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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? →

Podcast: Deescalation Ain’t New; Cops Have Been Doing it for 200 Years and more.

While deescalation remains dripping from the tongues of law enforcement administrators from sea to shining sea, street cops everywhere are getting a good belly laugh and probably a pain in their collective bottoms at the same time. Why? Because a huge number of street troops have already been doing amazing deescalating for years without any need to have so-called “scientific- based techniques and stratagems” rammed down their gullets. Continue reading Podcast: Deescalation Ain’t New; Cops Have Been Doing it for 200 Years and more. →

Podcast: Have You Ever Sprinted and Read Tea Leaves at the Same Time?

When is the last time you went out for a good run or even a decent jog?

Here’s my educated guess. See if you think it’s anywhere close to accurate whenever you went out for your last run or jog or even a brisk hike. My guess is that you didn’t do it the last time a cop stopped you for anything… a broken tail light… you forgot to put your new license tags on… or seatbelt… the kid’s not in a restraining device or chair… you’ve got too many bird droppings on your windshield. Anything.

You didn’t run, because you knew you hadn’t done– what? Committed any other infraction other than the relatively minor one the officer had stopped you for in the first freaking place. No parole or probation violation, no priors that could suddenly land you back in the slammer. No rape, robbery or carjacking for which you’re presently being sought. Nothing but too many bird droppings on your windshield. Continue reading Podcast: Have You Ever Sprinted and Read Tea Leaves at the Same Time? →

Podcast: Cops and coronavirus; Things Will Never be the Same. Here’s why.

Not long ago, one of the great cops I have ever known told me that, often, the troops on his shift at the San Francisco P D have calls that are stacked 10 deep. As a Sergeant, Adam Plantinga said it’s up to individual officers to determine, as best they can, which calls to respond to first or, quite possibly, not at all. 10 calls deep, for God’s sake.
And that’s just the start of their shift.
I’d imagine that is not an infrequent quandary for cops in busy districts and precincts in every metropolitan area of the country. By the end of their shifts, many calls just never get answered and fade away like so many fuzz balls billowing out of sight on a lovely spring day.
Then, it dawned on me how unbelievably many calls for police are total and complete bull jive. Continue reading Podcast: Cops and coronavirus; Things Will Never be the Same. Here’s why. →