybe I HAD made a mistake and misidentified the person. On top of that I couldn't call a supervisor to mediate as I AM the "SUPERVISOR"..meaning I'm the senior officer at this site, which in this case means I've been there over 4 months. So in this case I bit my tongue, swallowed my pride and told him if there's been a mistake I apologize. Naturally afterwards I was kicking myself thinking of all the things I COULD have said, and remained basically pissed off the rest of the day. I really don't know how LEO's handle this sort of thing day in and day out. But the last thing I want to do is go ballistic and end up in court or on one of those "Skater vs Security guard" videos.
Some seem to handle this better then others. And I have read one of the verbal judo books, but my usual technique of being polite and respectful while listening intently to his side of the story then attempting to empathize with him while explaining why it's important he comply with the rules, just wasn't working for me.
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