Preparation and Cuban Coffee
Kristen Ziman
by
2y ago
I’ve been blessed to teach a one-day Blue Courage class with Michael Nila at Florida International University for FIU and Miami-Dade police officers. Training the officers has spanned over six weeks. FIU has been a gracious host - namely the training sergeant, Jose Ramirez. He has gone out of his way to ensure we have everything we need for our training endeavors. He has provided one thing in particular that I didn’t realize I needed. On the first day we arrived, we kicked off the eight-hour class and were met with a piping hot Cuban coffee delivery. Sgt. Ramirez handed me a tiny cup the size ..read more
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Anger is the Only Acceptable Emotion
Kristen Ziman
by
2y ago
The backdrop is a classroom in a major city police department where officers are attending our 2-day Blue Courage training. The curriculum is different than most traditional police training in that it takes a holistic approach. It is centered on the premise that organizations are made up of human beings and when the focus is placed on individual growth, the organization naturally improves.  During an intense discussion about the culture of the police department, an officer raised her hand but didn’t ask a question. Instead, she made an observation: “It seems as though the only acceptable ..read more
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Grace and Forgiveness
Kristen Ziman
by
2y ago
There is not a person among us who has not been wronged or hurt by someone. Whether it be a person with whom we are in a romantic relationship, a member of our own family or a friend we consider to be part of our tribe, harms happen all the time.  Some harms are minor and unintentional and occur because of miscommunication or expectations that weren’t realized. This is the kind of conflict we find ourselves in often, if not daily. Misunderstandings and disagreements are part of the human experience.   Just yesterday, my spouse asked me to grab the paperwork we needed for an appointm ..read more
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What Do You Want From Your Police Officers?
Kristen Ziman
by
2y ago
The Associated Press just reported that police officers in Connecticut would be prohibited from stopping drivers for a broken headlight, displaying their license plates in their back windows, and other minor violations, under recommendations approved Tuesday by the state Police Transparency & Accountability Task Force. According to the AP, some of the task force members said they hope restricting police from stopping drivers for ‘secondary’ violations curbs the disproportionate stops of minorities and decreases confrontations where police use force on motorists. The primary function of a l ..read more
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Leadership is about Disappointing People at the Rate They Can Absorb
Kristen Ziman
by
3y ago
I went to Harvard. That statement is true(ish) because I was fortunate enough to spend three weeks attending the Harvard Kennedy School of Government “Executives in State and Local Government” program. But I still love saying I went to Harvard and pausing before I say…. for three weeks. It was the most academic of the training I've ever attended and I left there with my mind blown beyond its original dimensions. The reason it was so good was because the instructors didn't allow you to give a canned answer and then move onto the next person. And, unlike most classrooms, they didn't wait for you ..read more
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Resisting Suffocation is not Resisting Arrest
Kristen Ziman
by
4y ago
Message to the citizens of Aurora: When I first watched the video of the Minneapolis officer, I didn’t need to wait for more information to come in. I didn’t need to wait for the investigation to conclude before I made an assessment. When you place your knee on the neck of a human being for over eight minutes – a human being who is handcuffed and pleading that he can’t breathe – there is no defense. George Floyd is a human being. To those who have said he was resisting: Resisting suffocation is not resisting arrest. People of color are outraged. White people are outraged. Any cop who doesn ..read more
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Be Comfortable with Making Others Uncomfortable
Kristen Ziman
by
4y ago
Throughout my career, I have been underestimated. From the moment I earned my badge, I’d show up on a call and people would say, “you’re too little to be a cop” or “do they let you ride by yourself in a squad car?” As I moved up the ranks, I was often asked, “Do those men follow you?” I have learned to shrug it off or retort with a witty comeback. I never got angry because I tried to respect the templates for which those people saw the world that made them doubt me. It made me try harder to disprove their world view. When Chief Greg Thomas called me into his office to tell me he was appointi ..read more
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What is this Pandemic Trying to Teach Us?
Kristen Ziman
by
4y ago
Life as we know it has stopped. When my daughter received notice that her summer abroad trip to Taiwan was canceled, she was devastated. She is minoring in Chinese and worked so hard to be chosen for the program. Her story is similar to so many of your stories so she doesn’t have a monopoly on disappointment. Nuptials have been canceled. Seniors in high school and college were robbed of milestone memories. A walk across the graduation stage has been replaced by a shuffle to the kitchen to break up the monotony of being confined. Performance stages all over the nation are dark and arenas are ..read more
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A Lesson for Adults: Talk Less. Care More.
Kristen Ziman
by
4y ago
Aurora police officers Skyy Calice and Star Pirela stopped into my office to pitch an idea. They run a mentoring program for females in our area high schools called, “Girls Run the World” and during one of the meetings, the students asked the officers why no one ever asks them for their input on how to reduce gun violence. A week prior, 15-year-old Jasmine Noble was shot in the head and killed at a party on the west side of Aurora and the students were (and still are) feeling the pain from the loss of their classmate. Earlier that week, 20-year-old Juanya Booker was shot to death on the east ..read more
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20 Things I’ve Learned in the Past Decade
Kristen Ziman
by
4y ago
A few days into the new year, I sat down during my morning ritual (see # 10) and pondered the lessons that the past decade offered me. Here is a list of the highlights. Maybe you can glean something from them as well as you take your first few steps into the new decade.  1) Preparation is the key to everything. The way our officers and staff performed during the mass shooting in our city validated for me that we really do fall to the level of our training. Invest in people. Invest in equipment. Then put both of those things together and go through all the training scenarios you can think of s ..read more
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