Articles - Careers & Training

As a student of human performance I am always amazed at the way we pay lip service to the winning mindset. It seems we think that if we just say this or that to ourselves, or visualize ourselves doing this or that, we will become winners. Simple, right? Wrong.

The benefits of foot beats are many and this type of patrol should be a fundamental aspect in any community policing model. But after being directed to an assigned area or neighborhood to walk, an officer and his or her department should have sound strategies in place for how best to accomplish this mission in a safe and productive manner.

Enforcing the law is inherently dangerous. Therefore, developing bad officer safety habits is like playing Russian roulette: You can only beat the odds for so long-then you take a bullet.

Within your first year, however, your experiences tell you that things are not exactly like what your academy instructors said they would be. During your first few days at your agency, you hear words like family to describe your new workplace. And yet somehow, the word dysfunctional is omitted.

Officer John Smith has just spotted a suspicious-looking individual and conducted a field interview. What he doesn't know is that the subject is wanted for felony assault. The field interview quickly becomes a fight and Officer Smith is knocked down. Now his life depends on his ability to fight on the ground.

When it comes to training, most of us don't get enough. So the training we do get must be practical, effective, and efficient. This article will provide you with two techniques you can use to keep yourself safe when dealing with suspects who become resistive or combative during a pat search.

An assault could involve someone shooting into your patrol car or an assailant at the driver's window physically attacking you. Increased awareness and in-car self-defense training and tactical driving practice can help prepare you for this type of attack.

Over the years I have had so many "if only" moments; most of them have been about debt and its related stresses. When I was developing officer safety programs at the academy, I was stunned to find the number one cause of divorce among law enforcement officers was not dispatchers, but financial stress.

We search people in a variety of field situations and legal circumstances. As far as officer safety skills are concerned, I believe pat search techniques to be one of the most critical skills given too little emphasis in training, and therefore worthy of analysis.

For the first time in history, we have four generations working side by side in the modern workplace. They consist of Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials (also known as Generation Y or Nexters). With four different groups working together, there is bound to be a collision between each other's set of values.