PERSUASIVNESS part one, perception

Being persuasive is a bit of an art. There will be times while in the course of performing your duties that you will need the compliance of people beyond your regular scope of control.

This may be on lookers in a crowd, patients in a medical facility, angry customers, intoxicated individuals, confused or disoriented geriatric/seniors, groups of teens, groups in time of emergency, persons in escort, etc. The issue is you have no real authority. That is to say you are not empowered with the "recognised" ability to command compliance. This can be problematic in times of crisis but not as difficult as you might think. If a security officer is in uniform and an emergency arises, he can expect some cooperation from the crowd. It's in our upbringing to respond to "official" requests by authority figures in times of crisis. The uniform, even though it has no real power is the symbol of knowledge and professionalism. Confused, scared or otherwise receptive individuals will blindly follow "the uniform" if commanded. We seem to need a symbol of authority to base our compliance on.

Two quick examples:

1) I recall years ago while working in uniform, I was on my way to work the day before Christmas. The roads were slippery and the day was dark. A line of cars including mine were stacking up at a red light in a major intersection. The car behind me had stopped a safe distance from my vehicle but the car behind him was not paying much attention and was moving too fast for that days road conditions. It hit the car behind me driving it into my vehicle. I put my flashers on and moved to the curb then got out to asses the damage. The man behind me did the same. It appeared he had little damage as did I. As I walked back to the third vehicle, I could see the woman at the wheel melt at the sight of my uniform. She never stopped to read my I.D. or collar flashes, she just saw the crisp line of a police uniform and as far as she knew, it was going to be a real bad Christmas, she had just rear ended a Cop. Did she?

No but when I asked if she was okay and asked for her insurance card, her answer was "Yes Officer". Although this is no more then any other person might ask if involved in an accident, the uniform gave me the justification in her eyes to request anything I needed. I would never purposely or intentionally attempt to pass myself off as law enforcement, but in times of crisis people are blind and will make these assumptions on their own.....Careful folks! this is a double edged sword! I told her there was no damage and to have a happy holiday, my Christmas gift to her. She was still yelling thank you officer as I walked back to my car.

2) While in a public building that was under partial renovation, the fire alarms sounded. The crowds of people walking by me in the lobby seemed to ignore the alarm and just looked around as if waiting for some thing else to tell them what to do (as if the alarm was not enough). I was off duty and in street clothes but I walked to an exit reached into my pocket an took out my keys (complete with BEST whistle) I blew three sharp notes and asked everyone to step this way please. Without hesitation the wanderers started advancing on the door to the street. I only needed to ask that they remain calm and move slowly (the expected term at such times) to gain compliance. The whistle was the instrument (no pun intended) of command. After hearing the alarm, this was all I needed to legitimize my request. As it turned out, a worker had set off the alarm while soldering pipe and all was well, but the alarm was sounded and the proper response was missing. I would rather be safe and embarrassed then sorry for my inaction.

The lesson is of course, that some people can and often will focus on what they perceive as symbols of authority. We must be cognisant of these tools and learn to use them without exploiting them unfairly or unnecessarily.

RJ Mosca