# Aim for peace, but be prepared for war



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Aim for peace, but be prepared for war

*The most important thing we don't teach, but _should_, is a coherent philosophy that can unite the need for physical force and the need to project and infuse those we contact with peace. The Peace Warrior title itself sounds like a contradiction, a paradox, and it is. The renowned former California Highway Patrol officer turned risk expert consultant and lawyer, Gordon Graham, once narrated the story of his police mentor defining the peace officer as akin to the American eagle in national seal on the back of the one-dollar bill. The eagle holds olive branches in one talon and arrows in the other. Accordingly, and the mentor's advice to the young officer was, "Always extend the olive branches of peace to all, but hold the arrows of war ready. Always treat people with respect, but have a plan to kill them."

My point in Part I was that we already do a good job of training our officers to use the "arrows of war." War stories have a significant place in readying the mind of the officer for "when/then" thinking. I'm all for illustrative war stories, and as one who has wrestled with scum on the streets, I know that these stories inform our response to violence. But my point was also that we often neglect to teach a balance - we do not teach officers tactics to "extend the olive branch" to those with whom we interact.

The peace stories that I mentioned should be equally stressed and taught to ready the mind of the officer to respond peaceably when possible. Remember: 98 percent to 99 percent of an officer's interactions with others do not end in violence because we use our skills to defuse them.
People should be treated with respect and restraint until they prove they are "wolves." As Lt. Col David Grossman, U.S. Army (Ret.), author of On Killing, so well puts it in his article On Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs: 
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheepdog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. ​The tactics I defined in Part I show ways officers can increase their "Peace Power" without jeopardizing their safety. They are tactical ways of "extending the olive branch of peace" to those we encounter who might initially want war. Officers who know the tactical course Verbal Judo well know that we stress safety everywhere and offer the acronym SAFER, which defines the five times officers must stop talking and take action.

Full Article: http://www.policeone.com/writers/co...661813-Aim-for-peace-but-be-prepared-for-war/


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## omd (Mar 18, 2004)

"My point in Part I was that we already do a good job of training our officers to use the "arrows of war." ...

...we do not teach officers tactics to "extend the olive branch" to those with whom we interact."

This is an understatement! To many officers are drunk with the authority they hold.


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## Irish Wampanoag (Apr 6, 2003)

What a beautiful bird

I thank god we didn't adopt the turkey as our national simple like some founding fathers wanted to.....yikes


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