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April 2020 Blues Vol 36 No 4

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April 2020 Blues Vol 36 No 4 Surviving COVID - 19

Survival Strategies in

Survival Strategies in Extraordinary Times person’s current resources and coping mechanisms.” With any pandemic it takes time and patience to resolve and we often expect immediacy when we are experiencing a crisis in our lives. We, as Americans, like a sense of control as it reduces the anxiety and emotional symptoms and reestablishes coping. There are numerous larger scale aspects in a pandemic that are indeed out of our control, however, there are an equal number of individual approaches available to us. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Richard Baker, the Founder of Responder Support Services (www.respondersupport.com) in North Carolina, regarding his experience in these situations and he has developed an excellent handout to assist with individual coping and mitigation of crisis during this time. Baker (2020) offered the following suggestions: Given the likelihood that the COVID-19 response may be a prolonged and stressful incident, below are some tips to keep in mind to help mitigate stress & anxiety. Remember, when first responders make self-care a priority, it enhances the ability to care for the community. 1. Stay flexible – as much as we can plan and like to maintain control, things REFORM: The Failed Social Experiment In the State of the County Address to hundreds of the most influential people in our community, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo uttered the following words, “bail reform does more than just protect the constitutional rights of defendants, it also lowers crime.” Now I am not going to sit here and call the County Judge a liar, but at best, she is grossly uneducated on the consequences of bail reform. At worst, she misled that room full of people and Harris County. Understand that bail reformers, and to a large extent criminal justice reformers, will not admit that they are subjecting our community to a social experiment that it is failing. The hard-working and law-abiding members of our community are suffering under the harsh consequences of bad policy. The push for bail reform in Harris County, the subsequent entering into a federal consent decree as part of a class-action lawsuit settlement, and the organized push for criminal justice reform created a perfect storm in Houston. On one hand you have individuals getting out on personal recognizance (PR) bond after PR bond with nothing but their signature to guarantee their appearance in court. On the other you have District Attorney Kim Ogg, who seems content with letting violent and repeat offenders back into our community with little to no punishment. Kim Ogg’s abuse of deferred adjudication for violent felons is well documented. Her actions have released over 1600 people on deferred adjudication for aggravated assault, 1100 people for aggravated robbery and robbery, 300 people for sexual assault, and over 300 people for felon in possession of a firearm. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that these ‘reforms’ were going to make Houston less safe. In fact, by every public safety metric bail and criminal justice reform are an unmitigated disaster. The long-term impact of the failed social experiment levied on our community is difficult to estimate but let us take a look at something we can measure - crime. The implementation of bail reform started well before the settlement actually occurred and in 2019, we started to see the harmful effects. Property crime was up 7% in Houston and violent crime was up nearly 3% and trending in the wrong direction towards the end of year. It pains me to inform you that in 2020, crime is increasing at an alarming rate in Houston. As of the first week in March, property crime is already up 17% this year over last. JOE GAMALDI, PRESIDENT HPOU Within what seems like a blink of an eye our nation and way of life dramatically changed with the introduction of the COVID-19 pandemic. While many have the luxury to quarantine at home, our law enforcement officers are still working tirelessly to maintain the peace in the community and are frequently required to place themselves and their families at risk for transmission through long hours and contact with others. Law enforcement agencies throughout the US are also now required to make the difficult decision to reduce their workforce who have tested positive through isolation and quarantine measures for at least two weeks. This has further stretched the seams of already understaffed departments and innovative ways to approach this are currently being explored. It is a scary and uncertain time for our officers and the stress and crises experienced is growing exponentially every day. Managing this psychological stress and aiming for resiliency is paramount as we expect this to continue for the foreseeable future. What then is a good working definition of a psychological crisis? According to James and Gilliland (2001) in their book Crisis Intervention Strategies, “…crisis is a perception or experience of an event or situation as an intol- Be Teflon, not Velcro. 2. Listen to command staff and pay attention Burglary of a Motor Vehicle is to trainings you are a up over 30% part of. The more familiar we Personal note: I myself was are with a given situation, the a victim and had my car broken more we know how to respond, into. Oddly enough, while the less stress we tend to feel. having coffee with members of 3. Schedule check ins with your the community about the rise family so you are not worried in crime. But the joke’s on the about them while you are working guy who did it, because all he and can focus on your tasks. got was a couple pair of skinny Scheduled check-ins also help jeans, that based on the surveillance family worry less about you. 4. footage, he is unlikely to fit Learn the symptoms of distress into. and anxiety, including physical Burglary is up 12% (ex. fatigue, muscle tension) and Theft is up 10% mental (ex. nervousness, withdrawal, Auto Theft is up 25% guilt). 5. Allow time for Although some will say, “well you and your family to recover that’s just property crime. We from responding to the outbreak. are focused on violent crime,” I This includes taking all scheduled would argue that all crime when rest, limiting alcohol & junk there is a victim is important. food, and spending time with We are also seeing an alarming family. Take a break from media spike in violent crime. Overall coverage of COVID-19. You’ll be violent crime in Houston is up briefed when you return to duty. over 21%! don’t always fall into line. Don’t erable difficulty that exceeds the let the unexpected throw you. Continued on Page 45 Continued on Page 44 42 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 43

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