Two of the three highest paid players in Major League Baseball are pitchers. Trevor Bauer makes $38 million a year and Garrett Cole makes $36 million a year. Neither one has ever thrown a perfect game. In fact since 1880 there have only ever been 23 perfect games thrown. Mike Trout is the second highest paid player in MLB making $37.1 million a year with a batting average of .305. There has never been an MLB game there were no mistakes, errors or failures and yet, these are the best of the best at what they do. 

Patrick Mahomes is the highest paid NFL quarterback at $45 million per year. In 2020 his passing completion average was 66.33%, the highest of his career. Dak Prescott is the second highest paid quarterback at $40 million a year with a 68.02% completion rate. Have you ever watched an NFL game where there were no penalties for offside, illegal procedure, illegal contact, or unnecessary roughness? Have you ever watched a game where there were no dropped passes, no missed blocks, no missed defensive assignments or blown coverage? How many times do refs have to watch the replay with the officials in the booth to determine if a high tackle was targeting or decide if they are going to confirm or overturn a call on the field? How many times in a post game interview have you heard players complain about an official’s call because, “At the speed of the game they cannot just pull up at the last minute.” And yet, the players and officials in the NFL are the best of the best at what they do.

The highest paid player in the NBA is Stephen Curry making $43 million a year followed by Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul at $41.3 million a year. Their career field goal shooting percentages are 47.7%, 43.7% and 47.2% respectively. Have you ever seen an NBA game where there were no fouls called? Ever seen a game where every player made every shot they attempted and where there were no missed passes and no turnovers in the game? And yet, these are the best of the best at what they do. 

Have you ever seen a round of golf on the PGA Tour where no player ends up in the rough, the sand or the water? And yet, they are the best in the world at what they do. 

I have huge respect for doctors and nurses and they are some of the most highly trained, dedicated and trusted professionals in our countries. Yet ever year it is estimated that in the US alone there are approximately 250,000 deaths as a result of medical errors. This does not account for close calls or cases involving other mistakes such as one recently where a patient had the wrong leg amputated. 

Judges are highly educated and experienced yet there are multiples levels of appeal courts because judges, even when they have long periods of time to reflect on the evidence, do research, and consult colleagues still make mistakes and have their decisions overturned by higher courts. Many cases decided by the Supreme Court do not have unanimous decisions, even after extensive deliberation.

What is my point in all this? If professional athletes who make millions of dollars a year to play a sport, and who spend the vast majority of their time training, practicing and recovering, and have multiple coaches who give them real time feedback during games, and who can call time out in the middle of a game regularly make mistakes, why do we expect police officers to be perfect? 

In pro sports the fans are not allowed on the field, or the court to attempt to interfere with the plays or get in the face of players, coaches and officials yet police officers deal with these challenges every day. How would that impact the performance of the athletes if fans were allowed on the field during the game? Players and viewers are outraged when a fan runs onto the field of play; yet applaud this behavior on the street when it happens to the police while they are trying to do their job. 

Referees in pro sports get paid very well and have the ability to watch the replay repeatedly on a controversial or challenged call, which are sometimes overturned, and occasionally after all that they still get it wrong. Police officers may have body worn cameras, but they do not get to call time out in the middle of an event and many are not allowed to watch the video before they give a statement. Some officers are disciplined, fired or prosecuted criminally if their statement does not match the video perfectly. 

If judges, who do not have to make decisions in tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving environments sometimes make mistakes in their decisions why do we expect police officers to be perfect? 

If every year medical professionals make mistakes in the complex, and often chaotic conditions they work in, and sometimes even in non chaotic environments, that cost hundreds of thousands of people their lives despite all their years of training and education and all the protocols to prevent these mistakes, why do we expect police officers to be perfect?

Of all these groups police officers and medical professionals are the only ones who work shiftwork and very often have to function in high stakes, volatile, uncertain, chaotic and ambiguous situations in a chronic state of sleep debt and sleep deprivation. We understand the impact of these conditions for medical professionals and are empathetic towards them. What if we had the same empathy for police officers?  

Professional athletes are human. Doctors are human. Nurses are human. Referees are human. Judges are human. And police officers are human. Humans are imperfect. To err is human. Why is it that we seem to accept that fact with every group except police officers? 

What if? What if we had the same level of patience, understanding and empathy for police officers as we do with other professions in our society? 

What’s Important Now? Take time to consider, “What if?” and maybe be more patient, understanding and empathetic towards police officers and, encourage others to do the same. 

Take care.

Brian Willis

www.lifesmostpowerfulquestion.com. Maximizing human potential through Life's Most Powerful Question - What's Important Now?

www.daretobegreatleadership.com The online Dare to Be Great: Strategies for Creating a Culture of Leading workshop was created to help aspiring leaders and frontline leaders on their leadership journey. Subscribe to the weekly blog while you are there. 

 

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