Notable Speech

Why We Give Awards
By Todd Wuestewald, M.P.A., M.S.

Good evening. As we prepare to honor our peers for their achievements and excellence during our 22nd annual awards banquet, it may be appropriate to ask ourselves why we take time to do this at all. Why do we give awards? Questions about the nature, process, and intent of awards can be troubling at times. Perhaps, it is our competitive spirit as Americans, but there is a tendency to view formal award ceremonies as a win-lose situation—someone wins this honor while someone else loses. There are difficult questions regarding whether an individual or an entire group should be honored. Then, there is the process always open to questioning—was recognition bestowed or denied because of some bias? These issues swirl around recognition programs in any area of human endeavor.

	Chief Wuestewald heads the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Police Department. He delivered this speech to the 22nd Annual Broken Arrow Police Awards Banquet on March 8, 2008.

I think it is important to appreciate the complexity of award procedures. One particular case came before our leadership team for consideration. In October 2007, an armed individual forced his way into a residence and shot a woman and the responding officer. He then took two people hostage and held them for several hours. As the situation became critical, our tactical unit mounted a rescue operation. They carried it out with skill and incredible bravery in the face of direct gunfire and were successful. When the smoke cleared, the hostages were safe, and the shooter was in custody. In this single incident, I saw efficiency, discipline, teamwork, calm deportment, and courage as I have never before witnessed.

As I began to evaluate who should be recognized for this moment of triumph, I suddenly realized that I could not differentiate between the person who answered the frantic 911 report of an active gunman and the technical investigator to finally leave the scene three days later. I could not separate the tactical operators on the entry team from the negotiators who kept the suspect distracted, the patrol people who evacuated innocents and maintained the perimeter, the dispatcher who stayed on the phone for hours with a frightened young girl trapped in the house, the logistical people who supported the whole operation, and so on.

Doling out individual awards under such circumstances seems futile. To paraphrase Admiral Chester Nimitz speaking of another time and place, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.” In the end, a single leadership coin was issued to the entire department with the following inscription:

Presented to the men and women of the Broken Arrow Police Department for their actions on October 1, 2007. Their heroism, professionalism, and teamwork in the face of an active shooter preserved human life and exemplify the highest traditions of the law enforcement profession.

As our leadership team began to consider the formal awards that are the subject of our gathering tonight, they came upon the same dilemma regarding this particular situation, as well as all other accomplishments of the year. How do you recognize individuals for a team effort? How do you separate the valor of one from the valor of those who stood by him? How do you distinguish between extraordinary achievement and the excellence we see everyday? How do you give proper justice to all who deserve it?

This task is particularly difficult within our agency because of our team approach to almost everything we do; we work out problems in a collaborative way. We rely on the energy and input of everyone to make this a winning team, whether in pursuit of our daily mission or resolution of a crisis. In our department, everyone matters; everyone is involved; and everyone deserves credit.

I observed the leadership team struggle with these questions as they tried to compare concrete acts against vague concepts, such as valor, service, and above and beyond. I watched as they tried to separate individual acts from team efforts. None of this was easy, but they embarked upon their task together and reached consensus according to our process and values. Tonight, you will see the results of their deliberations. You may not agree with all of their decisions, but I hope you will appreciate the difficulty of their charge.

I believe in awards. To those who scorn award ceremonies, I would say that the process is fallible but not meaningless. If we do not take a moment to try to benchmark our successes, how will we know if we are on course for the future?

June 2009 | FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin