There is no such thing as a new idea. If you look hard enough anything phrased as a new idea is nothing more than an old one revamped in some way. Maybe a better way to word it should be new outlook.
Many ideas need to be revamped and given a new outlook in order to adjust to new trends in the industry. For instance, the columbine incident made law enforcement change their perspective on handling active shooter incidents. Patrol Officers responding to the scene waited for SWAT to show up. Meanwhile the 2 shooters dressed in trench coats continued on their shooting spree. Assaulting a building and how to do it is not new but when to do it on active shooter incidences has changed.
This is a prime incident when an occurrence changed procedures and mindsets. In many cases aggressive changes in protocols were probably presented but shot down (no pun intended) by the old guard.
This is the nexus of the blog. The Old Guard. Old mindset, old ideas, dilapidated procedures. The old guard is usually stuck on the horse and buggy mentality. Moreover, the old guard doesn’t embrace any idea that wasn’t their own. You know the old guard. Some of you still look up to the old guard. I respect the trails they’ve blazed leading us to where we’ve come, however there is new machinery (people) to traverse the new world we are dealing with.
Personally, around 1986 or so when I was assigned to the Washington metropolitan team of the Maryland state police narcotics unit we were averaging between 5-10 search and seizure warrants a month. During that time we hand wrote the warrants and drove them to our main office to be typed. Then we’d take them to the sitting judge for the day who would sign them. Search warrants had to be executed in a timely fashion and the process we had at the time was crippling.
Me and Jack ( name withheld because he’s still active on the job) were assigned at one time to another department on a wire tap and watched one of the undercovers use a new electronic typewriter called an Apple computer and punch out a search warrant in 15 minutes. I was immediately sold. But we knew it would be an uphill battle getting the MSP to purchase the new equipment. So we were proactive. We bought them with our own money. Our investment caught the eye of everyone in the division and the news hit HQ. New outlook.
Another story and probably with some humor. When I graduated from the state police academy my service weapon was a smith and Wesson 6 inch model 13 revolver. After I transferred into the special services division and worked undercover we had to deal with the evolving merge of Jamaican organized drug cartels. They utilized semi auto weapons, which at the time, was high speed compared to what law enforcement agencies were using.
Me and Jack heard about a new polymer 9mm handgun that had just been released to law enforcement. The glock model 19. We called them and ordered 2. The guns arrived via UPS. Pursuant to MSP regs the weapons had to be shot and authorized by the agency armorer. We submitted them and due to the fact that the agency was still under the old guard he wasn’t familiar with the new polymer weapon and it’s features. The glocks stayed at headquarters for 3 months. Finally, he gave them back and said, ” be careful”. The crux of this story was that we evolved with the nature of the streets in order to compete or survive.
I encourage everyone to open your mouths and share your ideas you never know whose life you may save. It could be your own.