P1 First Person: Have a tune to keep you safe and alive

By Rich Von Voigt
Police1 Member

When I was a young officer working in New York City, I heard a song by Kenny Rogers entitled ‘The Gambler.’

I liked the song for its content and how it kind of applied to my career as a street cop. So I thought I would share my song and how it worked for me over my 30-year career. It actually kept me out of trouble a few times.

The song lyrics went like this.

You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em
Know when to walk away, and know when to run
You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for counting when the dealin’s done

Let me explain how this worked for me.

You Got to Know When to Hold ‘em
In our line of work, you have to be an assertive individual, take charge guy or gal and you have to convince people you are going to handle the situation, no matter how out of control it appears to be.

I’m here. I’m confident, and we can make this all OK. Hold my ground, when I say you are under arrest it’s a meaningful statement and I will do what needs to be done to make that happen.

You Got to Know When to Fold ‘em
Now we are supposed to have common sense; you need to know when you are in over your head. Do we need more time to evaluate the situation or do we need back up on the way? Can I do this alone or will I escalate the situation and make matters worse instead of better?

Stop, look, listen, think, decide on an action that will keep me in control and safe.

Police can’t walk away, but we have the ability to rethink our strategy if need be, to slow down, remain calm and continue to attempt to de escalate the situation without losing control.

I always wanted to know how far my back-up unit was before I made the move to arrest if I could see this was going into a full scale hand-to-hand scuffle to arrest. It is smart practice to advise HQ that you are dealing with an uncooperative individual before you actually go hands on.
So we don’t walk away; we negotiate until we are again in control.

Know When to Run
Once again, we don’t run, as in run away.

What we do is start looking for cover, thinking about when to back off until the troops arrive. Maybe we need SWAT, maybe we just got so much going on — fire, floods, out-of-control crowds.

We need our good common sense to back up reevaluate.

Remember 9/11... those towers starting coming down... police, fire, EMS all were dodging fallen debris to survive.

Too many didn’t make it that day. Some did and they will never forget what it was like to be helpless in a situation of that magnitude.

You Never Count Your Money When You’re Sittin’ at the Table. There’ll be Time Enough for Counting when the Dealin’s Done
I have seen too many times when officers are standing around with a prisoner in the street outside of a bar, late night, early morning, prisoner cuffed spouting off at the mouth.

Instead of taking the subject away and not allowing others to get involved or join in on the circus, we stand around making small talk about how we took the guy into custody and how good we did our job and how we are the real deal.

Do that stuff after work, at HQ or just go to a neutral location for a drink after, but not at the scene, where things can get worse before they get better. You know the girlfriend or momma is coming along shortly so take it away from the scene.

This song came out in 1978.

I went on the job in 1968 and retired in 1999, so let me say this: I may not have had a tune all my career, but I truly bought into this one and it played in my head when I was working the street.

If you just take a minute to mull over the words a few times, you can see how it will keep you sharp, safe and determined to survive this job.

Now go find your own tune. My new tune is ‘Take this job and shove it.’

No! Not really, but that’s a little police humor for you (got to have some of that otherwise you can’t get through the reality of police work!).

Be safe, be prepared, be tactical, be smart.