Issue No. 469 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights a new book by Bob Vernon, Former L.A.P.D. Assistant Chief of Police. L.A. Cop is a page-turner—with gutsy lessons in every chapter. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for my 2019 review of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and learn why “CEOs, on average, have the lowest EQ scores in the workplace.”
“The More You Sweat Here, the Less You’ll Bleed on the Streets”
Dum - - - de - DUM – DUM. Ladies and gentlemen: the book review you are about to read is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
If you remember “Dragnet,” the radio, TV, and motion-picture series featuring the dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday (played by Jack Webb, 1920-1982), then you’ll definitely appreciate the true stories in L.A. Cop: Peacemaker in Blue, by Bob Vernon.
But first, click here and listen to the “Dragnet” theme (or find your old 78 record):
Listen to the iconic theme music from “Dragnet”
which reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100.
Oh, my. Read Bob Vernon’s first person narrative of being a peacemaker in the streets, alleys, and drug busts of Los Angeles—and you will think differently about law enforcement.
Just published last month, I read several pages of L.A. Cop to my grandchildren (four teenagers and an 11-year-old) at our Easter gathering. Zuzu, the serious reader in our family (she read 175 books in 2020) plans to read L.A. Cop this month.
Why should you read Bob Vernon’s book? The news for peacemakers has not been good lately: riots, the denigration of good cops, the misguided “defund the police” movement, and who knows what will happen…when the verdict is announced in the Derek Chauvin trial regarding George Floyd's death.
Bob Vernon retired in 1992 as L.A.P.D. Assistant Chief of Police, after serving 38 years with the department. His pastor, John MacArthur, notes that Vernon “was really a combination of cop and preacher.” Think it’s easy addressing crime and violence every day—and being a Christ follower? Try combining the rough and tumble Policy Academy training with the regimen Eugene Peterson delineates in his book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society. Peterson describes disciples as “people who spend our lives apprenticed to our master, Jesus Christ.”
Originally, with a passion to be a pilot, and between semesters at Biola, Vernon passed the preliminary cadet screening tests and joined a group of 30 for an intense week of exams. He qualified for the final five, but a young psychiatrist pushed back on Vernon’s convictions. “Do you believe that Jesus was born without an earthly father—all that stuff?” The shrink, after a three-minute conversation, concluded that Vernon’s “hyper-religiousness” would not be a good fit in Korea. Sadly, Vernon was disqualified and his piloting career never took off.
So God redirected his path to the L.A.P.D. and while enduring the battery of tests to become an L.A. cop, Vernon interviewed with another psychiatrist. I’m always looking for the meat of a book by page 25—and I was not disappointed. Vernon shared his angst over his disqualification by the first psychiatrist. So in this interview, “I decided to be totally honest and let the chips fall where they would. I answered the questions openly and fully; I even volunteered that I knew Jesus personally. If this doesn’t do it, nothing will,” Vernon thought!
In response, the L.A.P.D. psychiatrist was elated. “I’m glad to see a young man who knows what he believes in. I was especially impressed when I tried to get you to back down and you wouldn’t.” He said that during the Korean War, the government had learned that those U.S. servicemen in enemy camps who had strong religious faith were faring better. (Read the encouraging insights on page 25.)
I’ve never been a crime writer or beat reporter, so I will not attempt to describe the powerful drama (and surprising humor!) in L.A. Cop. (Once, however, for a sixth grade school assignment, I wrote that I aspired to work for the FBI. I came close when I played an FBI agent—actually just one scene—in the 2008 movie, The Genius Club, starring Stephen Baldwin.) But let me tease you with nine Bob Vernon stories and some insights for your weekly staff meeting:
• What was she wearing? Vernon is the son of a cop and now the grandfather of four cops. His dad prepped him for the interview exam—to be ready for the classic observation question, “Describe the secretary who brought you into the interview room.” Oops! It backfired on Vernon—to much laughter—but he passed. (What’s your best interview question?)
• L.A. Policy Academy. Vernon learned this: “The more you sweat here, the less you’ll bleed on the streets.” (What’s the most memorable saying at your organization—and does it involve blood?)
• Rigorous Training. “Many of us were ‘killed’ by an instructor playing the role of a bandit. The instructor would fire a blank from his gun when we were careless during a vehicle pull-over or body search.” Read more about “pursuit syndrome” and why police behavioral patterns are so critical during those 90-mph car chases through residential areas. (How do you assess and address job-related stress?)
• Sobering. “The ‘Officer Survival’ and ‘When to Shoot’ lectures were among the most sobering experiences.” Vernon adds, “Those sessions shook me.” (Does your new employee orientation touch hearts and guts?)
• Pick One. Vernon learned rapidly from partners and other veterans. When a “belligerent and bull-strong arrestee didn’t want to go,” Vernon noted, “They knew how to choose from psychology, humor, and physical persuasion.” (What’s your go-to competency in your persuasion toolbox?)
• No GPS! Imagine—try doing effective police work without GPS, iPhones, and other modern resources. Vernon consulted his Thomas Street Guide to locate his assigned trouble spots. (Raise your hand if you still have a Thomas Street Guide in your car!)
• Timing Is Everything. “Those days of car patrol taught me the importance of being in the right place at the right time.” On one occasion, before the dispatcher had radioed a robbery alert, Vernon had the suspect in custody! The foot race ended with a serious whack on the suspect’s head—just one of dozens of scary, sometimes hilarious, cop stories. (Share a story when God put you in the right place at the right time.)
• The Incredulous Judge. One of Vernon’s early partners, Nick, “had an uncanny sixth sense.” Nick had even more than that. As the arresting office, Nick asked a judge to give him custody of a young man. “The judge was incredulous.” Caseworkers approved and “York” moved in with Nick and his wife. “York” eventually got a job and married. Redemption! (That’s what Max De Pree called a “tribal story.”)
• Pattern of Prayer. During Vernon’s 45-minute oral exam for deputy chief, he was asked how he had turned around a difficult environment when he was captain in the Venice neighborhood. His answer, “Well, I prayed a lot.” He then explained how his pattern of prayer gave him new insights and ideas for that challenging situation. (Read this book and you’ll pray differently every time you see a law enforcement officer—and perhaps how you approach your current job.)
You’ll be blessed and encouraged when you read L.A. Cop and your street-smart vocabulary will also be enriched: D.B. (dead body), u.o.’s (unusual occurrences), rat’s alarms, and righteous busts. You’ll appreciate even more: law enforcement chaplains, preventive media relationships, and split-second life or death decision-making competencies.
Though retirement would have been well-deserved after 38 years, Bob Vernon’s next assignment from the Lord was to launch Pointman Leadership Institute with a mission “to provide ethics training worldwide in character-based, principled leadership.” To date, more than 70 certified instructors have served more than 100,000 leaders in 75 countries with seminars on the power of character and preventing corruption.
“This is the city. Los Angeles, California. I work here.” After you read L.A. Cop, check out the classic “Dragnet” TV dramas posted on YouTube.
To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for L.A. Cop: Peacemaker in Blue, by Bob Vernon, Former L.A.P.D. Assistant Chief of Police. And thanks to Three Sixteen Publishing for sending a review copy.
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS
1) When working with the L.A.P.D.’s gang task force, Vernon and the team created a strategy to focus on one gang’s hardcore leadership—about 15 percent of the gang. It was very effective. Does your organization’s strategy include a laser-like focus on key leaders and influencers?
2) Are you prepared for the next crisis? It’s not if, but when. Bob Vernon had been lieutenant in the L.A.P.D. accident division for about two weeks in 1965 when the Watts riots hit the nation’s front pages. (Read his chapter, “Shoot?”) Is it time, again, to update our crisis plans?
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John Grisham meets Tim Keller
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
Here’s the core competency in the Crisis Bucket: “We are prepared for most crises. We have plans in place and a crisis facilitator trained, and we drill our team members frequently and spontaneously. Yet we trust in God, who is our Protector, Comforter and Sustainer.”
If my review of L.A. Cop has you searching for more books in the crime genre, you would enjoy The Ambition, Lee Strobel’s first novel in 2011. I called it “John Grisham meets Tim Keller.” Set in Chicago (where I survived 21 winters), the novel has it all and doesn’t disappoint. Murder. Mayhem. Megachurch. The mob. And Chicago politics! How I’ve missed Chicago politics! (Read my review of The Ambition.)
What’s the most important competency to bring to a crisis? Many would answer “JUDGMENT.” Read my 2017 mini-review of the book, Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls, by Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis.
Judgment, preach the authors, is “the essence of effective leadership.” It involves three domains: people, strategy, and crisis. (Interestingly, those are three of the 20 management buckets: the People Bucket, the Strategy Bucket, and the Crisis Bucket.) They call judgment the proverbial elephant on the table—because it’s rarely addressed.
For more resources in all 20 buckets, click here.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Pearpod helped the Roe v. Wade movie team create fundraising opportunities for organizations and churches. If you need creative add-ons to your projects, check in with Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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