Ask what a twenty-year patrol career looks like on paper, and the answer is bleak arithmetic: a personnel file holds the four complaints, and almost none of the tens of thousands of encounters that went well. Officers understand this ledger perfectly. When the only interactions that follow you are the worst ones, the rational move is to do as little as possible - and the emotional cost of that math shows up as cynicism, disengagement, and eventually a resignation letter.
The infographic charts the asymmetry in one glance: a career's official feedback record beside the vast unrecorded remainder, and what closing that gap looks like when verified community feedback flows in after ordinary encounters. It works in roll call as a morale conversation starter, in a command retreat on retention, or on LinkedIn where former officers will recognize it instantly. The point is not softness - it is that no profession sustains performance on documentation of failure alone.
For what happens when the good work finally gets counted, read Officer Recognition and Retention.
