What does it mean to pursue “excellence in every encounter” in police work? What could be considered going above and beyond the call of duty?
Working in the law enforcement field is inherently risky, with many expectations and demands. A police officer is expected to work in all sorts of conditions, at any time, and cannot pick and choose their work environment. Their schedule is demanding, with shifts frequently running late and extra hours required. A police officer must be physically ready for any task, and able-bodied, to protect themselves and others and best serve the citizens in their jurisdiction while wearing 30+ pounds of equipment and gear. They must be ready for the unexpected, and switch from adrenaline-inducing emergency situations to calm conversations at the drop of a hat. They must be a jack of all trades, from responding to and addressing urgent medical situations, to counseling teens and parents, to investigating car crashes, to interviewing suspects, to rescuing pets, and more. They must continually attend training and be aware of the most recent laws and information. They must put their lives on the line for the sake of somebody else, no matter how horrifying a situation is. Being a public servant means exactly that; a police officer serves the public. The list of expectations could be endless, and a police officer will step up to do it all.
But all those things are generally understood to be a basic requirement of police work. If you could not do those things, or would not want to, then the life of a law enforcement officer is not for you. What, then, makes an officer an outstanding example of pursuing excellence? I believe it starts with a mindset. The attitude in which any police officer approaches work every day, where the tasks ahead are not just part of the job, they are a way of life. Responding to a car crash is not a repetitive task, it is a fresh opportunity to assist somebody through a potentially traumatizing experience. Going to the tenth call of the day about a juvenile acting out is not worth any less of a caring and kind response than the first call of the day. Writing a traffic enforcement ticket is not an auto-pilot task to check another box on a list, it is done with professionalism, courtesy, and with the goal of educating and opening lines of communication with the public about safe driving. Responding to a suicidal person means treating them with the same value as you would with your friend or family member and caring about their life when perhaps nobody else does. Talking to a person down on their luck and offering them brief friendship and companionship is not listed in the job description, but it’s what a police officer who truly loves and values their community will do. Buying a meal for somebody in immediate need, or gifting a turkey to a family for Thanksgiving when they are otherwise unable to get one, or fixing a broken window seen while responding to a call
for service at a house, or going into a flooding apartment to save a pet, or jumping into an ice-cold creek to rescue a person from drowning is truly above and beyond the basic expectation for a police officer.
Pursuing excellence is not stopping at the minimum. Pursuing excellence is being persistent, and determined, to seek justice and provide peace for our citizens. Pursuing excellence is when detectives spend long hours, day after day, putting together the pieces in an elaborate puzzle of a crime, so that a victim can bring a sense of closure, or be protected from repeat harm. Pursuing excellence is an officer revisiting a cold-case crime days or weeks or months later, and recognizing new patterns or old suspects, and picking up the threads again with as much energy and fervor as when the crime was first committed. Pursuing excellence is calling concerned citizens back after they report a crime, or suspicious activity, or a well-being check, to give them peace of mind and let them know their information was valued. Pursuing excellence and going above and beyond the call of duty means always putting our citizens first and prioritizing their lives and needs and well-being above our own with the same devotion in every single encounter.
Being a police officer is not only about a clean-pressed uniform and tidy gear, or issuing tickets, or arresting “bad guys,” or writing reports. Those are all parts of the job. But being a truly exceptional police officer means coming to work, day after day, with the decision to treat every person you meet with the same human dignity we all deserve, the same care and compassion you would want for your grandma, the same value of life on the first call of the day to the last call of the day, and the willingness to never stop. To never hesitate. To never step back or turn the other direction or wait for somebody else to step up and handle a situation for you.
That is what, here at the Bellevue Police Department, we strive for every day. All the examples for exceptional service listed above are real-life examples of what Bellevue Police Officers have done and continue to do daily. The list is endless, but it is endless because we love our city, we love our community, and we are only here because of you, our citizens. Without you, there would be no need for us, and that is the real reason for pursuing excellence in every encounter.
