EH 1010 Unit 5 Journal

Columbia Southern University

When you need more than words

With the two main occupations that I have had, Military and Law Enforcement, the use of illustrations in everyday talk is very important. With the importance of the detailed information that needs to be understood, illustrations help get that message across. When I started in Law Enforcement, I went through a lot of on the job training. Always having a Field Training Officer (FTO) with me, they could monitor me and see how I react to each situation. When it came time for the constructive criticism, it was best explained with illustrations. Most of the times the FTO has dealt with a similar situation and they would use their experiences to help me better understand what I need to do differently. A lot of times when a situation is explained using illustrations, it makes it easier to picture what the person is trying to help you understand. For example, when I was sent to my first burglary call, I had a hard time making sense of what happened. Using illustrations, the FTO helped me understand the chain of events and helped me locate evidence throughout the area. Now that I am on the other side of the FTO program, I use illustrations all the time to help others understand how a situation should go or what to look out for. Usually the illustrations are my own events or mistakes that I made during my career.