Page 31 - Top Cover Issue 9

TOP COVER ISSUE 9 31

who threaten our fragile peace. Mark considered inappropriate, unprofessional and unethical by the Force. Wider society is
Williams has recently reminded us in also watching out for this one: constant scrutiny by the media is an active, if not always
TOP COVER to be thankful for the successful, deterrent.
discretion of those who stand up and And finally let’s not forget the fourth type: physical risk. It’s the real risk of injury in
shelve their own interests when duty performing one’s operational duty, be it on the streets but also in training. We all know
calls at the sharp end of risk society. And someone who has paid the price of this sort of risk.
there’s nothing academic about that. Then there’s a second type of risk. I want to call it Off-Risk, because it’s the sort of risk
Thankfully. that is a threat in situations that are not directly operational. But although it’s different to
So I think as a trainer, academic, Operational Risk, it falls into the same four categories.
but most of all as a person, it’s worth Off-risk can be technical, and refers to questions of technique in, for example, training.
reminding ourselves what risk means As trainers, officers are taught to minimise the risk of non-learning through various
in firearms. It might even be my duty training techniques. We plan sessions, use authorised materials, control the resources
to think about it, as we academics talk which we put out there, and we make sure that we do a knowledge check to make sure
about a risk society from the comfy our training has ‘worked’. Occasional risk is a threat too, as we are all capable of an honest
heights of our conference rooms, lecture mistake, dodgy resources, malfunctioning projector and so.
theatres and bookshelves. As an academic Then there’s legal Off-Risk. Training is subject to the same risk of acting in ways which
though, I can’t resist the chance of the organisation cannot accept for legal reasons. Unethical, unprofessional behaviour in
creating a bit of jargon, so I’m going to training is dangerous and irresponsible. Even physical Off-Risk can be understood from
talk about two sorts of risk. the Off-Risk point of view. We all know about the risk of injury performing duty, but
The first sort of risk is the visible kind what about the impact of operational duties outside the operational theatre? Relationships,
we all know about, although sometimes mental and physical illness are all waiting around the corner for AFOs if they start to lose
we like to brush it under the carpet as control of stress, alcohol use, worklife balance, sleep patterns …
simply part of the job. It’s ‘Operational
Risk’ – the sort of risk that AFOs face as RISK SOCIETY?
part of their operational role.The second Would life be the same without these risks? Would the AFO role be as rewarding
kind is less visible, more under the without them? I doubt it, and there are times when we have to embrace Operational Risk
surface even, and it might be that people and Off-Risk. It’s not just that AFO training without them would be like Dixon without
like me, who play our part in training his truncheon, but that grown up professional learning needs stakes. There has to be a
AFOs, need to pay more attention to point to training, and what better way of tackling risk in a grown up, professional way
this ‘Off-Risk’. As we’ll see, I think that than through the NFIC programme? The only question, for us trainers, is how? ■
there’s a link between the two.
The first sort is the technical risk
which results from the poor practices
that AFOs work hard to eliminate. My
8 year-old daughter knows that if a
weapon is not checked properly, a serious
injury could occur. Just knowing this
doesn’t make the risk go away though:
we have to work hard to make sure that
an ‘accident waiting to happen’ doesn’t
actually happen on our watch.
The second operational risk is related
to this. Occasional risk is not really an
example of poor practice. In fact, clear
procedures exist to deal with it. But
equipment can malfunction, it can be
misused or it can even be abused or lost
by accident. None of this is an excuse:
it’s our job to reduce the possibility of
this kind of occasional risk happening to
zero. But we all work in the shadow of
an accident of this sort happening in the
wrong place at the wrong time.
Thirdly, there’s legal risk. It’s the risk
of acting in ways which the organisation
discourages for legal reasons because
they are unlawful. I hardly need to give
examples, but this is tied to ethical risk
– the risk of acting in ways which are