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Street Survival Insights with Dave Smith

Tip: The "good" routines

An Officer from Bowling Green (Mo.) Police Department recently asked PoliceOne Columnist and Street Survival Seminar Instructor Dave Smith about “routines.”

“I am a past seminar attendee from 2006 (St. Louis) ... I still carry the small card with the tips for the morning after a critical incident, and I am not quite clear on the meaning of ‘Take advantage of routine’ that is one of the tips on the card. I know I heard it in class but I do not recall what was said about it.”

Smith says that this is a reference to the comfort of personal life routines. “Going to the gym, watching your favorite show, and those things we do daily in our lives which are reliably comfortable and reassuring,” can really help you in the wake of a critical incident.

“It does NOT refer to your activities on the job where we fall into the ‘routine’ trap of relaxing when we shouldn’t,” Smith says.  “Unfortunately, we are creatures of routine because we LIKE predictability! Remember, two the best ways to get hurt on the street is to make yourself predictable and to think the people we are dealing with are predictable!”