Water Beetles!\u00a0 Yummm\u2026.\u00a0 I watched as people walked up to a street vendor and gathered a fried bug on a stick when I was in Hong Kong.\u00a0 I had been working with the Singapore Police Department and decided to Later that evening we went to a sort of \u201cDenny\u2019s\u201d and had Hong Kong food which was rather good in an eastern kind of way. \u00a0I was comfortable with the food.\u00a0 At the table next to me was a group of cute college girls out on the town and they ordered a plate of barbecue pigeon heads, about 50 of these little heads looking up at you while you ate their beaks and eyes.\u00a0 I stared at them so long, they asked if I wanted to try them.\u00a0 I did, and they weren\u2019t that bad, but man the culture was really different.\u00a0 When I went to China on a later trip to work again, there was a whole market with different kinds of bugs, silkworms, centipedes, deep fried scorpions, saut\u00e9ed tarantulas.\u00a0 \u00a0Some say they only eat bugs for either medicinal purpose or to freak out foreigners.\u00a0 Freaked Out!\u00a0 Worked for me.\u00a0 There are other places where we see culture first hand, although not through bugs.\u00a0 Like in our police officers.<\/span><\/p>\n So, I went out to lunch with a client yesterday for our session and I was in the lead and forced him to sit facing the wall.\u00a0 He had been traumatized awhile ago and he asked if he could switch places with me. \u00a0I said no.\u00a0 \u201cI was older, and wanted to see what was going on so I was going to have the seat,\u201d I told him.\u00a0 It irked him, so he responded \u201care you packing.\u201d\u00a0 I told him no, but I knew where his gun was and I could use him as a shield while I shot an assailant, as long as, I was sitting in my spot.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t too happy, but he knew I had a therapeutic reason.\u00a0 It started a whole discussion about the culture of policing and how selection of the seat was part of that culture.<\/span><\/p>\n Now who would think that seat selection would be culturally ingrained in an officer?\u00a0 When a car accident happened in South Bend Indiana while we were buying tailgate beer, four guys ran to it faster than you could ever ask \u2013 three cops and one fireman.\u00a0 Some of the rest of us meandered over including a couple of physicians, but 3 cops and the fireman were there right away almost before the cars stopped moving.\u00a0 One Lieutenant was with me and he said I don\u2019t know what happened.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t even look up, I just heard it and I went there like a second instinct.\u00a0 Culture happened to you, pure culture.<\/span><\/p>\n Good News and Bad News.\u00a0 Yes, you will approach an accident but if a guy and a girl are arguing, and a child is watching, you might tend to walk away as it looks like a domestic, and cops hate domestics. \u00a0My instinct is to walk over and escort the child away.\u00a0 That\u2019s my culture!\u00a0 If I get in trouble, you\u2019d back me up because your culture is to help people in trouble that maybe isn\u2019t their own intentional doing.\u00a0 Mine is to see the problem brewing and neutralize the impact on innocents.\u00a0 Two very different, but complimentary cultures.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI really can\u2019t talk about anything at home because my wife freaks out about it a little\u201d\u2014Culture.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI sort of shut down at home and I know that my kids are freaked out about that sometimes\u201d \u2013 Culture?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI never saw her as anything romantic, I mean she was my partner, but I looked over and she looked really sexy for the first time\u201d\u00a0 \u2013 Culture?!<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve traveled throughout Asia, and through Europe, Africa, and Australia, even Antarctica.\u00a0 I worked for federal agencies, local agencies and even very secret forces and you know what, cops do a lot of similar things.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just say, I don\u2019t have to change my slide show depending on the country when I speak overseas.\u00a0 As a Squadra Volante officer once told me in Italy, \u201cthe bad guys are all the same, why should we change.\u201d\u00a0 It sounded a little more Italian than that, but you got the idea.<\/span><\/p>\n So, what is a culture?\u00a0 When a group has common languages, humor, art, music, method of communication, social habits, even a way of gossip, or any\/all of the above, it can become a culture.\u00a0 Sometimes it is hard to lay a hand on what is a culture, sometimes it is easy to see, but hard to define.\u00a0 It is easy to see the fresh foods and wonderful cooking are part of the Italian culture, less easy to pick up the humor and language of being a cop.\u00a0 When a person is called a \u201cperp,\u201d culture is at play.\u00a0 When a cop sees a suicide from a shotgun and says \u201cshe really lost her head,\u201d that\u2019s a culture only another cop will understand.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cYou know cops, they are like washerwomen in the way they talk about each other.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard that in 14 different languages and all across this country.\u00a0 Culture of policing? \u00a0Yeah, it is.<\/span><\/p>\n When Donald Trump was accused of talking rudely about women and responded \u201cit was just locker rooms talk,\u201d sports guys knew what he meant, in fact a lot of women knew from their locker rooms.\u00a0 We may have disagreed with the content of the talk, but we knew what he meant.\u00a0 We all have to be aware of culture because things happen in life in the context of culture.\u00a0 It is our next step to understanding and being less judgmental of people and that\u2019s a cultural change that benefits us all.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n Somehow, however, we need to instill in people a stronger cultural bias to cooperate with police officers when they are doing their job.\u00a0 We need to focus on that and let that message be heard 50 times a day by everyone.\u00a0 Cooperate with your local cop.\u00a0 It\u2019s like \u201cIf you Drink, Don\u2019t Drive\u201d was brought to the forefront by Nancy Reagan and that\u2019s all you heard for years.\u00a0 I don\u2019t see encouraging cooperation being talked about too much.<\/span><\/p>\n I am not eating too many beetles, or centipedes, or tarantulas, or anything that looks better under the heel of my shoe, than in my mouth.\u00a0 I guess those days are over, but a lesson was learned from them.\u00a0 I forgot what the lesson was cause the bugs tasted so damn awful, but it was learned at that time.\u00a0 I think it went something like this \u201cif you are drinking the worm from the tequila, don\u2019t expect it to taste good.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, sometimes getting into a different culture can be hard to swallow, but keep an open mind, and speak in their language when explaining your culture, especially the culture of policing.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Please share this article from down below.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Please join the email list on the top of the sidebar and you can get these sent to your email.\u00a0 Also follow me on Twitter for other articles and ideas, and YouTube. Feel free to donate if you like the site.<\/span><\/p>\n Save<\/span><\/p>\n Save<\/span><\/p>\n Save<\/span><\/p>\n Save<\/span><\/p>\n Save<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Police Psychology | Eating Bugs by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP Water Beetles!\u00a0 Yummm\u2026.\u00a0 I watched as people walked up to a street vendor and gathered a fried bug on a stick when I was in Hong Kong.\u00a0 I had been working with the Singapore Police Department and decided to make a little stop in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17168888],"tags":[17168867,17168797,17168831],"class_list":["post-4726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-information","tag-culture","tag-police-psychology","tag-police-stress"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":974,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=974","url_meta":{"origin":4726,"position":0},"title":"Police Psychology | Humor and Culture","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"January 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Humor and Culture \u00a0 I was lecturing on police psychology to a conference crowd in Singapore, and I had included a funny metaphor of the development of the Apollo moon vehicle by NASA to show the rigidity in police organizations. The punch line is that NASA, like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Public Information Bureau"","block_context":{"text":"Public Information Bureau","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168888"},"img":{"alt_text":"Police Psychology, horses ass","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/horses-ass-300x211.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1306,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=1306","url_meta":{"origin":4726,"position":1},"title":"Police Psychology | What the Heck is \u201cInsulin Resistance\u201d?","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"March 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | What the Heck is \u201cInsulin Resistance\u201d? by Doug Gentz, Ph.D. - Psychological Services A specific form of Receptor Site Resistance The condition that immediately precedes a diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes A condition that used to show up mostly in old people and is now appearing in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Other Tools"","block_context":{"text":"Other Tools","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168889"},"img":{"alt_text":"Police psychology, Insulin Resistance?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/insulin-1-300x223.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3012,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=3012","url_meta":{"origin":4726,"position":2},"title":"Police Psychology | Get Thee to a Conference","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"June 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Get Thee to a Conference by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP \u00a0 My first experience with a professional conference came when I was 35 years old.\u00a0 My partner and I had started a newsletter for mental health of police officers in the late 80\u2019s.\u00a0 In an attempt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Motives and Opportunity"","block_context":{"text":"Motives and Opportunity","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168884"},"img":{"alt_text":"Conference","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Conference-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5092,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=5092","url_meta":{"origin":4726,"position":3},"title":"Police Psychology | The Obsessed Mind-Body Connection","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"January 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | The Obsessed Mind-Body Connection by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Thoughts"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Thoughts","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168878"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4552,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=4552","url_meta":{"origin":4726,"position":4},"title":"Police Psychology | Emotional Pinball","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"October 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Emotional Pinball by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Emotions"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Emotions","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17165629"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5013,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=5013","url_meta":{"origin":4726,"position":5},"title":"Police Psychology | A Real “Blue” Christmas","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"December 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | A Real \"Blue\" Christmas by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP","rel":"","context":"In "Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Stories","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p60sbO-1ee","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4762,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4726\/revisions\/4762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"beetle\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/beetle.png?resize=207%2C241\")
make a little stop in Hong Kong on the way home.\u00a0 I figured, this is the culture, I should try a bug.\u00a0 So, I summoned up the courage and bought one.\u00a0 Took the shell off as I was instructed and bit into it.\u00a0 It was crunchy on the outside, but boy the inside was where the treat was. \u00a0It tasted like the inside of a large bug, sort of like a shrimp paste gone really bad.\u00a0 It was much worse than the tequila worm from college, but then I had drank a significant amount of the bottle and couldn\u2019t feel anything.\u00a0 Here it was just me and the bug.\u00a0 No Tequila, no revelry, no people encouraging you with their \u201cyechs\u201d and \u201coh my god he\u2019s eating the worm.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nLunching with a Cop<\/h2>\n
Different Cultures<\/h2>\n
What Is Culture<\/h2>\n
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n