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A World of Difference

Ex-cops are popular recruiting targets for top security jobs. But that background can be bad for business. Here's a better way to hire right.

July 01, 2005 — CSO — I've observed what appears to be a popular notion among some senior management types (and headhunting firms) that middle-to high-ranking law enforcement leaders make good security leaders. I don't have any numbers to back up my observation, but I've rubbed elbows with people on both sides of the issue during my 40-year career. The cops, whether from local, state or federal agencies, are, in the minds of people filling senior security roles, the talent pool from which to draw.

There's one problem with that line of thinking: It doesn't work because the corporate security field can be worlds apart from their experience working in law enforcement.

Feelings on the subject can run pretty deep. And it is hard to discuss it in law enforcement circles because you hate to offend people who have laid their lives on the line out on the street. I'm confident we can, however, honor their years of service in law enforcement while still recognizing that the security profession is different from the law enforcement profession.

I've learned this insight the hard way. Before I made my own first bad hiring decision in this regard, I was part of the crowd who thought a retired senior FBI agent would be an excellent fit for what I needed: a six-figure-salaried senior analyst and writer on security trends for CEO-level consumption. The person I picked was a great guy who had had a marvelous career in the Bureau. He had a good work ethic, was positive, charming, articulate. But as it turned out, he was a round peg in a square hole.

While I needed someone who could convey an in-depth analysis of technical security trends using effective writing, this guy expressed enormous resistance to "sitting behind a desk" all day. As a field agent, he had grown accustomed to traveling, and in spite of clear information on what the new job entailed, he clearly hated it. My bad decision to hire him was at least as much my fault as his. I didn't do well in relating a Bureau resume to what I needed. I made too many wrong assumptions. Had I known better, the whole situation could have been avoided.

Since then, I've moved on. Now, many years later, I am once again confronted with this situation of mismatched perceptions. At a time when the nation is expanding security positions to wage war on terrorism, I find myself in charge of a considerable number of current and former law enforcement officers who are, how shall I put it, "out of place."