“You know my name, not my story. You’ve heard what I’ve done, but not what I’ve been through.” – Jonathan Anthony Burkett, Neglected But Undefeated
It started when I got promoted to Deputy Chief. I didn’t understand it at first. When I was a sergeant, no one called me Sarge, Sergeant, or any variation. Not unless I was at work and displaying my chevrons. Why was Deputy Chief different? It really bothered me, they weren’t calling me Deputy Chief, they were calling me Chief. That was a different person, he was my boss.
Yes, I wanted his job, but I didn’t have it and I felt like a usurper when people called me Chief. It was unsettling, like getting caught sitting in the bosses chair.
Then it happened. I became Chief. It wasn’t just the promotion. The weirdest side effect of the promotion was that I lost my first name. I’ve talked to other police chiefs about this it seems to be a fairly universal phenomena. You lose your first name and become Chief.
People I had known for decades stopped using my name and started using my title. In the end, the title went from being a title to a personal pronoun and then to a name. It has to be one of the weirdest things that ever happened to me. I lost my name, I mean how does one lose their name? How does an entire culture decide they are going to start calling you something else? It was literally my immediate family and my boss that called me Brad at that point. The rest of the world seemed to on a dime change their mind about what I would be called. It’s kind of hard not to let your job become your identity when your job steals your name.
So I left policing and I got my name back, just like that. I wasn’t Chief anymore I was Brad. It was kind of a relief. There is a lot of stuff that comes with that name, it was nice to set a bunch of it aside.
Then it happened again. I took a sales job. I walked in day one and the recruiter called me Chief. You see there were 3 Brads working there. The OG Brad got to keep his name the new guys got named Red and Chief, both for obvious reasons. Surprisingly, it was different this time. It was used as a nickname and there was no weight to it. Soon enough folks from my motorcycle groups picked it up and it stuck. Guys at stores and rallies yelling “Chief.” It appears I have a nickname now.
Its funny, its different then it was. It’s no longer subtractive, it’s additive,. People know me that way but it isn’t who I am. It’s an honor to be called it and not a burden. It doesn’t replace my name. I embrace it but don’t require it.
There have been some rubs, some of my native american students are uncomfortable with it till they know why it is there. Some chose to use it, not all do and that’s ok because it’s not my only name anymore, because of it I embrace it.
Eyes forward, positive attitude
Chief
The Embed Educator 