INTERVENE... INTERVENTION...
...to come between; to be between; to interfere; to interrupt.

Some times we do the intervention...
Sometimes God does the intervention...

Sometimes the tools of intervention are human agencies such as Peace Keepers.
Sometimes the tools of intervention are incidents of natural phenomenon called
nature or acts of god.

When intervention is by Peace Keepers, individuals or groups, it is difficult for
those who are not, nor have ever been, Peace Keepers  to remember that all
Peace Keepers volunteered to be where they are or where they were.

It is not easy in all circumstances to let go of strong negative emotions and not
blame someone else when a loved one does not come home without injury...
or does not come home alive...

Some interventions bring very good, pleasant results... others bring catastrophic
results... most other interventions fall some place in between these extremes...
and the view of the outcome is determined by who the viewer is, whether
participant, observer or recipient of the outcome.  The intervention by a Peace
Keeper is never needed until someone else fails, makes a mistake or breaks a
rule of law or rule of the society in which the incident takes place.

Natural interventions or acts of God fall into the same process.  It depends upon
the attitude of the person being affected.  Sometimes a rain storm is hated
because it altered plans for an outing which was ruined... those hindered then
have the choice to be upset... or to make new plans.  Sometimes no amount of
planning or even advance notice makes any difference in outcome.  Sometimes
the only thing affecting those people affected by an incident is their own attitudes
and the effort to make adjustments or not make adjustments and react with
emotions.

In all circumstances the only way to gain the best results is to do the best you can
with what you have where you are and leave the rest to God or whomever else is
responsible.

Because I am a volunteer Peace Keeper on the walking beats, if it is going to rain
I like the rain to come before I need to report for duty... because chaplain walking
beats are canceled when it rains.  Last night rain was forecast at 9 PM... When I
went out to get something from the car before 9 PM there had been no rain. 
When I went out before getting dressed for duty to check the weather it was not
raining.  When I went out to get into the car to go to duty the car was covered with
water... it had rained and the sky was still overcast.  No further rain was forecast
so I went to duty.  The forecast for the rest of the night was no rain, high humidity
and winds from the south - southwest and very warm.  When I arrived at the ocean
front the sky was clear with a full moon shining

Sometime between 11:30 and midnight as we were handling a particularly mouthy
drunk who had been drinking some of the most vile smelling stuff I ever smelled,
a radio message was broadcast... it was raining hard sixty blocks north of us... but
the  south-southwest wind would keep it away from us... We placed the drunk
into a transport vehicle.  The wind changed to come from the north, which was not
in the forecast, and first a mist... then a wind driven deluge that lasted a good
while... then it quit and now was more humid and the crazies started again.  After
a few incidents were handled, hard rain began again, everyone else scurried for
cover and I dismissed the chaplains. 

Rain for me was a hindrance from being able to work... and then a blessing for
early off from duty and go home early.  Other people in the same rain did different
things and viewed the coming of the rain in different ways.  Some fun seeking
partiers never never stopped fun seeking and got drenched... but it did not seem to
bother some of them.  Others became angry and short tempered and some of the
short tempered ones flirted with confrontation and arrest.

Choices and consequences... Every Peace Keeper is affected by this process
every day of duty no matter where the duty is served.... Afghanistan, Iraq, streets,
highways, sidewalks, jails, prisons... wherever we are... and wherever people are...
in almost all cases the incidents that involve Peace Keepers involve choices and
consequences on the part of either the Peace Keeper or someone else or both.
================================================================
WashingtonPost.com, 8/20/05
· ALBUQUERQUE -- John Hyde, 48, was charged with four counts of murder in
the fatal shootings Thursday of police officers Michael King, 50, and Richard
Smith, 47, when they tried to pick him up for a mental health evaluation, and for
the deaths of David Fisher, 17, and Garret Iverson, 26, at a motorcycle shop.
Police said Hyde also may be linked to the death of a state transportation worker.
================================================================
VIRGINIAN-PILOT, 8/20/05
AFGHANISTAN
Eastern Afghanistan... a U.S. Marine and Afghanistan government soldier killed.
2 U.S. soldiers killed and 2 wounded protecting road workers.
Total of 183 U.S. service members killed since Taliban was toppled.
A surge in violence since winter has killed about 1000 people - including 60
American soldiers.

IRAQ, 8/13-19/05
U.S. troops killed - 15
U.S. troops wounded - 144
U.S. troops killed since 03/03 - 1861
U.S. troops wounded since 03/03 - 14,021
===============================================================
PoliceOne.com
Officer Down
Two Albuquerque officers shot, killed - 08/19/2005
Michael King & Richard Smith - [ Albuquerque, New Mexico]
Tractor-trailer kills N.Y. Deputy during a traffic stop - 08/17/2005
Eric Loiselle - [Essex County, New York]
Mo. Cpl. John A. Sampietro Jr. killed in the line of duty - 08/17/2005
John A. Sampietro Jr. - [Springfield, Missouri]
Benzie Deputy is killed in motorcycle accident - 08/16/2005
Cory Gunther - [Lake Anne, Michigan]
Rookie Miss. officer killed with own gun after traffic stop - 08/15/2005
Timothy Webster - [Crystal Springs , Mississippi]
Fla. Officer, K-9 killed in accident - 08/15/2005
Roy L. Nelson Jr. - [New Smyrna Beach , Florida]
Fla.: Stepson charged with murder of Retired officer - 08/13/2005
Roy Andrews - [Jacksonville, Florida]
Ariz. Sheriff's Deputy killed - 08/12/2005
Timothy David Graham - [Tucson, Arizona]
Ga. Officer slain during traffic stop - 08/11/2005
Francis Ortega - [Pine Lake, Georgia]

PoliceOne Safety Tip:

Pen Pistol (Secure - login required)
Submitted by Officer Eric Brown with the Pageland (SC) PD Beware, single-shot
.22 disguised as ink pen being sold over the internet. This disguised weapon
illustrates why it's important to keep your eyes open for any movement or
behavior ... Full Story

PoliceOne Safety Tip:

Covert cuff key
submitted by Sgt. Randy King, U.S. Army Military Police
(Secure - law enforcement only) Although a relatively rare occurrence, officers
have been overpowered and cuffed by suspects either trying to escape or
planning to do the officer harm. PoliceOne member Sergeant Randy King, a
military police patrol supervisor with the U.S. Army writes ... Full Story

Seven tips for roadside officer safety
by Managing Editor Scott Buhrmaster

In a matter of a day's time, two officers are dead and one is in the hospital after being hit by passing traffic (see related articles below). Vehicular threats can come in two forms; one an accidental collision with a patrol unit or officer and the other an intentional assault against the officer using the vehicle as a weapon ... Full Story

Related articles:
Trucker hits parked Ohio cruiser

Tractor-trailer kills NY deputy during traffic stop

Mo. Cpl. John A. Sampietro, Jr. killed in the line of duty

P1 Columnist Capt. Travis Yates' section Police driving

Two chiefs wounded, suspect killed in Ga. courthouse shootings
The Associated Press

LUMPKIN, Ga.- The police chief, a county deputy and a paramedic were shot in
this small town's courthouse square Thursday and the suspected gunman was
killed during an ensuing gunbattle, authorities said ... Full Story

Related articles:
Eight fired for actions in Atlanta courthouse shooting

Chicago jurors rushed from court as angry defendant turns on his lawyers

Tenn. fugitives captured

Visit the P-1 Courthouse Security section for updated news and research

PoliceOne Safety Tip:

Body language and the value of critiquing (Secure- law enforcement only)
by Managing Editor Scott Buhrmaster & In the Line of Duty The value of candidly
critiquing situations in which an officer makes mistakes in an effort to teach
other officers how to avoid those same errors is tremendous ... Full Story
==============================================================
Waterborne@aol.com, Chief Steve Bronson, USN(Ret)

New York: Essex County deputy killed by truck during traffic stop. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--deputykilled0817aug17,0,494687.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

Missouri: Trooper struck, killed while doing accident reconstruction. http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/865/public/news654306.html

Colorado: Kidnapping Call Ends In Chase, Police Shooting. Kevin
Johnson Faces Charges Of Attempting To Kill Peace Officer. http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/4866505/detail.html?rss=den&psp=news
================================================================
Every Peace Keeper makes many choices during every tour of duty.  Every choice
to act is in some way an intervention that inserts the Peace Keeper into some
circumstance involving one or more people.  The Peace Keeper comes between
the person(s) and what they want to do or continue doing.  Every intervention
involves some level of risk... risk involves danger... danger involves the possibility
of injury... or death...

Every Peace Keeper volunteered to be where they are.  Whether paid or unpaid,
they each volunteered to be in that position and to do their assigned or chosen
task.  By choice, they chose to do that which must be done if human life and our
societies are to be preserved and maintained.  Society as we know it cannot
survive without the often unwanted intervention and usually there is no one else to
do it but the Peace Keeper.... and doing the intervention exacts a price far higher
than anyone but a Peace Keeper is willing to pay.

Stress (the bad kind), illness, injury, death... each is a step in the process that will
hinder or end the function of the Peace Keeper.  Life must be governed at times by
some outside influence.  Most often it is one or more Peace Keepers that are
called upon to do the intervention.  Peace Keepers must deal with people in their
most vulnerable and agitated states of mind and emotions.  People can be
explosive in these agitated conditions.  Yes, Peace Keepers can be in many
positions daily in which a price for being there is exacted from the Peace Keeper...
but usually we have trained the new ones so well that they feel invincible... until
they are not new any more but have become seasoned veterans that have realized
that the profession of Peace Keeping requires interventions... and interventions
always cost something and someone pays a cost for the necessary actions... and
usually it is the Peace Keeper who pays the cost .  The cost is insidious because it
is exacted a little at a time.. and it accumulates.

Attitudes and Stress Management are the keys to disbursing the accumulation and
avoiding paying the cost.  Each Peace Keeper is responsible for their own
Attitudes and their own Stress Management.  Far, far too many Peace Keepers
either do not know this... or intentionally avoid the actions necessary to deal with
their own attitudes and their own accumulated stress.  Our divorce rate... our
alcoholism rate... our self medicating habits... and many other facets in each of our
lives prove that most of us avoid dealing with attitudes and stress until there is no
other way to live... and our suicide rate proves that some of us choose to die rather
than live and deal with the demands placed upon us.

Military and law enforcement are hazardous duty.  That is known and understood.
Peace Keepers can be required to go into harms way.  This is hazardous enough...
but add the costs of distress that peace keeping can bring to the Peace Keeper
and the real hazards to the Peace Keeper multiply to an enormous degree. 
Failure to recognize the distress on the parts of all people involved with and in the
lives of Peace Keepers contributes to the hazards and the costs.  It should not
be this way... but it usually is.

It took a lot of years for me to learn about this condition and how to combat the
hazards of Attitude and Stress.  When I was very young and new at the job I
either took a pill, just shook it off or depended upon my dear spouse to deal with me
and lower my stress accumulation.  She could not always get good results and the
stress accumulated.  Her love and intimacy were the tools most often used to gain
some relief... when any relief was gained.

Then for a short time I left law enforcement and went back into engineering.  I was
still the same man... it was not law enforcement that was the problem... the problem
was that I did not know what stress was... I could not recognize it... I did not know
how to deal with the symptoms... and even in engineering stress and attitude were
robbing me of life and killing me.

My becoming a Christian and learning the basics of Discipleship changed most of
the problem in my life.  I learned how to live most advantageously for me at that time
in my life.  Then I was called to ministry.  I had to learn a lot of lessons the hard way.
I found that ministry was like law enforcement in the dealing with people problems
and intervention into those problems.  I learned about a whole different world I had
not learned about in law enforcement... and it was a shocking, revealing world with
a set of stressors all its own... As law enforcement and engineering had exacted a
cost from me before... now ministry was adding a new set of costs affecting me,
my marriage and my family.  As I experienced this I vowed that I would find the way
to reverse these costs if ever given the opportunity. 

Then I came beck into law enforcement as both an Auxiliary officer and a chaplain
while still doing church ministry and engineering in order to make a living.  Now it
was learn or let it cost me everything I held dear.  During the process of learning
some bad mistakes were made and high costs were exacted... but I prayed and
sought for the ways and means to deal with life and overcome the destructive
processes of distress and improper attitudes.  By the Grace available I found the
ways and means but some of the affects upon my family could not be reversed
immediately... some have not been reversed yet, but I became a different man in
the process by the Grace of what I learned that applied spiritually and applied
practically.

Without reservation I can write to you and say to you that there is a way for you also,
but you must pay the costs of seeking the knowledge and applying what you find to
see what works for you.  There is a five piece puzzle that can be implemented into
your life for dealing with stress but you have to put it to use.  There is no magic
formula.  Stress Management can be researched at the library or on the internet.
Peace Keepers can also avail themselves of an excellent book, "ON KILLING"
and "ON COMBAT", by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, U.S. Army (Ret.).  If you need to
find these go to the net at www.killology.com.  In my personal and professional
opinions Dave Grossman is one of the best teachers you can read or listen to
today.  If you ever get the chance to attend one of his seminars please go.

"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!"  Be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary.  Pay very
close attention to the spiritual facet of life for if it is not provided for you will not
succeed and true happiness will evade you.  In this business of living and peace
keeping you need the absolute strongest spiritual facet of life... Please see to it for
your own welfare.  If you do not take care of you will will not be able to take care of
others for very long.

As it has always been... so it still is...
"VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST...
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST...
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN."  Sun tzu

ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!

WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT...
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)...
BE SUCCESSFUL... BE SAFE...
Chaplain D. R. Staton (Don - C1) VBPD, VSP ALUMNI,
RETIRED Officer, Instructor, Senior Chaplain, Director of Chaplains
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
=================================================
Copyright: CHAPLAIN CORNER (DRS) 2005. All rights reserved. May not be
duplicated without permission, except to be forwarded with copyright and
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