Tuesday, October 26, 2004
I’ve got a long list of bosses. You see, I’m on the bottom of the totem pole- slick-sleeve deputy- and over me are a sergeant, a lieutenant, a captain, and then the major and the sheriff. The sergeant is new, and I’m not sure he’s figured out the best way to motivate his troops yet… the stripes are wearing a little heavy. Police departments may be quasi-military in their rank structure, but middle-aged cops are definately not 18-year-old army recruits and can’t be treated as such; not if you want any sort of morale. The sergeant, I think, is afraid that if his unit doesn’t produce, he’ll lose his stripes; a conclusion that may be reinforced by the lieutenant and captain- or may not be.
I’ve been in his position before- at my previous department, I was a sergeant, and there was a period where I was paranoid that my every action was being scrutinized and that my officers would screw up and have it reflect badly on me. I’d like to take him aside and offer him advice; get him to see that there are other ways of motivating your guys, other styles of leadership, but I’m not sure how he’d take it. I’m sure he’ll grow into the position, same as I once did… I just hope no one gets too disgruntled before then.
In other news (there’s always other news), my roommate’s bought his second motorcycle. He bought a Suzuki GS500F over the summer and taught himself to ride. The 500 was a good bike to learn on; handles well and not too much power. I figured he’d want to step up after a while; just not this soon. He bought a Suzuki SV1000S and has been pleased with it- of course, now he’s got two payments to make. Here’s hoping he hasn’t bitten off too much. And, now, I’ve got the motorcycle bug again. It’s been several years since I’ve ridden- the Yamaha Seca on the Garage page wents tits-up long ago- and I’ve forgotten how much I liked it. I have just paid off a bunch of stuff I owed on, so I’ve got the money for a monthly payment; but do I want to get in debt again?
And since I’m stuck in the 80’s, I’ve been looking at standard bikes- either the Suzuki Bandit 1200S or the Kawasaki ZRX1200R (which is pretty much visually identical to the GPz 305 and 500 I used to ride). We shall see.