Flex Cop: A Police Officer's Creative Approach to Conflict

By Mark Andreas

In this unusual booklet, a former Cincinnati police officer with a 30-year police career, details his experience of using totally outside-the-box approaches to managing and resolving conflict. While working on the Cincinnati police force, Mr. Gardner was given responsibility for the most volatile cases because he developed such effective—though unconventional—ways of dealing with these dangerous situations. Whatever your life position or profession, these stories offer a wealth of creativity and flexibility we can all draw from. And if you are an officer or police chief, the following accounts open up a new realm of choices to increase protection for you and your fellow officers while simultaneously improving your effectiveness in the communities you serve.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mark Andreas
• Release date: Dec 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9780911226492

Mark Andreas

Mark Andreas is author of the nonfiction books “Sweet Fruit from the Bitter Tree: 61 stories of creative and compassionate ways out of conflict,” a collection of true stories of how people responded to conflicts in creative outside-the-box ways that most people would never think of, and “Waltzing with Wolverines: finding connection and cooperation with troubled teens,” a collection of stories and principles for working with youth based on Mark’s time leading groups of at-risk teens 24-7 for three week shifts at a wilderness therapy program in Colorado (both books available on Amazon). Mark lives in Boulder CO, where he runs an NLP Change Coaching private practice for individuals from around the world, meeting both in-person and over Skype (www.markandreas.com). Mark trains NLP throughout the US and internationally, including training for NLP of the Rockies in Colorado. Contact Mark through his website: www.markandreas.com.

Book preview

Introduction

I’m not a policeman.

I can only imagine the degree of stress and adrenaline that must come with the job—far beyond what I would know on my most difficult days as an author, trainer and coach.

In the United States topics such as excessive use of force, citizen’s rights, and racism have held center stage in the national media. This vital conversation often devolves into a debate about whether we should be doing more or less of what we are already doing. But how about doing something entirely new?

In this unusual booklet, a former Cincinnati police officer with a 30-year police career, details his experience of doing just that. While working on the Cincinnati police force, Michael Gardner was given responsibility for the most volatile cases because he developed such effective—though unconventional—ways of dealing with these dangerous situations. Whatever your life position or profession, these stories offer a wealth of creativity and flexibility we can all draw from. And if you are an officer or police chief I hope the following accounts open up a new realm of choices to increase protection for you and your fellow officers, while simultaneously improving your effectiveness in the communities you serve. As Michael put it:

"I wanted to deal with everyone in the most peaceful way possible. I wanted this for my own protection, both physically and also emotionally…"

How did he do this? Michael’s strategies are out of the box, to say the least. When I first heard them I was amazed at some of the things he was willing to try, and even more amazed and delighted by his results. I hope you are too. I believe Michael’s experiences and insights should be added to the national conversation. See for yourself in the following excerpt from my book Sweet Fruit from the Bitter Tree: 61 stories of creative and compassionate ways out of conflict.

Mark Andreas

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Flex Cop

(A story from Sweet Fruit from the Bitter Tree)

My buddy and I were on night shift