It is critical for law enforcement leaders and trainers to take every opportunity to educated the media and politicians and provide correction and clarification on some of the myths, misconceptions and misunderstandings.  Myth: De-escalation is words, and always works.  De-escalation is a result not a single tactic, and it is certainly not just words. The subject(s) involved in the event play a significant role in de-escalating any situation. Not every situation can be de-escalated. De-escalation is the goal of almost every officer in every interaction. When de-escalation … [Read more...]

With the current pressure on the policing profession to change the way we train and to do more training the natural response for many agencies is to rush to implement training to "Check the Box" as I cautioned about last week, or to seek out “Best Practices”. For a number of years I have been sharing a caution regarding Best Practices I picked up from leadership guru, speaker, trainer and best selling author Mark Sanborn.  Sanborn cautions against Best Practices as they always have three qualifiers: Best Practices that we know of.Best Practices for now.Best Practices given the … [Read more...]

Be cautious about succumbing to the pressure to, “Do more training in De-escalation, Implicit Bias and Community Policing.” and whatever other subjects are thrown into the current narrative. Succumbing to the pressure to get it done a.s.a.p. too often results in “tick the box” training. Agencies rush to put everyone through a 2, 4 or 8 hour class so they can tick the box and say, “Everyone has been trained in ________________ (fill in the blank.) There is a big difference between ‘being trained in’ and ‘having attended training’.  While "having attended training" can be a passive … [Read more...]

To the Heroic men and women of law enforcement, thank you for your service.  I know you generally deflect when someone uses the terms “Hero” or “Heroic” to describe you so let me explain what I mean by the term Hero. Christopher Reeves said, “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” You are ordinary men and women who have chosen an extraordinarily difficult profession in which to serve. You do that daily with professionalism, grace, humor and humility. You persevere and endure in spite of often seemingly … [Read more...]

Resilience is a topic many law enforcement trainers have been paying attention to and talking about over the last year or two.   Some people define resilience as bouncing back after a traumatic event. I am going to respectfully disagree. I don’t think we can bounce back or go back to where we were before an event.  We will not go back to a pre-pandemic world once the threat of COVID-19 has passed, if that even happens. We cannot go back to the world before the death of George Floyd.  After a critical incident on the job or a career in law enforcement you cannot … [Read more...]

This is an extremely challenging and emotionally charged time for the law enforcement profession. Training and leadership are more important than ever. Training needs to be delivered in a way that is most likely to result in learning, retention and the ability to recall and apply the learning. Training cannot be just “tick the box” or “flavor of the day training” delivered so an agency can say, “Everyone was trained in __________.”  There is a difference in between actually being trained and simply having attended training.  Training needs to be relevant and engaging. … [Read more...]

Being a trainer is a privilege. Like all privileges it comes with responsibilities.   You have a responsibility to the men and women you teach, to their families, to the men and women they will work with and their families, to their agency, and to the community they will serve to provide the highest quality training possible.  You have a responsibility to be educated on the keys to effective learning and effective teaching as well as educated in the subject matter you are teaching.  You have a responsibility to do the work to ensure the material you are teaching … [Read more...]

Last week I wrote about the issue of Organizational Stress, and my belief that it is not the biggest stressor in the profession. Some readers agreed with that, some did not and I am ok with that. Let me be very clear. I believe Organizational Stress is a stressor for officers and a morale killer, I do not however believe it is the biggest stressor and what is really killing the men and women of law enforcement. I promised that this week I would share some ideas on how we can address the Organizational Stress piece. I believe the biggest contributing factor in organizational stress … [Read more...]

It is common to hear officers say, “I can deal with the stress out on the street, it is the internal crap I can’t deal with. Everyone nods their head, mumbles some form of agreement and moves on with their day. I have been in a number of training sessions over the years where the instructor makes the comment that organizational politics are the greatest stressors for law enforcement professionals. Everyone nods their heads, mumbles some form of agreement and they get on with the class.  I am not a mental health professional, but I have been in and around the law enforcement profession … [Read more...]

As a trainer it is not your job to weed people out. It is your job to teach them, train them, coach them, mentor them, develop them, inspire them and be a role model for them.  Think of this as a multi phase gardening project with the goal being to grow a healthy, competent, confident, professional law enforcement officer. This is a 20 to 40 year project from pre-hire to retire. The first phase is to work collectively to generate a pool of applicants for your agency who possess the traits and characteristics consistent with your agency's Mission, Vision and Values and are … [Read more...]