Bushido: Applying the Principles in Law Enforcement

I have been a student of Karate since the 5th grade. I remember the first time I walked into class and saw the students sitting on the floor of the dojo. The head instructor and owner of the school walked in, otherwise known as the Sensei. We began the lesson of the day. I was hooked immediately. Through the years of practicing Karate, I learned and adopted a lot of the philosophies of Bushido into my life. I learned early about honor, courage, and various other principles. Those principles carried over to my military and law enforcement careers.

Bushido

What is Bushido? What does it mean? How can it be applied to the profession of law enforcement? Bushido is commonly known as “the way of the warrior.” It is the code of the samurai in Japan. There are seven principles of Bushido. Justice, Courage, Compassion, Respect, Sincerity, and Loyalty. These principles, or similar ones, can be found in the military and many police professions.

Law enforcement is a profession in which every single day, a cop’s day is different. As much as the media likes to call things police do “routine”, there is nothing routine about what officers do. I often find myself scratching my head and repeating again and again, “I thought I’d seen it all.” I have a lot of thoughts on how I believe police officers should be trained and how long academies should be. There are different kinds of cops. I’ve written about it before.

Let’s break each principle down.

Justice

As law enforcement officers we should strive for justice. Not just for the victims of crimes but also society as a whole. I don’t mean just enforcing laws. I am talking about something deeper. Seeking justice requires reflecting on what is fair and just in upholding the values when there is violence or corruption. An officer seeking justice is not an enforcer of the law but more of a protector of the people and the Constitution of the United States.

Courage

Courage is acting even with fear. Courage is knowing what is right and doing what is right. Sometimes doing what’s right is not popular. Courage, to a Samurai, is exercised in a cause for righteousness and justice. As a police officer, again, it’s not just about enforcing the law. It is about doing what is right.

Compassion

As a police officer, you have a lot of power in your hands. It is a huge responsibility. Not only can a police officer take a person’s freedom, but the officer may also have to resort to deadly force. Now, with all that power, a police officer must show extraordinary powers of love, affection for others, sympathy, and pity. These are crucial traits to have. It keeps an officer human and remembering that the people they are sworn to protect are also human.

Respect

Officers, who have adopted a warrior’s mindset, have no reason to be disrespectful. They do not need to prove themselves. I’ve known officers who are unable to show any ounce of respect to anyone they deal with. This is not warranted or needed. People don’t respect officers because of their physical strength but because of how they deal with others.

Sincerity

A genuinely sincere officer accomplishes every required task. The officer is reliable and never has to give his word. The officer’s actions alone do the speaking for them.

Honor

Having a sense of Honor in any profession is extremely important. It puts value into everything a person does. An officer must have a sense of honor for wearing the badge. When wearing the badge, the officer is not only representing themselves and the police department. The officer is representing those that came before them. The officer is representing those who died in the line of duty.

Loyalty

An officer’s loyalty to their profession, their fellow officers, and their fellow man is paramount. The officer recognizes that they are responsible for their words, their actions, and all the consequences that follow. The officer’s actions can make or break the trust the people have entrusted within them. Even in the face of extreme danger, like the current political climate, the officer will not abandon those who need protection.

These virtues I have outlined are easily adaptable to the law enforcement profession. It is part of the warrior mindset. It is part of who we are as law enforcement professionals. Be more than just a badge. Be more than that cop who is only there to work overtime. Don’t be the cop the people want, be the cop that the people need.

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This first appeared in The Havok Journal on December 29, 2021.

Ayman Kafel is the founder and owner of Hybrid Wolf Blue Line Strategies, LLC. A veteran-owned training and consulting company for Law Enforcement officers and agencies. He combines his military and law enforcement experience to bring much-needed cutting-edge training to the law enforcement profession. 

Ayman is not only an active police officer but also a law enforcement instructor and has taught across the East Coast of the United States. He offers a wide variety of training, such as advanced patrol tactics, mechanical breaching courses, designated marksman, and Human Performance under duress. 

In addition, Ayman is an Army Combat Veteran who was deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005. He became a police officer in 2007 after 8 years of service in the Army

Ayman has seen the ugliness of war and evil in the world. He survived two civil wars prior to immigrating to the United States in the late eighties.

His current position is the commander of his department’s Problem-Oriented Policing Unit. He leads a team of investigators that employs unconventional methods and Special Forces philosophy in achieving specific objectives in the communities he serves. These unconventional methods range from winning hearts and minds to specific strategic law enforcement actions to arrest and prosecute those who are the root cause of various crimes.

To reach Ayman, feel free to email him at hwbluelinestrategies@gmail.com