03/16/2026
Command Lessons 31 Years in Criminal Justice : The Misconception of “Trust Your Gut”
People often tell officers to “trust your gut.” The problem is that the phrase suggests a mystical sixth sense. There is no magic instinct.
What people call a gut feeling is usually the body’s reaction to something the officer has already observed through the five senses. Something seen, heard, smelled, felt, or even tasted in the environment.
The body reacts first, but the mind must identify why.
A good officer doesn’t simply follow a gut feeling.
A good officer asks:
what did I see, what did I hear,
what is different right now?
The true sixth sense is reasoning the ability to analyze what the senses are detecting.
During my first year as an officer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice I was walking the corridor with my Captain. Each housing section was labeled alphabetically from A Unit through G Unit. At the time, G Unit housed death row.
We began our walk at G Unit and moved down the corridor past the other sections. When we reached E Unit, the Captain suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway.
He looked around and said quietly,
"Something isn’t right. It’s too quiet.”
Nothing obvious had happened.
No alarms. No shouting. No disturbance but something in the environment had changed.
He immediately began calling each unit officer and asking questions. After several calls, we learned that a certain group of inmates in E Unit had refused to go out to recreation.
That alone was unusual.
We started pulling inmates from the unit one at a time and questioning them. Eventually the truth came out.
They were planning a riot on the recreation yard scheduled for the following day.
The Captain didn’t rely on a mystical gut feeling. His senses detected a change in the environment the unusual quiet.
His experience recognized the pattern. His reasoning investigated the cause.
That is what people call a “gut feeling.” But it’s really observation, experience, and reasoning working together.
And for officers, that ability can be the difference between preventing a crisis and reacting to one.
In the church, we often say the same thing
“Something just doesn’t feel right.”
But effective church security teams don’t stop at feeling.
They identify why.
What is different in the parking lot?
Who is out of place in the lobby?
What behavior doesn’t match the environment?
Because in both corrections and the church:
Early recognition prevents crisis.
Waiting until something is obvious usually means you’re already behind.
Steve McBride
512-517-1194
