Gen Y & Order: A new generation of cop
I don’t know a whole lot about being a police officer, likely because I am badly out of shape and kind of a wuss when it comes to the idea of tackling criminals or what have you, but officer.com has an article on Gen Y and the Millennials coming on to the police force that’s very interesting. There are parts I agree with and parts I strenuously disagree with.
Let’s take this point-by-point.
On demographics
Generation Y and the new Millenials that will be crossing your doorway looking for a job. Yes I said job, not necessarily a career, but a job. They may not stay; in fact it is likely they won’t. In the 1980s when I graduated from high school there was one job for every four students. Going to some post secondary school was a better option to wait and see if more jobs opened up. Today, there are four jobs for every student and the new graduates of high school and post secondary institutions have their pick. You may or may not be one of them.
I see these “4 for 1″ stats a lot, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the source. It seems pretty accurate, though, at least in the sense of all that it implies: this is a generation of employees that isn’t going to bend over backwards for you just because they want to keep their job.
On stereotyping
In comes Generation Y (1978-1994). These are our junior constables or new recruits. They have a casual attitude towards superiors and are opinionated and challenge the rules. Their parents were older when they had them and were more babied by their parents. They lived at home late in life - and may still live at home while working for you. They belonged to schools where you were never failed, there was no winner or loser and everyone got a “participant ribbon” just for showing up.
Some good and some bad here. Yeah, Gen Y tends to live at home longer. Often because their parents suggest they do until they can buy a house — there’s a pervasive “renting is throwing your money away” myth at work here. But I think this “participant ribbon” article falls fully into the realm of fantasy myth: I do recall there being things like that at various events, but even as an 11-year-old I knew not to take them very seriously. And there were still ribbons for first/second/third place, too.
I think you’d find it really difficult to find a member of Generation Y who doesn’t, when you get right down to it, have a good sense of what competition means. I think the difference is that we’ve been conditioned to see ‘winning’ as something else entirely than what the Boomers/Gen X are used to.
Here’s a hint: it’s not all about money.
On Gen Y’s future in policing
So now what? Flexible Management Leadership. Demographics don’t lie. Birth rates are down, retirement is up. There is more demand for people in management roles and a dwindling pool of talent for policing. 3% of young people think of policing as a career. 63% never would consider policing as a career. That leaves 34% undecided. It’s time to wake up and reposition ourselves as the employer of choice. Change is not a sign of failure and the failure to change in this case is not an option.
I think by and large policing is going to see the same problem that the skilled trades do now: teachers don’t tell their students about it, so students don’t consider it. There’s also the pop culture stigma: chart the evolution of the cop TV show from the 70s to now. It’s a lot grittier, and I can’t really think of a television police officer who is actually, you know, happy with their jobs.
But the change part is so critical. If I’ve hammered home anything on this blog since I started writing it is that change is at the foundation of real intergenerational progress in the workplace. It’s a bit of give & take, sure, but fundamentally I think most of the change has to come at the management and organizational level.
Photo by nyc arthur. Licensed under Creative Commons
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 4:52 pm and is filed under Attitude, Culture, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Now if we could just get some of our cop friends to see it the way we do…
jrandom42 June 5th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Every generation comes into the force, thinking they’re going to be the ones to lead the revolution. Those that survive the first year learn better. It’s great that the new rookies have all this drive and idealism, but the veterans know that and $1.50 will get you a doughnut and coffee. A lot of idealism meets an ugly death on the street, either literally, or by seeing far too much of the underside of life. Most Gen Y think they already know it all, but at least 80% of what a cop knows that will keep him alive and able to to his job well is in the group knowledge of those who have been on the beat before him. Rookies learn quickly that they need to learn to listen to the veterans, like their training officer, in order to survive that critical first year.
Things have changed over the years, but only after they’ve proven themselves on the street. Nobody wants to stake their lives or the lives of others on something that’s only a good idea.