Gordon Graham here and Happy New Year! My guess is you are tired of hearing that, but this is my first piece for the good people at the LAFCU site – and Mrs. G and I wish you the absolute best for a wonderful year.
In past pieces with this (and other) sites that I write for, I have talked about the issue of “bias.” When someone says the “B” word, many instantly default to issues surround “race” or other “protected class “ issues. That “instant default” is a form of bias in itself, but that is not my point here.
Sometimes we make up our minds too quickly based on partial information – and the bad news about your brain is that once it makes up its mind, it hates to change direction. And sometimes this “cognitive lock” can cause you a tremendous amount of grief.
If you want to read all about this in some books by some “smart” people, check out Malcolm Gladwell’s great work “Blink” or the fantastic book by James Chiles, “Inviting Disaster”.
So with the above in mind, let me give you a “cop” story that was in the news this week. Please be patient with me. I know most of you are not on the “cop” side of things but there is a lesson to be learned here for everyone in the fire community.
Here is a story out of South Dakota that caught my eye, and I am glad I read the entire piece. I have redacted the article so that it fits within this piece.
A state trooper seized 980 pounds of marijuana on Friday making what is believed to be the biggest pot bust from a traffic stop in the state’s history.”
With the help of a service dog, drugs with an estimated street value of $3.9 million were found in the bed of a pickup a 40-year-old man was driving on Interstate 90 about 11 miles east of Rapid City.”
“As far as we know, this is the largest marijuana seizure from a traffic stop,” Capt. Kevin Karley, head of the Rapid City division of the South Dakota Highway Patrol, said Monday.
Donald McCormick, who is from Ipswich, Mass., faces two felony drug charges – possession of marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, according to court documents. He also is accused of possession of drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor, according to court documents.
On Friday afternoon, the trooper logged McCormick’s truck traveling 70 miles per hour in a 65-mph zone in the eastbound lane of I90 near mile marker 71, according to court documents.
When the trooper walked his service dog around the pickup, the dog indicated the presence of illegal drugs in the vehicle. The trooper found numerous bales of marijuana under a large wooden shelf in the bed of the truck that was covered by a topper, court documents stated.
The trooper detailed the traffic stop in the probable cause affidavit filed with the Seventh Circuit Court:
He reported several religious and patriotic decals like “Support Our Troops” magnets and a “Jesus is The Answer” bumper sticker on the 2006 Chevrolet 2500HD pickup. A mountain bike was secured to the back of the truck’s camper shell.
Once pulled over, McCormick told the trooper he was checking out Sturgis while on his way to Wisconsin from Vale, Colo. A Bible lay on the front passenger seat and a church ID badge hung from the rear view mirror.
Dressed in a long-sleeved dress shirt, McCormick appeared nervous, his hands trembling and his breath labored, police said.
The court document stated that the trooper found McCormick’s story of travel confusing and his casual conversation unusual with the driver saying he found God and that the trooper was “really a good guy and appreciated the way I treated him.”
When the trooper walked his service dog around the pickup, the dog indicated the presence of illegal drugs in the vehicle. The trooper searched the truck and found spare decals, air fresheners and a rubber-banded bundle of cash adding up to about $1,000.
The trooper searched the bed of the truck covered by a topper and found numerous bales of marijuana under a large wooden shelf, court documents stated.
Before I continue on, I have to tell you that when I was a brand new CHP officer in 1973, my “break-in” officer (now they call them FTO’s) told me to be wary of people with “Support Your Local Police” bumper stickers on their car. He explained that some bad people will put that on their car to “fool” an officer into thinking that the people in the car are “pro police” and not participating in criminal activity.
Throughout my career, I used my FTO’s line of thinking often – never using a “bumper sticker” as cause to stop someone – but rather to be cognizant that “things may not be what they seem to be” and to not let my guard down because of this bumper sticker.
So what does all of this have to do with you? As you know, I am not in your business, but I have a lot of friends and contacts in the fire service and we communicate regularly. As I listened to a “war story” recently from a Fire Chief, I got to thinking about the dangers of “cognitive lock.”
He was talking about the importance of the “size up” prior to going into a structure that is on fire and his point was that you have to use all of your senses, coupled with all of your past experiences to make the “right call” on a give incident. Again, I don’t know anything about “reading smoke” and other issues regarding “fire behavior” – but sometimes there are “external indicators” that may indicate something to you at first glance that in reality is not the full story.
Early on in my career I ran into an obvious “drunk driver” who ended up being a “very sick diabetic.” I made up my mind based on a lot of indicators that told me he was drunk, and once I made up my mind, that was the way it was going to be. I missed killing that guy by just a couple of minutes and thanks to the work of an alert Doctor, he is still alive.
My guess is you have similar experiences in fire service operations, so take the time to recall those adventures and share your “close call” with your peers, particularly the newer personnel who might not have the benefit of that experience.
Sometimes things are not what they seem to be and the smart people gather all the facts prior to making a decision. Anyhow, that is all for this piece. Again, I wish you and all close to you a wonderful New Year.
Gordon Graham
President, Lexipol
