#9 Lessons From My Story

I will post a "lesson" from my life as an analyst once a week until I run out of them! Skip over these if they don't interest you. For those who read on, consider the power of your own stories and where they might take you. And if you want to follow these post threads, in the future click on the label "my story."

Lesson: Unexpected opportunities come through networking.

Lesson: Do the difficult thing.

Lesson: It's all lessons!

In 2002, because of my connection to Robert Heibel, I was connected to and invited to teach at  Mercyhurst North East, a two-year liberal arts college in North East, Pennsylvania. I developed and taught the courses “Introduction to Criminal Intelligence Analysis” and “Computer Skills for Crime Analysis,” one each in the spring and autumn sessions of 2003.

This was while I was working full-time as a crime analyst for the Buffalo Police Department and while I was finishing writing my first book.

So, two days a week, after working all day, I drove approximately 150 miles roundtrip, sometimes in lots of snow, to teach college for the first time. The irony was, I had never really attended college classes - almost my entire  higher education had been done through independent studies and meeting with mentors. Besides a few group studies and residences, I had not had much experience on a campus. It was a big adjustment for me! The students and I adapted together. But it was unrealistic to continue driving so far after my day job, so I stopped teaching at this school after a year.

In 2004 I was invited to develop the course "Crime and Intelligence Analysis" by Al Lawrence, one of the readers of my final thesis for my Master's degree, for Empire State College, State University of New York Center for Distance Learning. I taught there, online from 2005 to 2011. As an independent learner myself, teaching online suits me better. I may do it again, someday.

It wasn't always easy working and teaching at the same time. Do the difficult thing, if it enhances your life. Learn lessons yourself by teaching others!

Teaching can be less formal than my story, but just as valuable. Teach your officers/investigators about what you can do. Teach what you have learned.