It may be an extreme example, but picture this. A young co-pilot sees the fuel gauge is nearing a dangerously low level, but he doesn’t want to interrupt the veteran pilot who’s in the middle of telling a war story he’s told maybe a hundred times before. Fearful of angering him, the young pilot does nothing and the plane crashes just shy of the runway. Or, an intern in the middle of an emergency surgery notes that the gruff formidable old surgeon has left a forceps in a patient’s abdomen and stitched him up…and out of fear, intimidation or worse being, banished from his internship if he says a word. Three days later, the patient doesn’t wake up. Or, how about the veteran officer who smells alcohol on a fellow cops breath day after day after day and chooses the route of monkey no see, monkey no hear, monkey no smell. One day, the alcoholically-challenged officer doesn’t report back at the end of his shift because not only he, but also the mother pushing the baby carriage are dead, courtesy of a drunken cops vehicular negligence. Oh, and did I add…the baby in the carriage is dead, also. Continue reading Podcast: Fear of Being Branded a Rat? Listen Up. The Times They Are a-Changin’.
Podcast: Detroit Police: We Don’t Retreat Here; Lessons for All L.E.
When I interviewed then-Chief Belmar of the St. Louis County Police about law enforcement’s response to the Ferguson rioting, I remember him telling me that he’d been told police had “lost the narrative”, and it was a hard lesson to learn. Who told him that? It was then-Chief Charles Ramsey, a long time veteran, and then chief of the Philadelphia Police. In fact, here is exactly how Chief Belmar recounted that phone conversation:
“I did talk to chief Ramsey and I reached out to him in Philadelphia and it was probably Thursday or Friday evening of the first week. And I said, Hey, listen, we got a problem. And chief Ramsey said something really interesting to me. This is a 44 year veteran of law enforcement guy has been the assistant chief in Chicago, the Boston and DC. Now three very challenging environments. I think anybody would say, but Ramsey said to me, you’ve lost the narrative. Continue reading Podcast: Detroit Police: We Don’t Retreat Here; Lessons for All L.E.
Betty Shelby Case – Surviving an Officer Involved Shooting
In 2016, Tulsa officer Betty Shelby was in a fatal officer involved shooting that ended up in the international media hot light…and ended up with her being charged with manslaughter less than a week following the shooting.
You’ll remember the incident. It was caught on tape from a police helicopter (being piloted by her husband, Officer Dave Shelby)…and on cruiser cam. Continue reading Betty Shelby Case – Surviving an Officer Involved Shooting
Podcast: Death of George Floyd/The Response That Might Have Been
It’s pretty obvious by now that the name George Floyd will soon brand itself permanently in law enforcement history just as much as Michael Brown, Rodney King , Miranda, Graham, Connor, and quite possibly more than all of them combined.
Whatever happens, too you know and I know that the seemingly surreal actions of ex-Minneapolis officer Derick Chauvin will, by themselves, become the stuff that is required academy training, likely, now and forever. Probably an academy class unto itself.
I did a very informal survey of several veteran officers, decorated cops, longtime trainers, and most current line of duty technical advisors. Among them cumulatively, they have nearly 150 years of total service to law enforcement.
Not one said he had ever seen anything like Derick Chauvin’s knee to George Floyd’s neck. Not one. Continue reading Podcast: Death of George Floyd/The Response That Might Have Been
Podcast: Should the Rule of One More be the Rule of Many More?
Years ago, one of our technical advisors told me that cops always, always needed to remember the Rule of One More. At the time, he was referring to always being wary, that some lowlife from whom you had taken a firearm, could very well have a second gun hidden away in the crevices of his or her body.
Now, let’s fast forward to today and the decision I made to interview three great veteran cops regarding their experiences with the Rule of One More for a new training video. It seemed to me that there were plenty of situations where the rule could apply not only to guns, but also knives, razor blades, hidden cuff keys, drugs, etc, etc. We stitched together a program, I think has invaluable information. For example, Herb hood, a retired former Cincinnati officer of the year, set a number of things about the rule of one more that really rang my bell.
“It’s very simple: that guys and professional criminals or criminals, gang members, terrorists, everybody is carrying multiple weapons. So let’s let’s search until we find all the weapons.” Continue reading Podcast: Should the Rule of One More be the Rule of Many More?