Dynamic of AuthorityWhen I teach the Dynamic of Authority during Police Dynamics training, I often ask the question, "In your official capacity, who or what do you represent?"It's an important question. In the Dynamic of Character, you learned that our definition of integrity is "being who you represent yourself to be." If that's true, then it's important to know who or what we represent. When I ask the question, I get responses like, "We represent the law" or "we represent the government" or "we represent the Police Department or Sheriff's Office" or "we represent the Constitution." Usually someone will say, "We represent the people." An important point. In the American system of government, we do represent the people. Occasionally, someone in the audience will say, "We also represent ourselves!" Not so fast. When you become a law enforcement officer, the one thing you cease to represent is yourself! Your goals, your agenda, your opinions, and your ego are irrelevant to the accomplishment of the police mission. And the moment you start thinking that you do represent yourself is the moment you set yourself up for an ethical failure. You can imagine the response I get from officers when I make this statement. I've had some get up and walk out of the room at this point! "What do you mean I don't represent myself? What do you mean my ego is irrelevant?" I realize that I have just made a bold statement. Let me see if I can justify it.
All human authority is delegated. It always flows from a higher source.
Let's look at the structure of authority in a law enforcement organization:
 Since these entities have the right to impose obligation on others, we refer to them as authorities. They are what we represent, not ourselves. We have a human tendency, I think, to resist those that are in power over us, to view them as being oppressive in nature, something to be avoided. Just one more person trying to rule our lives and keep us from doing what we want to do. This is an incorrect view. Authorities are not designed to be oppressive in nature. They are designed to be protective in nature. The fundamental role of any authority is to protect those that are under their care from harmful and evil influences. Aligning yourself properly with the entities you represent protects you from a variety of dangers including liability, prosecution, punishment, injury, and the consequences of your poor decisions. In certain circumstances, they even protect you from death.
Regretfully, many of our officers have "stepped out from under authority." They have developed an Independent Spirit. This is an attitude that separates them from the authorities that God has placed in their life.
 The life of an Independent Spirit is characterized by personal conflict as his desires collide with those of his authorities. You can typically spot this officer because he tends to take things that happen to him very personally. Even a violation of the law can become a personal offense to this officer. Out of this "Stronghold of Pride" flow certain predictable patterns of behavior that I call the Path of Destruction. Among these patterns are:
Do you realize that law enforcement has the highest rates of divorce, alcoholism, domestic violence, and suicide of any profession? I've never lost an officer to a line of duty death, by God's grace. But I've lost two to suicide. Two to four times as many officers will take their own lives this year as will be killed at the hands of a felon - two to four times! A proverb says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."
An officer once came to me asking for a job. I happened to know a little bit about this officer's life. I knew he was not living it "under authority" so I said, "Before we talk about a job, let me draw you a diagram." And I drew one similar to the one on this page. Then I asked him three very important questions. The first was "Where do you see yourself in this diagram?" He looked at it for several minutes then told me he was way down on this Path of Destruction. Next I asked him where he wanted to be on the diagram. Without hesitation he said he wanted to be the one "under authority" - the one I call the Faithful Officer. Then I asked my third question - "How are you going to get there?" He stared at the picture for the longest time. Then, as a tear ran down his cheek, he said, "I don't even know how I got where I'm at - much less how to get back." Isn't that true of many of our officers? They have been out from under authority for so long that they have lost their way back.
Many of them don't even know there is a "back." Our police culture doesn't help, either. Our culture reinforces the idea of being a renegade. Even
Hollywood glamorizes the Renegade Officer.
The best historical example we have of this principle at work happened about 2000 years ago. During this time, the land of Palestine was under the rule of the Roman Empire. In a particular town or village, the Roman government would appoint a representative. He was known as the Centurion. The Centurion was an army commander and he was responsible for maintaining law and order. He was the Police Chief of that time. He was a very powerful man of authority. In the village of Capernaum, there lived a particularly honorable Centurion. He had a servant who was on the verge of death. The Centurion heard that Jesus was in town so he sent word to Him asking Him to heal his servant. When Jesus learned of the Centurion's request, He offered to go to his house. The Centurion's response was quite interesting. He said, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." What was he doing? He was recognizing the authority of Jesus. He was essentially saying, "If you are who you represent yourself to be, then why do you have to go anywhere? Simply speak the word and it will be done." Jesus marveled at the faithfulness of the Centurion. He said, "In all of Israel I have not seen this kind of faith." The point I want to make is that the Centurion did not say, "I am a man of authority, even though he was. He said, "I am a man under authority," because he understood this principle. The only time he had any right to tell anybody else what to do - to go or come or do something - is when he himself was lined up under his authorities. That's how it works. Your authority is delegated to you down a chain of command, starting with the people. You are a modern day Centurion. You tell other people what to do. How dare you tell anyone else what to do with their life unless you are properly lined up under your authorities - because that's where the power comes from.
So I leave you with the same three questions I asked that young officer:
Where do you see yourself on this diagram?
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