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Unwilling to accept the conventional wisdom, Roger Bannister, a full-time medical student in England, took up the challenge. He was convinced the barrier was mental, not physical. On May 6, 1954, Bannister ran a mile in 3:59.4. He had proven that the impossible was actually possible. The four-minute barrier has since been broken thousands of times and today’s record stands at 3:43. American Steve Scott ran sub-four-minute miles 136 times during his career.

 

The lesson: Just because there’s a widespread belief that something can’t be done, doesn’t equate to a fact—only an opinion. Once you believe that something can be done, you’re one big step closer to making it happen.

 

It's to reduce line-of-duty deaths to less than 100 per year, a level not seen since 1944 when LODDs totaled 96. That’s almost 70 years of LODDs in excess of 100! There have been some who have chided Below 100 efforts as futile, but our trainers know that we can drive LODDs to less than 100 by embracing common sense and basic officer safety principles, such as using issued or available safety equipment. And we’re definitely making progress.

 

For years, we’ve all heard versions of the phrase, “Every 53 hours in this country a police officer loses his or her life.” A simple Google search yields more than 60,000 results for similar phrasing. This is counterproductive to officer safety. The steady drumbeat of a death clock sets an expectation that it will happen, and for some, it becomes a foregone conclusion.

 

I have great respect for the fallen but even greater concern for the living. Calculating past losses to provide some type of current indicator isn’t only inappropriate, it’s asinine. Travis Yates, one our core Below 100 trainers, has said many times, “Below 100: When we believe, it will happen. But you have to believe it!” Let’s embrace that as an expectation rather than looking backward and dooming ourselves to repeat the mistakes of the past.

 

Words have a powerful effect on actions and abilities. Studies have shown that human beings will excel when told they’re above average in intelligence and achieve less when expectations of substandard performance are conveyed. Let’s embrace the positive and celebrate the progress we’re making. Let’s change our culture to one of safety and commonsense. Below 100—The time is now!