Vicki Doudera here, living the Maine summer reality of working plus trying to enjoy the many visitors who come up to our state for their vacation.
Our guests last night for dinner here in Camden were our friends Patty and Bill, who live outside of Philadelphia and are here for a wedding in Stockton Springs.
Patty’s a nurse and Bill is a police chief — which naturally intrigues my crime-writing mind.
Last night we spent some time talking about intuition, and how it factors into decision making. Bill shared a story of an officer in his department who, after using force to bring down a suspect, said the guy made his “hair stand on end.”
Surely that is as good a feeling as any to intuit that someone is dangerous, but as Bill explained, it is not a good reason for a law enforcement officer to use force.
In talking with the officer, he discovered there were many almost subconscious details that led to the feeling, and those were more in line with what the department’s files needed. (And by the way, the suspect really was a truly bad guy.)
But it made me think about the times that I have been guided by intuition, and vow to read Blink, which Bill said is an excellent book on the subject.
When has your intuition come into play this summer? Have you listened to it, or ignored it?
Kait Carson
Charlene D’Avanzo 
Vicki,
One of the best books I’ve ever read about intuition is The Gift of Fear by Gavin DeBecker. Once found myself having a discussion about the book with a police officer up in Miramichi, New Brunswick while I doing a ride-along. The book talks about personal safety and learning to trust those hardwired instincts that we’ve developed over the centuries for survival.
A lot of cops talk about “cop gut” which alerts them to things and that’s probably what Bill’s officer was using. But yes, of course the law would require an articulated suspicion…something to write in the report…as well.
I hope you get a conversation going. This is such a fascinating topic.
Kate
I immediately thought of The Gift of Fear as well. I learned many things from that book that reinforced my practice of trusting the inner voice and intuitive self.
Very interesting subject! I run my own life paying attention to my intuition, and so does my character Grace Cassidy. It’s great to hear these instances where police use this method in life and death decisions.