Every couple of weeks we link to the most recent police use of force articles that caught our attention. Right after the link we post a quote, summarize the article, or discuss our thoughts about it.
One type of post we can’t link to are newsletters that are mailed out. We have linked to several articles in Fred Leland’s LESC blog but we also recommend his newsletter that is sent by email. It focuses on strategy and tactics for law enforcement and includes links to other great police articles. To sign up for it send him an email at fred@lesc.net.
Is Your Selection Ongoing? by Trigger Pull Tactical
Trigger Pull Tactical is an excellent police blog that was recently started. It is focused more on SWAT but the lessons and advice it dispenses often work well for all officers. In this article he starts with SWAT team selection and then discusses ongoing standards, but the issues are the same for all police officers.
Departments set physical fitness standards for candidates that want to become a police officer, but then allow officers to become slugs after training. I’m not saying all officers have to be outstanding athletes, but maintaining the ability to pass the entrance test does not seem unreasonable. Here is an obscenely easy fitness test: one pushup, one situp, one pullup, and run a mile without having to walk in any amount of time. The reality of most departments is that several officers would fail even that test and that fact is sad. (Hat tip to G. Steadman for the test.)
The worst thing that can be done is to allow your operators to make the team and then let them get comfortable. Everyone wants to be comfortable, after all that’s human nature, but in our line of work being comfortable kills.
R.E.S.C.U.E.: Saving the life of a downed officer without sacrificing your own by Chuck Remsberg
A creative trainer from South Carolina has devised a simple action plan that can help guide you through an organized, tactical response to that gut-wrenching challenge. It provides a calming, structured approach to the critical moment when emotions need to be put on hold to save lives.
To access this link you will need a Police One logon for restricted users.
Are Safeties Really Safer?: The Ultimate Safety Isn’t ON The Gun Part 1 and Part 2 by Steve Denney
Denney discusses modern mechanical safeties in part 1 and explains the development of mechanical safeties for law enforcement pistols in part 2.
I want to talk first about the most important mechanical safety on any gun, the trigger. In any modern firearm found in police service, if you don’t touch the trigger, IT WILL NOT FIRE! It is the GO button and if you leave it alone, the gun will be safe. Period.
Ambushing / Counter Ambushing: Time to Expect It! Part 1 and Part 2 by Bank Miller
Miller describes types of ambushes and then gives examples of how they might occur to law enforcement in part 1. In part two he reviews some tactics to counter those ambushes.
Miller is also the source of the drill for our contact shot training video.
Tactical Preschool Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 by T Gace
Gace been posting some great stuff this last month about tactics. He started a series called Tactical Preschool that reviews basic tactics and gives some excellent illustrations. He is in the twenties with them so far but I only posted the first 10. Next month I will list more. My favorite of these 10 is number 5.
Everybody’s an Expert by Johnny Law
A rant that most officers can relate to.
The bad guy charged the cop and had him on the ground beating his head against the concrete so hard the cop needed reconstructive surgery afterwards. Of course since the 6ft3 230lb bad guy was unarmed, the cop should have used his magic police powers to get him in cuffs. The family has already filed an excessive force lawsuit against the police.
Threat Indicators by T Gace
A great video for teaching what a suspect often looks like before he attacks officers. This professional quality video is great for new rookies in the academy or refreshing veterans during roll call training.
Simulation Safety: No More Friendly Fatalities in Training! by Ralph Mroz
Mroz discusses the problems that cause training deaths and offers a safety protocol to eliminate them from force on force weapons training. He also offers free videos for simulation instructors and a low cost DVD ($10). These appear to be simple and economical solutions for departments. If you want to get more in depth training, Ken Murray’s Reality Based Training Instructor school is excellent and highly focused on simulation safety.
Patrol response to active shooter and terrorist incidents by Sgt. Glenn French
For whatever reason, officers and police departments feel the need to learn a specific tactic and deem it their method of response. This debate over a single entry response or a small unit response is counterproductive. There is no single tactic that works for all combat situations.
Sgt. French has written several excellent articles that I have learned from and passed on to others including this one. I especially like the first and last sentences of this quote and have argued the same point myself. However, I respectfully disagree with the second sentence because I think the debate is what keeps many officers and commanders from falling into the trap described by the other two.
In-Service Firearms Training: 12 keys for creating comprehensive, court-defensible regimen by Dave Grossi
These are 12 great standards to have for a departmental firearms program. They are realistic, reasonable, and court-defensible. They are a great scorecard for your own firearms program and can show if it needs improvement.
No. 4: Quarterly training: The psychomotor skills needed to operate a semi-auto under stress can’t be taught or reinforced with less than quarterly training
Combat Marksmanship: Keep training fresh to maintain skills by Dave Spaulding
Stagnation is the true enemy of police training. The words tradition and training should never be used in the same sentence. Skills that enhance officer performance must constantly evolve.
The article is a description of Dave’s experiences going through a recent 3 day shooting school and the lessons learned.
Related posts:
- Recommended Police Use of Force Articles: November 2009 Every couple of weeks I link to the most recent...
- Recommended Police Use of Force Articles: December 2009 Every couple of weeks I link to the most recent...
- Recommended Police Use of Force Articles: October 2009 Every couple of weeks we link to the most recent...
- Recommended Police Use of Force Articles: January 2010 Every couple of weeks I link to the most recent...
- Ongoing Selection: A key to high performing specialized units Every specialized unit like SWAT or K9 encounters this problem....
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