Monday, November 5, 2012

Challenging

Today was my first day on my new job assignment.  New post.  New days off.  I'll be off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays now so I'll have one day off a week with the wife.  That is cool.  We haven't had a day off together in quite some time.

Last week we had a Supervisors meeting on our shift.  All of the Sergeants and most of the Lieutenants and the Major were there.  Being one of the newest Sergeants in the room was a little bit intimidating.  But then I find group situations a little intimidating anyway.

Anyhow, one of the things the Major said was that we should "challenge" our people.  He said "Give them 'what if' situations and make them think.  Don't let your people get complacent."

I thought that was a pretty good idea.  I'm going to try and do that now and then.

The night on the yard had gone much better than the one last week.  About the most exciting thing we did was make fun of a Kleenex box.  (It's a long and stupid story.)  So I decided to open a small debate with one of the Major's 'what if' scenarios.]

KP and Anakin were sitting in the shack.  Since they are both as sharp as a pair of ginger snaps I decided to give them something to chew on.

"Pop quiz." I said.
"You are standing on the yard and the yard is open.  You are down by A-dining.  Everyone else custody-wise is all the way across the yard and you see one offender seemingly punching another one in the back.  But when he moves you can see blood so obviously he has a weapon.  What is the radio call for that?"

Neither one of them knew what the actual radio call for a stabbing (10-50) was, but KP said "I'd call a 10-49 (fight) or a 10-5 (officer needs assistance) and say he had a weapon."

That was a pretty good answer.  Considering in almost ten years I have never heard a 10-50 called and probably 99% of the people would not know what that meant.

"And then what would you do?" I asked.

"I'd stand back and wait for help to arrive.  I don't want to get stabbed!"

I said that he earned a little gold star for his forehead.

That opened up a debate and discussion about some of the radio calls we have never heard.  If any of those were ever called we would all be scrambling for our radio code cards to figure out what was actually going on.  We decided that hopefully if one of those rarely heard situations ever arose, whoever was making the call should be as calm and concise as possible on the radio so there wouldn't be any confusion as to what was going on.

But that probably won't happen.  Historically they will yell into the radio and babble some nonsense and we will all be scrambling to find out who what and where.  Ah, well.

At least it got us thinking for a few minutes.  I'm sure the Major would be proud.

10 comments:

  1. Look at you, I leave and you turn into a great supervisor! Haha kidding, you have always been a great leader, you just needed the white shirt so people will listen to you. Sorry about the lacking of stories on the blog, or the ending to the last story. We have been away for so long I forgot the passwords for my computer and sites! Back from those aweful mountains though, atleast for a bit, so will be finishing up that story and begining new ones. Dark Moon Digest put my story in their quarterly magazine, it came out the begining of October. A buddy of mine sent me four copies to hand out to the guys here. That was pretty cool. Hope all is well there at Raccoon City, I hate to say it, but I kind of miss the place. Take care Rev.

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    1. TJ- Glad to hear from you, bud! I was getting worried. Can't wait to get you back here safe and sound... in the prison.

      Okay, that sounded funny.

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  2. I think a 10-96 means my mother-in-law is in the area.

    (Noticed by the way that 10-49 is in the URL for this blog. Now I know what it means. Do I get extra credit for that?)

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    1. Bryan- You also get a little gold star for your forehead.

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  3. You, sir, are a true leader among men. I think I shall honor your hard work in some way or another. Perhaps throw in a prison as the local for one of the Tales from a Motel story arcs.

    Is there a 10-69?

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    1. Scott- I'd be honored. That would be extremely cool. Especially since TJ killed me off in the last story I was in. (grin)

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  4. I chuckled at your choice of pic for this post - I'm still struggling with the answer to your "pop quiz" - sort of like which came first, the chicken or the egg!

    I can read the smile on your face, sounds like Day One set the tone for what's to come. All good...until hell breaks loose of course and then there'll be some sort of 10-something!!! *grin*

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    1. Jenny- It was a pretty good first day. I know it will have it's ups and downs, but that's everywhere. I'm sure when I call a 10-something it will be for something worthwhile!

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  5. My sergeant (you know who he is) drank the Kool-Aid from the major's meeting--he pulled the 10-50 pop quiz on us as well.

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    1. Coupe- I figured he would be one to carry that ball! Funny we picked the same thing. Almost scary.

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