Handshake (Photo credit: Aidan Jones)
Officer Frank Borelli has recently authored an interesting article over on Officer.com called “It’s Just a Handshake, Right?”
Later in the evening it occurred to me that the act of NOT shaking hands, if not explained, can be taken by people as someone having been rude. In Robert B. Parker’s novels about Virgil Cole, contracted City Marshal, the character NEVER shakes hands. Why? “It just doesn’t make any sense to let someone get hold of you.” Some of you are shaking your head at the thought. Others are nodding in agreement. As I reflected on that thought and the implications for law enforcement professionals, I realized that there are probably times when we DON’T shake hands but we could.
Officer Borelli is talking about one of those seemingly small issues (to the non-LE at least)…the simple handshake. On the street it’s a surprisingly common situation, a person you are dealing with extends his hand to you. Do you take it?
As in many things LE related, nothing is as simple as you think.
