- Supply The Why: Difficult Conversations Season 4 Episode 3 Policing, Leadership and the Future
- Project Sapient Podcast E13: Leader or Boss?
- Embedding Our Values: Never a Better Time Than Now
- Difficult Conversations by Supply The Why Season 3 Episode 3 Warriors, Guardians or Are They One and The Same?
- Wellness for Warriors - Two amazing human beings who have been through so much, and go above and Beyond
- When One of us is Murdered: The Darkness A Project Sapient Podcast
- Project Sapient Podcast: Sheepdogs. HybridWolves. Crybabies | A Predator Hunting Predators
- "Supply The Why" Great Podcast Episode on Police Reform, Use of Force, Training and Development Discussed by a Great Panel
- Police Leadership: On Humility and the Dangers of Hubris
- Be You: Humility, Strength of Character and Swallowing Our Ego and Being Authentic Is Crucial To Sound Leadership
- Been Away From My Blog For a While...Time to Get Back At It!
- Supply The Why Doing Great Work Be Sure to Check Out This Episode
- Introduction to Scenario Learning: Guest Post Series with Michael Barr
- Auftragstaktik in One Simple Diagram by Chet Richards
- "Leaders Are Teachers": Great Insights on Leadership and Developing Your People from The Mentorship Forum
- Great Review Over at the The Mentorship Forum of My Favorite Resource on Developing Adaptability "Raising The Bar"
- Rethinking the Traditional Teacher-Student Relationship in Conflicts
- Command and Control During a Disaster: Podcast
- The Evolving Warfighter Sits Down with Don Vandergriff and Talks Mission Command
- Developing and Preparing Cops for the Adaptive Challenges of The Street: Instructors Roundtable Podcast Episode
- Unreflective Speed of Action...Do You Think Its Time Policing Reflects on the Tactical Influence of Time?
- Break It Down Show Podcast: Don Vandergriff - Mission Command, Trusting Your People, To Win
- I See You...Back Up! On The Call to Win in Crisis and in the Aftermath to Win in Life
- Technological Negation of Human Sexual Dimorphism: A Guest Post by Franklin C. Annis, EdD
- Guest Post Home Security Guide from Bank Rate
- Commonwealth Police Legacy Program of Instruction: Sound Decision Making for Cops
- Outstanding In Your Face and Much Needed Book Policing and It's Leaders Can Learn From
- THE TRUTH BEHIND RACIAL DISPARITIES IN FATAL POLICE SHOOTINGS: Great Research Every Cop and Every Citizen Should Read.
- Thought on Discipline: A Great Podcast Series from All Marine Radio, Every Police Leader Should Listen To
- Gary Klein – Cognitive Psychologist, Studies Decision Making in Crisis on The Break It Down Show..Outstanding Episode
- Tactical Decision Making Facilitation Guide Maj McBreen: The Lessons Transfer to Police Instruction as Well
- 4th Generation Warfare Interview and Yes There Are Lessons for Policing
- Keys to Training Excellence: Evidence Based Research Policing Can Use
- Adopting Mission Command: Developing Leaders for a Superior Command Culture by Don Vandergriff
- Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude: Book Review
- PODCAST: Tactical Decision Games with Bruce Gudmundsson and Don Vandergriff
- Podcast: Human Factors and Officer-Involved Shootings
- Donald Robertson - Stoicism and Thinking Like a Roman Emperor
- Dr John Sullivan and MAJ John Spencer - The Complexity of Modern Urban War
- Great Podcast: The Courageous Police Leader – Combating Cowards, Chaos, and Lies
- Recommended Reading: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
- Another Approach to Tactics Guest Post by Bert DuVernay
- LYNCH & KENNEY: react to clips of LtGen Van Riper’s “On Discipline” interview on All Marine Radio
- Outstanding Interview: ON DISCIPLINE: LtGen Paul K. Van Riper, USMC (ret)
- The Learning Insurgency: It’s an Evolution, not a Revolution By Donald E. Vandergriff
- On Policing a Free Society Episode 3: Toxic Bosses
- On Policing a Free Society Episode 2: Repairing Dysfunction in Police Organizations
- On Policing a Free Society Podcast: Episode 1 Dysfunctional Organizations and Their Impact On Response
- On Policing a Free Society with Fred Leland A New Podcast Coming in 2019
- Making Police Training Stick...and Learning How to Learn
- A New Conception of War: John Boyd The U.S. Marines and Maneuver Warfare
- Utilizing The Case Method: Some articles by Bruce Gudmundsson to Help Shed Some Light on How Too
- Use of Force Policy: Dispelling the Myths by Lexipol
- How to Make a Small Unit Decision Forcing Cases by Bruce Gudmundsson
- Facilitating Learning a Hybrid Of Methods to Effective Police Officer Development
- Why The OODA Loop Is Forever By Dan Grazier
- 15 Tips to Remember when Promoting a Growth Mindset in the Classroom: A Guest Post from USA Test Prep
- New Edition of Boyd’s Discourse on Winning and Losing by Grant Hammond
- My Book Review: On Tactics by B. A. Friedman
- Of Garbage Cans and Paradox: Reflexively Reviewing Design, Mission Command, and the Gray Zone:
- On Tactics: An Interview with B.A. Friedman
- Podcast Part 2 from Professional Military Education: John Boyd, Maneuver Warfare, and Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication-1
- Podcast from Professional Military Education: John Boyd, Maneuver Warfare, and Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication-1
- Walk,Sacrafice, Work ...Always Hungry Never Satified! What it Takes to Fight Complacency
- The Ten Deadly Errors, Plus...Failure to Learn, Failure to Anticipate and Failure to Adapt
- Turning Tragedy into Victory...We Must Start APPLYING LESSONS LEARNED
- Police Responses Demands Constant and Repeated Action...Throughout the Tactical Encounter
- All Police Actions Take Place in an Atmosphere of Uncertainty
- Adapt or Die: The Call for Police Reform...Is It Reasonable or Necessary?
- Force Science Assesses Proposed “Necessary” Deadly Force Standard
- Special Tactics Online Course Intro
- LESC is Honored to be Part of Special Tactics New Online Training Academy and Full-Featured, Professional Networking Site
- Leading Discussions and Facilitating Better Training Outcomes
- Police Leaders Mentoring and Coaching Their People: the Cornerstone to Top Performance in Crises
- Research: Adaptive Skill as the Conditio Sine Qua Non of Expertise
- Developing Adaptive Expertise: A Synthesis of Literature and Implications for Training
- How the Germans Defined Auftragstaktik: What Mission Command is - AND - is Not by Don Vandergriff
- Avioding Hostilities is the Goal But Sometimes to Gain The Advantage Reasonable Force Must Be Used
- Navigating Chaos: How to Find Certainty in Uncertain Situations
- The Protector Ethic: Morality, Virtue, and Ethics in the Martial Way
- Police Ethos:The Warrior and Guardian Mindset Are They Not One In the Same?
- Neighborhood Watch is Homeland Security at the Most Local Level
- Developing Police Sergeants: Getting the Outcomes and Measures of Effectiveness Right
- Col John Boyd's Patterns of Conflict Expanded to Policing Part 3: Disrupting an Adversary Using Soft and Hard Tactics
- Col John Boyd's Patterns of Conflict Expanded to Policing Part 2: Don't Just Be a Reactor..Be a Shaper Too!
- Col John Boyd's Patterns of Conflict Expanded to Policing Part 1
- Smart Tactics Takes Thinking Police Leaders...Leading Thinking Cops
- Wrestling With Delayed and Immediate Entry, Solo and Team Tactics...Are We Really Expecting All to Go as Rehersed?
- Guardian Joe: How Less Force Helps The Warrior
- Making It Safer: A Study of Law Enforement Fatalities Between 2010-2016
- Professional Reading and Development: It Doesn’t Give All the Answers, But It Lights What Is Often a Uncertain Path Ahead
- What Are The Force Multipliers That Allow Police Organizations to Operate at Rapid OODA Loop Tempos?
- Why Frontline Employees Should Make All Decisions:Lessons Police Can Learn From The Corporate Rebels
- What was Boyd Thinking and...What Can Policing Learn From It?
- Proper Mindset, Situational Awareness, Skill Proficiency and Physical Fitness: Force Multipliers of Great Value to Police
- Recognizing The Signs and Signals That Lead To Violent Acts At Our Schools and Making Collaborative Efforts to Prevent Them
- Adaptive Leader Program: Developing Thinking Leaders Who Lead Thinking Officers
- What Are Mission-Type Orders and How Do They Influence a More Effective Crisis Response?
- Tactics Are They More High Diddle, Diddle Straight Up the Middle the Devil Be Damned or Maneuver and Boyd Cycling an Adversary?
- There Are No School Solutions, Formulas or Recipes to School Shootings, so How Can We Develop Better Courses of Action?
- Great Break It Down Show Focus on School Shootings
- Developing Critically Needed Leadership: A Podcast on Mission Command Building Trust and Cohesion
- Powerful Facilitation: Two Critical Approaches
- Powerful Facilitation: Three Critical Competencies
- STARTING AND GROWING A NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
- Adaptive Action: Leveraging Uncertainty In Your Organization a Book Review
- The Case Method In Developing Police: "Cold Calling" Will Have to Be Unambiguous
- The Biggest Obstacle to Tactical Progress… and How to Beat It
- Pete’s Combat Wish List Pt 2: Mental Models, Mistakes, Reflection and Learning on the Fly
- Pete’s Wish List for Combat Warriors. Perhaps Some Lessons for Poliicng as Well?
- What Affect Does the Human Dimension and Human Bias Have on Policing?
- What virtues are the most essential for a warrior to live by in order to prepare for, protect against and prevent violence?
- Exploring Criminal Justice Careers Check Out the Community for Accredited Online Schools
- A Great Break It Down Show Podcast on Interview and Interrogation: A Candid Straight Up Discussion
- Experiential Learning a Big Part of The New Recruit Officer Course In Massachusetts: Looks Promising!
- Run Out and Buy: Anatomy of a Warrior: The 7 Virtues All Warriors Must Live by to Successfully Protect and Serve
- Devising Solutions to Complex Police Problems: How Can We Get Better?
- Podcast with the Break It Down Show A Candid Discussion on Policing a Free Society, Mission Command and More
- Understanding Problems Range in Complexity and Designing Police Operations
- When it comes to Police Training, When is Good Enough, Not Good Enough?
- On The Job Training and Deliberately Framing Experience
- Police Officer Discretion…and Focusing Our Efforts on Better Outcomes
- Strength of Character: The Foundation of Working Together and Getting Things Done
- A free chapter from our new book now available on Amazon
- A Major Problem We Must Confront as Police Trainers and Students: How To Improve Performance?
- MISSION COMMAND THE WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN AND WHY An Anthology
- Conflict and Crisis are Full of Friction: The Force That Makes the Apparently Easy so Difficult
- PODCAST: Don Vandergriff on Military Personnel Reform: The Ideas Discussed Can (SHOULD) be Adapted to Policing As Well!
- Fire Nobody! by Dave Smith
- Teaching United States Marine Instructors New Tricks: Developing Adaptability Through Experiential Learning
- The Why was born out of pain
- Inspiring People to Lifelong Learning & Impacting Their Ability to Make Sound Decisions
- We Can't Just Use the Same Mental Recipes Over and Over Again: In Police Training We Must Challenge The Prevailing Mindset
- Reflection Leads to Deeper Learning...Put Each Day Up For Review
- We Must Train and Educate Within an Uncertain Environment to Prepare to Adapt
- Defining Policing 's Training & Education Challenge...Some Ideas On Achieving High Levels of Professionalism
- Defensive Tactics for Today's Law Enforcement
- Uploading John Boyd: The Legend Delivering His Opus is Online...and is as Relevant as Ever
- Make Many Mistakes and Learn
- Is Your Purpose in Life Based on Self Awareness and Strength of Character or Are You Just Following the Crowd?
- An Officer’s Principal Weapon is His Mind: Professional Development In Policing
- Outstanding Manual: Law Enforcement Close Quarter Battle: Urban Tactics for Individuals, Teams and Tactical Units
- The Art of Police Training is the Ability to Move Officers Through the Fog and Complexity of Human Interaction
- Brian Willis Interviews Yours Truly on Teaching Adaptive Leadership
- The Police Leader's True Work: Train Them, Trust Them, Let Them Do Their Job
- Sir William Slim on His Leadership Motto: No Details, No Paper, And No Regrets
- The Grid: Is There Better Ways to Approach Police Interactions?
- Teaching Officers How to Think verses Telling Them What To Think
- Develop a Philosophy and Understanding of Crime Fighting and Problem Solving That Considers Complexities of Policing
- Unwarranted: Policing Without Permission Book Review
- Thinking Leaders, Leading Thinking People is the Adaptive Leaders Focus
- Take Policing From a Training Culture to a Learning Culture
- Are You Serving Those You Lead?
- Vehicle Stops Strategies and Tactics: Being Safe and Effective Is About Options, Not Best Practices
- Teaching Adaptability and Making Marines More Effective Trainers
- Break It Down Show Podcast: Better Understanding Policing and Why it Matters
- The Last 100 Yards Series: High Diddle, Diddle Straight Up the Middle or Maneuver: How Are Your Tactics, Officer?
- Police officers I beg you to please run out and buy this book! What a great tactical resource!
- Second Episode in This Podcast Series with Complete Emergency Managment: Leadership in Public Safety
- Podcast: I sit down with George Whitney of Complete EM and discuss: Active Shooters and After Actions
- Sir Robert Peels, Nine Key Principles of Policing: Fair and Impartial Policing Defined Back In 1829!
- Herman Goldstein, Fundamental Objectives of Policing: Are They Relevant Today? I Say Yes!
- Shaping and Adapting: Using the Environment (The Last Hundred Yards) To Unlock the Power of Colonel John Boyd’s OODA Loop
- Informative Fair and Impartial Podcast: Do the legal rules for using deadly force, still make sense?
- Crisis Intervention Teams & Police Interactions with People with Mental Illness: Evolving Tactics That Make a Difference
- How Does The Last Hundred Yards, Enhance Tactical Responses to Crises?
- Complacency and False Sense of Urgency: Why We Fail to Take Advantage of The Last Hundred Yards?
- The Last Hundred Yards: Operate On Blind Luck or Win Consistently?
- My Good Friend Coach Kevin Kearns talks with 5th & 6th graders about Vision
- Keeping The Peace in a Free Society Let Us Not Forget Why We Do What We Do
- How Do We Better Assess and Grade Decision Making and Adaptability in Those We Train?
- Types of Cases
- Report: Deadly Calls And Fatal Encounters
- Developing Individuals with the Ability to Work Together Solving Real World Problems
- Five-Year Study of Police Officer Deaths: RoboCops or Guardians?
- The role of humility in the Socratic method by Bruce Ivar Gudmundsson
- Keeping the Peace
- Experiential Learning Defined
- How We Learn Versus How We Think We Learn
- Reducing Violence is About Not Grabbing a Gun
- Boston PD & Boston Red Sox: Full Scale Complex Operating Environment Training Exercise
- Scouts in Contact Tactical Vignettes for Cavalry Leaders A Book of Tactical Decison Exercises for Cavalry Leaders
- What is the Mission and Intent of Policing a Free Society?
- Sound of Silence A Tribute to Policing and All Those Who Serve The Homeland
- Problem-Oriented Policing: Where Social Work Meets Law Enforcement
- Thoughts on Policing a Free Society: Altering Public Expectations
- Thoughts on Policing a Free Society: Rethinking Widely Held Assumptions Regarding Police Fuction
- Thoughts on Policing a Free Society: Our Failure to Concern Ourselves...
- Thoughts on Policing a Free Society
- Simon Sinek: Why Leaders Eat Last
- 8 Tips to Keep Your Home Wireless Network Secure From Hackers: a guest post from Wichly Cazeau
- John Boyd's Patterns of Conflict Part 3
- Engaging The Community and Making Meaningful and Lasting Change
- The Pre-Class Preparation Pyramid By Bruce Ivar Gudmundsson
- We All Lose When it's Us Verses Them!
- Facilatating The Adaptive Leader Program at The Army ROTC Leadership Conference at Harvard University
- A Break It Down Show Pod Cast: Paying Criminal Not to Commit Crimes or is There Something More to The Story?
- Harvard ROTC Leadership Conference
- A Discourse on Policing a Free Society
- We Made the Mandatory Reading for the US Army MPs
- Patterns of Conflict Pt 2
- Hand in Hand Project, a new initiative promoting dialogue and interaction between local police officers and young people
- How May We…Rebuild the Bridge Between The People and The Police?
- Why Adaptability Trumps Hierarchy?
- Military Reform Through Education: From The Straus Military Reform Project, Something We In Policing Can Learn From
- In Building Trust, Actions…Speak Louder Than Words!
- Somewhere Along the Way
- Taking It Personally
- The Facts of the Case By Bruce Ivar Gudmundsson
- J.J. DID TIE BUCKLE Traits I live By
- On Fitness: Learn from my weakness, my mistakes, and my bad habits
- Don’t Do It Alone: Developing a Shared Sense of Destiny Requires We’re all on the Same Sheet of Music
- Recommended Reading List From The California Association of Tactical Officers
- Values For A New Millennium: A Book That Will Help Bridge the Gap Between People and The Police
- Teaching Adaptability…and Firearms Training
- Simon Sinek: Why Reciprocity Improves Mentor Mentee Relationships
- Felix Nader Discusses The Value of Workplace Violence Prevention
- Breaking Down Police Work and How To Win at Low Cost: Part 2 Podcast Break It Down Show
- Boyd: Adapting Isn't Good Enough
- Simon Sinek on the responsibility that leaders have to create environments where people are more productive,and inspired
- The Hunting Story - the meaning of human equality
- Ethical Warriors with Jack Hoban
- Emotional Intelligence: Re-Thinking Police Community Relations by Mark Bond
- Approaching LE with the 'What's important now?' perspective
- Staying in control when a suspect is aggressive
- 10 Overlooked Truths About Taking Action
- Warriors vs. Praetorian Guard – Which Mindset Fits You Best? By Mike Ox
- ITOA News: Articles By John Farnam, Patrick Van Horne, Jeff Chudwin, Don Vandergriff, Yours Truly and More
- The importance of mindset in policing with Chip Huth
- A Discussion on Police Work and How to Win At Low Cost, Connecting The People and Police Gap
- Be Passionate, Back Up and Empower Your People, and You Will Get The Culture Right
- Why Are Shared Visions So Important?
- Technical Skill as a Component of Creativity by Bruce I. Gudmundsson
- I Am Spartacus…No I Am Spartacus: Is Your Police Organization United?
- The Demand For Autodidacts – The Self-Taught in an Age of Shrinking Budgets by Patrick Van Horne
- It’s How You Say What You Saw by Patrick Van Horne
- The Path of Don Vandergriff: A Discussion On Leadership, Learning organizations and Adaptability
- The Newhall Incident: Failure, Adaptation and Success…Or Lost Opportunity? Published in the latest ITOA News
- NYPD’s New Strategy for Dealing with Stressful Interactions, Absurd or Realistic?
- The Mind Can Be Convinced But The Heart Must Be Won
- Imagine a Police Culture Where People Wake Up Every Day Inspired to Go to Work
- Open Letter to President's Task Force on Policing by Louis Hayes
- The Blame Game: Who @#$%ed This Up?
- Breaking Down the Stranglehold of Formality
- Boyd and Beyond: From Marine Corps University to FBI National Academy Boyd' Ideas are Expanding
- From The Art of Manliness: John Boyd’s Roll Call: Do You Want to Be Someone or Do Something?
- Pamela Meyer: How to spot a liar
- The Case Method Increasing the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Marine Education by Captain Paul Tremblay Jr USMC
- Simon Sinek: If You Don't Understand People, You Don't Understand...
- Using Official Histories as Quarries for Case Materials By Bruce I. Gudmundsson
- Left of Bang By Patrick Van Horne and Jason Riley
- The Most Dangerous Weapon in Law Enforcement by Brian Willis
- Sizing Up Situations Is A Skill, We Need To Develop
- Change the Culture If I could Only Change One Thing by Don Vandergriff
- The Five Learning Disciplines
- Using Complete Stories in Decision Forcing Cases by Dr. Bruce I. Gudmundsson
- Newhall Shooting: A Tactical Analysis
- Tactical Decision Games, Obscure Information and Generating New Ways to Thrive in the Climate of Chaos and Uncertainty
- Calling on Cops in Class: An Anecdote for Developing Character, Confidence and Sound Tactical Decision Makers
- Solving Tactical Dilemmas with Indirect Experience (Education & Training) and White Castle Cases
- Ugly Police Force: Misunderstandings of Law & Human Factors by Lou Hayes
- Design and Facilitate, Decision Making Exercises Using The Sandwich Metaphor
- Strategic Rifleman: Key to More Moral Warfare by H. John Poole
- Developing Teamwork, Leadership Skills and Decision Makers with Case Study's "Washington's Crossing"
- FBI Report: A Study of Active Shooter Incidents in the United States
- The Art of Manliness Discusses...The Tao of Boyd: How to Master the OODA Loop
- Courage: The Backbone of Leadership by Gus Lee
- A Police Officers thoughts on the “Militarization” of our police forces.
- Cops With War Toys: Militarizing police is the worst way to fight crime.
- “Just the facts Ma’am”
- Re-Imagine the Way We Lead!
- A Milestone in Boydian Theory at the Tactical Level
- CASE STUDY: Ferguson Missouri shooting incident and aftermath by Louis Hayes
- What is Leadership?
- Use of Force Investigations: a Manual for Law Enforcement
- Do You Know How to Get Fullfillment?
- How Great Leaders Inspire Action
- Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't
- Adaptive Leadership Handbook, Reviewed [by Mark Safranski, a.k.a. "zen"]
- Have We Not Learned Anything From History? Don Vandergriff's Book Review on American Spartan
- How Do We Inspire Action?
- Book Review: Rubicon: The Poetry of War
- Book Review: American Spartan
- Command Culture: Officer Education in the U.S. Army and the German Armed Forces, 1901-1940, and the Consequences for WWII
- What are the Basics? Developing for Mission Command by Donald E. Vandergriff
- IN COMMAND AND OUT OF CONTROL
- Adaptive Leadership By Charles “Sid” Heal and John R. Engbeck
- Why good leaders make you feel safe
- Guardians vs. Warriors: What it Takes to Win at Low Cost
- After Action Review on The Christopher Dorner Incident
- Adaptive Leader Program
- Crisis Meta-Leadership Lessons From the Boston Marathon Bombings Response: The Ingenuity of Swarm Intelligence
- Outstanding piece! The Myth of Mission Command by Don Vandergriff
- Cops or Soldiers?
- Situational Assessments: Being Mindful of What’s Important Now!
- Convinced or Committed?
- Discipline: The Lost Art of Leadership
- How Do We Develop Adaptability?
- Improve the Work…Develop the People
- Incident Strategy and Tactics: The Baby Diaper Analogy
- Adaptive Leaders …Develop Strength of Character
- How About Some Empathy, Please?
- Get Into the Sandbox, Think and Play and Let’s Inspire… Adaptability
- Stoning The Gatekeepers: Is It Not Time Society Attempts To Better Understand Police Use of Force?
- First-Line Supervisors Do The Most Important Training
- Why Tactical Decision Games? Because They Challenge The Status Quo & Emphasize Tactical Options In Developing Courses of Action.
- Why Does Understanding The OODA Loop Matter to Cops?
- How Do You Develop Strength of Character and Adaptive Leaders?
- Adaptive Leadership Handbook: Innovative Ways to Teach and Develop Your People
- Don’t Fear Failure; Instead Make Failure Your Classroom
- In Forging Adaptability…Distinguish Technical Problems from Adaptive Challenges
- The Doctor in SWAT School (and What His Performance Says About Police Culture)
- Designing Law Enforcement: Adaptive Strategies for the Complex Environment by John A. Bertetto
- Guest Post: Toward a Police Ethos: Defining Our Values as a Call to Action by John Bertetto
- Adaptability is Key in Handling Crisis Situations…Be In Command and Out Of Control
- For Meaningful Lasting Results, Get Into the Weeds…and Identify Root Causes
- Want to get better and be safer? Debrief!
- How to Forge Adaptability in Police Leaders and Culture
- Adaptive Leadership is Purposeful Learning in Real Time
- Book Review: The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and The World
- Growing Leaders Who Practice Mission Command and Win the Peace, Lt. Col. Douglas A. Pryer, U.S. Army
- Achieving Greatness by Giving Control and Creating Leaders
- Choosing Adaptability by Gary Gagliardi and The Science of Strategy Institute
- The Review of Boyd & Beyond 2013…..
- Have You Thought About Why You Choose To Lead?
- Incident Command: the big picture by Louis Hayes
- Understanding the OODA Loop by Derek Stephens
- The Cops Amaze Me by Bob Lonsberry
- I Am An Optimist. It Does Not Seem Too Much Use Being Anything Else!
- Mike Rayburn Asks...What Makes A Good Street Cop?
- Fighting the good fight with moral clarity by Lt. Dan Marcou
- Are Gated Communities Really Secure?
- Top 25 Criminal Justice Blogs We made the list at # 3
- Incident Command: the team cohesion aspect of the SitRep
- Book Review: Always Picked Last: Conquering the Bullies: A Guide To Finding Your Way in Life…
- To Continuously Improve We Must Set Boundaries and Expectations
- Elite Performance...Takes WORK? Say it ain't so!
- Create Your Fantasy Island Organizational Culture by Tracey Richardson
- Have You Stopped a Car Today? Improving Patrols Tactical Effectiveness with Vehicle Stops
- Incident Command: Communicating the Situation and Location By Louis Hayes
- Incident Command: a problem-solving approach By Louis Hayes
- SWAT Cop Says American Neighborhoods Are 'Battlefields,' Claims Cops Face Same Dangers As Soldiers In Afghanistan
- Overmilitarization: Why Law Enforcement Needs to Scale Down Its Use of Military Hardware and Tactics By Evan Bernick
- John Boyd’s Art of War Why our greatest military theorist only made colonel. By William S. Lind
- Police militarization and rise of the warrior journalist by Lance Eldridge
- Strategic Studies Institute: Cartel Car Bombings in Mexico Authored by Dr. Robert J. Bunker, Mr. John P. Sullivan
- To Strengthen And Preserve Cohesion Your Values...Equal Their Values
- Another Must Read Book From Don Vandergriff: "The Path To Victory" Revised Kindle Version with a new foreword
- Safe Streets, Overruled By Heather McDonald of the City Journal
- Must Read Book On Leader Development, Updated Kindle Addition: Don Vandergriff's, Raising The Bar:
- Brian Willis Offers Great Info on Defeating...The Enemy Of Innovation
- Police militarization and the Ethical Warrior By Jack E. Hoban & Bruce J. Gourlie
- “A Way” To Develop a Toxic Leader: How We as Leaders Create Our Own Monsters
- The Guy Behind the Guy, Behind the Guy: A Case for Taking our Roles More Seriously
- Flatenning the Decision Cycle in Tactical Units
- Tactical Supervision: Coaches and Chessplayers: Guest Post By Louis Hayes
- To effectively function in the initial, chaotic stages of a crisis, develop adaptive leaders
- FEAR VS COURAGE: IT'S YOUR CHOICE By Danny Cox
- Skid Row Terrorist
- Col John Boyd: Question and Answer Video
- Great Piece on Adaptability by Brian Willis: The Dinosaur versus The Cockroach Training Model
- The Psychotic Militarization of Law Enforcement
- The Missing Piece of NIMS: Teaching Incident Commanders How to Function in the Edge of Chaos by Police Chief, Cynthia Renaud
- The Human Problem? by Frank Borelli an Officer.com article
- From Police One 3 techniques for controlling your brain with Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D.
- Great Article From Police One with Val Van Brocklin: How to create 'fierce followers' in law enforcement
- Deadly Force: Have We Lost Our Senses? Guest Post by Louis Hayes
- Tactical Philosophy 101 A Guest Post by Louis Hayes
- Leadership in Unconventional Crises
- Unconventional Crises, Unconventional Responses: Reforming Leadership in the Age of Catastrophic Crises and “Hyper complexity”
- JOHN BOYD WAS A PATRIOT, A MORAL LEADER, AND A BONAFIDE VISIONARY. AND YES, HE WAS A MAVERICK.
- Force Science Research Study: The Influence of Officer Positioning on Movement During a Threatening Traffic Stop Scenario
- Guest Post: Adaptive Decision-Making by Sid Heal
- “More Better,” Ideals, and To Be or To Do: Guest Post by Scott Shipman
- Learning Like an Expert: A Guest Post by Marshall Wallace
- What Represents a High Level of Professionalism?
- This Memorial Day Remember: The Path of The Warrior
- School Security: Sharing and Enhancing Best Practices
- Guest Post by Michael G. Moore: Boyd's Snowmobile ...or what made Alexander “The Great”
- Coffee Pots and Baseball Bats: Household Items Offer Protection
- Learning to Adapt With A Professional Reading Program
- Boyd and Beyond 2013
- Guest Post by Tyana Daley: Developing Law Enforcement Leaders and Nurturing Smart Thinkers
- Somewhere Between Born and Made: Where Good Leaders Come From
- Is Today Your Day?
- Guest Post by John Demand: “You look for the bomb…we look for the bomber”
- What Do OODA Loop’s Mean to the Street Cop, Wanting To Become “World Class” Tacticians?
- The Psychology of a Boston Marathon Terrorist: 10 Questions for a Retired Marine
- Watching Boston “Work Together” Made Me Proud to Be a Police Officer
- What Makes a "World Class" Tactically Proficient Peacekeeper?
- Tactical Decision Games to Increase Speed and Maturity of Problem Solving: The Lessons Learned
- The Path to Better Execution in Seeing, Understanding and Solving Complex Problems is a Learning Organization
- A Systemic Concept for Operational Design: a Robust Tool Law Enforcement Should Use in Preparing for Chaotic Crisis
- How shift debriefings can improve officer safety Published at P1
- Boyd and Beyond Boston 2013: Balancing Pursuasion and Force in The Moral, Mental and Physical Dimensions of Conflict
- Don Vandergriff, Discusses: Misinterpretation and Confusion: What is Mission Command?
- Huddling-Up To Acheive Successful Law Enforcement Outcomes
- Building Cohesive Law Enforcement Agencies That Can Decide In Crisis Situations
- Mistakes ultimately ended ex-LA cop's rampage
- Red Teaming The Workplace Violence Shooter and The "MR. Uncomfortable Factor"
- Top 30 Criminal Justice Blogs of 2012 : LESC is Number 5!
- Showing Up Is Overrated. Necessary But Not Nearly Sufficient. Can Taking An "Interest" In What You Do Enhance Performance?
- Handling Dynamic Encounters...Go Get Him, Or Set Him Up To Get Him...With An Adaptable Response
- Shift Debriefings: How Can We Be More Deliberate, More Disciplined, and More Thorough in our Approach to Learning?
- AOW Card Deck Lesson 6: Provoke Your Adversary’s Reaction
- Does Mass Violence Unfold Randomly and Chaotic or is There Hidden Order We Can Leverage in Our Prevention Efforts?
- Police One Column: 13 questions to answer in 2013: What has 2012 taught you about officer safety and effectiveness?
- Take Small Steps, Towards, Lifelong Learning In 2013
- Positive Adaptive Leadership...Tools and Tips and Critical Questions To Explore in 2013 Inspired by Many Of Those I Follow
- AOW Card Deck Lesson 5: Sheath Your Sword
- AOW Card Deck Lesson 4: Score A Small Victory Along The Way
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Dangerous Body Language,The Boyd Cycle and Winning on the Street
Submitted by Fred on Fri, 03/04/2011 - 6:01pm.
I originally wrote this as a paper for a class I took while attending the FBI Academy back in 2004 as part of a course “Interpersonal Communication for the Law Enforcement Executive.” The title then, Interpersonal Communications and Officer Survival: How Understanding The Boyd Cycle and Non-Verbal Communication Can Save a Law Enforcement Officer’s Life! It was really my first effort at writing anything of substance other than a police report, in more than 20 years. The topic of COL John Boyd and his theories I had been researching and studying for a couple years and I believed at that time, an understanding of, and an ability to apply these ideas on the street by law enforcement officers would be a crux to there being more effective and safer while performing their duties.
Now 7 years later as threats towards cops continue to evolve and cops continue to die making the same mistakes over and over, I believe with even more intensity and passion the value of COL Boyd’s work as it relates to law enforcement. It’s only through creating and nurturing law enforcement decision makers will the street officer and law enforcement organizations be able to respond with initiative to the conventional and unconventional problems and threats we face. Its only through understanding human nature and conflict in its moral, mental and physical dimensions as Boyd discussed will cops be able to interact with our communities, win trust and a better understanding from those we police, as too how and why we utilize the methods and tactics we do.
What I hope you the cop, will take away from the article is a better understanding of the Boyd Cycle and how it relates to superior situational awareness. How being a truly trained observer takes work at understanding the subtle signs and signals that show themselves in expressions and gestures as you interact with people you encounter. This ability along with skill mastery, which is an ongoing, career long endeavor will lead to better decision making on the street in individual and small unit tactical encounters. Making you the street officer more full spectrum and ultimately safer in all you do.
I also challenge you cops who frequent this site, to sound off here,in the comments section with your thoughts, positive or negative so the learning, unlearning and relearning continues.
“There is no such thing as a logical method of having new ideas. Discovery contains an irrational element or a creative intuition.” ~Karl Popper
Introduction
“He who can handle the quickest rate of change survives.”~John Boyd
According to FBI statistics, over 55,000 law enforcement officers are assaulted each year. One out of every three officers assaulted is injured, and approximately 70 officers make the ultimate sacrifice in the performance of their duties, losing their lives in felonious attacks. While safety and survival issues have made great strides over the last twenty years, we are still missing a vital link to that survival training: the understanding of interpersonal communication and how it relates to police officer survival.
We study interpersonal communication in an effort to get more productivity out of organizations and more satisfaction out of our personal relationships. An important link, however in interpersonal communications is the relationship between a law enforcement officer’s encounter with a citizen and how that communication—read properly or improperly—relates to survival on the street. The subtle signs of danger that are often missed by officers are key to an officer’s winning conflicts on the street, whether through verbal persuasion, hands on defensive tactics, or deadly force.
To insure that the reader has a full understanding of what law enforcement officers face when handling dangerous encounters, we will first look at the law and what information law enforcement officers must know and understand thoroughly in order to reduce friction in decision making. Second, we will look at an actual incident that I have used training law enforcement officers. This incident starts off as what we in law enforcement call an “unknown risk incident.” It is a car stop initially that slowly turns into an all-out assault on the officer, an assault that I believe could have been prevented if proper observations, orientations, decisions and actions were made and taken. Finally we will discuss the Boyd Cycle, how it relates to this particular case study and its overall importance to law enforcement officers when understood and used properly. The Boyd Cycle will give law enforcement the edge it needs to win on the street, the edge necessary to take the initiative and defend themselves physically from dangerous encounters. For those reading this article it is important to understand that this paper is specifically related to how understanding the Boyd Cycle and non-verbal communication can save a law enforcement officer’s life!
The law
We look to the law in the area of use of force to gain a better understanding of the types of issues law enforcement must contend with in dynamic encounters. In the U.S. Supreme Court case, Graham v. Conner (1989), the Court mandated that the correct test to measure the appropriateness of an officer’s actions is by using the “objective reasonableness” standard. The reasonableness of an officer’s actions is not subject to interpretations from others outside of the profession but is to be judged from the prospective of a “reasonable officer.” The Supreme Court went on to say that officers’ actions should be judged without regard to the intent or motivation of the responding officer. Further, such decisions should be made “from the perspective of a reasonable officer coping with a tense, fast evolving scene, rather than with 20/20 hindsight” (Graham, 1989, p. 1872). The Graham decision provides a basis that can be used to examine the role and factors that are important to the legal determination and evaluation of the “reasonableness” of an officer’s actions. However, the decision clearly states that “reasonableness … is not capable of precise definition or mechanical application” Graham, 1989, p. 1981). It is evident that no policy or other organizational procedure is capable of providing precise definition as to what appropriate force is or how much force should be used. Thus, the only approach that can approximate this standard is one that roughly estimates the situational context in which force incidents occur. Kappeler (1997, p. 72) states that these factors include:
- Whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the officer or others;
- The severity of the crime;
- Whether the suspect is actively resisting arrest; or
- Whether the suspect is attempting to escape custody.
The importance of the factors stated by Kappeler (1997) and the Graham decision cannot be overstated. These factors represent the apparent danger or element of risk both clearly evident and perceived by officers as they arrive at a scene and interact with citizens and suspects. Skolnick (1966) spoke of “symbolic assailant” factors, which are elements of encounters possessed by the suspect. There is a combination of individual, situational, and environmental elements that contribute to the totality of the circumstances. We must examine all of the Kappeler elements, stated above, which identify the perceived risk to the officer or others in the immediate area.
The situation
There are at least three elements that need to be included in any examination of the correct police response. The first element is threat. Threat includes situational clues that are given by the suspect, as well as environmental concerns. The second element is the severity of the offense to which the officer is responding. Past experience of the officer may put the officer on guard as to what type of person or situation he or she is dealing with. Severity of the offense may be considered part of the overall threat perceived by the officer, but in this study, we looked into the non-verbal communication as a predetermining factor of overall threat. In an ideal world this should be the key elements that determines if an officer acted reasonably in using physical force. However, given the nature of society and the unpredictability of human beings, other situational factors must be considered.
The problem
Law enforcement officers spend months training at the academy, learning criminal law, criminal procedure, use of force, firearms, defensive tactics, community policing strategies, investigations and officer survival tactics, etc. This training is necessary and critical to how they perform their jobs in their communities once out of the academy. Most states and municipal agencies also have ongoing in-service training to keep officers refreshed in the same areas considered vital to the law enforcement mission to protect and serve.
All this training is what is considered the critical tasks of a law enforcement officer. There is, however, one task missing in the law enforcement profession as a whole. That is the understanding of interpersonal communications and its link to officer survival, especially the non-verbal and verbal cues that relate to danger in a law enforcement encounter.
We spend countless hours training our criminal investigators in how to read body language (kinesics) to detect deception and illicit admissions and confessions out of criminals. History and experience has shown that this study of communication in the area of non-verbal and verbal that relate to anxiety and deception is just as, if not more, critical to the law enforcement officer on the street as it is to the investigator in the interrogation room.
Example: On a cool, clear November night an officer is on routine street patrol in a small town. The officer has made several stops and issued garden-variety citations; no arrests for operating under the influence until he clocks a small Nissan pick-up truck at 70 miles per hour in a 55 mile an hour zone. The driver takes a bit longer than normal to pull over once the officer ‘lights him up’, which sets off a small bell in the officer’s mind. However, thinking the motorist was simply seeking a safe place to pull over; the officer gives it little thought. Once stopped, the motorist exits the Nissan, and the officer asks for his driver’s license. However, the motorist cannot find his license despite much fumbling with his wallet. His two small sons are also in the Nissan, and finally one of them pokes his head out the window and informs his father that mom (for whatever reason) has the license. So, the officer using the subject’s social security number calls dispatch which subsequently informs him there are no ‘wants’ or ‘warrants’ out for the subject. The officer transmits to dispatch in front of the subject and the return information from the dispatcher also is broadcast in front of the subject. The officer later says that had there been any negative information on the subject, his dispatcher would have told him to ‘clear for traffic’, and he would have moved to a location away from the subject. In addition to the subject fumbling, the officer has detected alcohol on his breath. The subject says he had nothing to drink--other than two or three beers earlier in the night. The officer makes the decision to give the subject a ‘breath test, and the test indicates that the subject has a point-12 to point-13 blood alcohol content; legal limit is point-08. The officer decides to arrest the subject and goes back to his cruiser to request back-up, but in the transmission only requests that back-up ‘ease on over’. His nearest back-up is some six miles distant.
As the officer reads the subject his implied consent rights, the subject obviously (in the camcorder tape) begins to ‘turn off’ the officer. The subject becomes very agitated and (paraphrasing) tells the officer that if he’s arrested he’ll lose his job and he won’t be able to pay support for his two sons. He reiterates that several times, but the officer has already committed to the arrest. The subject begins to walk away from the officer, and the officer, surprised, grabs the subject by the shirt collar. The subject and officer nose-to-nose now; the subject tells the officer not to touch his “goddamned shirt” --- “don’t touch me...” --- etcetera. The officer is just as immovable: “Mr. Anybody, I’m not going to let you go back to that car...” The officer lets go of the subject and is explaining himself to the subject. The subject is standing there with his hands on his hips, looking away from the officer. As the subject and officer are exchanging words, the subject is rolling his shirt sleeves up and then blades his body away from the officer. Suddenly, within a fraction of a second of the subject stepping back positioning his body, the subject throws a tremendous right hook at the officers left jaw knocking the policeman unconscious, to the ground. The subject then leaps onto the officer’s prone figure and inflicts a terrible beating (later determined to be 33 blows). The officer is unconscious for most of the beating as the subject is exclaiming: “I tried to tell you...I tried to tell you...I tried to tell you...”
Then, by a seeming miracle, a passing truck driver and his wife see this drama unfolding and stop by to render aid. The truck driver has a large Mag light and proceeds to strike the subject over the head as hard as he can using both hands. The subject stops beating the officer at this point and rolls over to his left side. The truck driver’s wife has taken control of the subject’s two young sons, who have both leaped out of the truck begging their father to stop beating the officer.
The officer regains consciousness just as the subject rolls over to his left side and although badly beaten and losing strength is somehow able to handcuff the subject and exclaim “10-17" (urgent call for help) into his shoulder radio.
During the beating, eyewitnesses will later testify, the subject furiously tried to wrestle the officer’s gun from its holster, but apparently due to a double thumb safety lock was unable to get to the weapon. The officer is spitting out blood and teeth and is obviously losing strength quickly as back-up arrives and takes control of the subject. The subject is non-cooperative, and just as the back-up officer reaches down to pick the subject up, the handcuffs open. The back-up officer is obliged to use spray on the subject, before he can try to cuff the subject again. Still, though, as the officer is attempting to put on the same cuffs they give way and open a second time. The pepper spray contains the subject, however, and finally the officer uses a pair of his own handcuffs to control him.
Analysis
There is a lot going on in this set of circumstances. It is already known that these types of law enforcement encounters are dynamic and rapidly changing events. Also it must be noted that these encounters are analyzed and judged by the totality of the circumstances. However for this case study let’s focus on the highlighted area bellow, step by step, which illustrates the non-verbal cues that can be read as signs of anxiety, stress or danger signs.
1. Walking away:
- This is read as a sign of contempt. Contempt for your authority and a sign that the subject is done listening to you.
- His anxiety level is high and he wants to leave.
- He is ignoring you.
2. Hands on hips:
- Known as the confrontational gesture.
- This is another sign of ignoring you and another sign the subject’s anxiety level is high.
3. Looking away:
- Again ignoring you. He is done with whatever you have to say.
- Possibly looking for witnesses, escape routes, preparing to fight or run.
4. Rolling shirt sleeves up:
- A rather obvious sign of high stress and anxiety.
- Getting ready to fight.
5. Blades his body away (fighting stance):
- He is taking a fighting stance and is more than likely about to assault you.
- It could be a push, a pull, or a punch.
6. The subject becomes very agitated and (paraphrasing) tells the officer that if he’s arrested he’ll lose his job and he won’t be able to pay support for his two sons:
- This is verbal communication that should send a non-verbal message that things have taken a turn for the worse.
- Most people do not want their children involved in the interaction between themselves and law enforcement.
- This subject is dragging his children right smack into the middle of this problem.
- This is a tell-tale sign of high agitation and anxiety.
This example and these non-verbal communication signs listed above are just a few of the many signs that could be construed as dangerous or indicate a person in high anxiety. When the subject is in this state it is possible for an officer to be attacked, as in this case, or the subject may take flight. No one sign alone means much, but clusters of these non-verbal cues are critical to an officer and his survival on the street. Here ms a list of some more non-verbal signs that fit into these criteria. This list is compiled by former Illinois Police Chief Steve Rhoads, who is a three-time medal of valor winner with the unfortunate experience of being in four gun battles. Rhoads takes his program for ‘Detecting Danger’ on the road both nationally and internationally. The program is cored around two main elements:
1. What do officers need to learn about themselves, to lessen the likelihood of danger?
2. What do officers need to know about subjects that could lessen danger?
- Head angle indicates fight or flight
- A dropped chin means fight
- A raised chin means flight
- Confirming gesture of fight is a fixed stare
- If flight, look for darting eyes
- Watch area around neck for possible attack (upper body muscles)
- “Happy feet” could be a strong indicator of flight
- When an officer sees a threat potential, call subject’s attention to it
- May get him to reconsider threatening action
- Short, choppy gestures/verbal communication, the threat is real
- Hands inward/anger inward; hands outward/anger outward
- Palms in mad at himself
- Palms out mad at you
- Watch deadly hands; drying of hands, hands stroking to get dry for attack
- Multiple gestures and deadly gaze mean likely trouble
- Knuckle-popping, loosening of fingers, flexing of fingers mean likely trouble
- Watch setting of hands
- Confrontation gesture: hands on hips, elbows outward
- Remember: What behavior should you expect in a given situation?
- Does the behavior make sense?
- The face can be a barometer of a subject’s intentions
- Raised eyebrows
- Red face
- Underneath eyes opposite rest of skin surface
- Fixed, dilated stare
- Real danger may not be coming from loudest mouth
- Watch the one not talking
- Mouth tense, lips down at corners
- Mouth breathing indication of nervousness, anger
- Flared nostrils, setting of jaw indication of nervousness, anger
- Eyes wider during periods of intense emotion
- Loudest mouth may not be able to take physical action (No adrenaline or oxygen getting into muscle tissues; all being burned elsewhere)
Solution
The solution is to train law enforcement officers in the art of detecting danger signs by reading body language and understanding its meaning. The instruction and demonstrations of the signs is the easy part. You see the signs in every situation you are in that goes bad as a law enforcement officer. The good news is that the overwhelming majority of law enforcement contacts end in a civil manner. Most people do what law enforcement asks them to do. The statistics according to the FBI are 97% of police contacts end civilly without any force being used, about 10% of the remaining 3% end in assault situations. The hard part is to get law enforcement to understand the importance of knowing these signs and how they relate to their survival.
Enter The Boyd Cycle
So what do we do? How do we get law enforcement officers to read the signs so they can safely and legally defend themselves on the street? The answer in my mind is obvious. The Boyd Cycle! The Boyd Cycle, otherwise known as the O-O-D-A loop, is a decision making cycle developed by Col. John Boyd U.S.A.F. He developed the cycle over the skies of Korea in the mid 1950’s, while flying combat missions. He determined that conflict was time, competitive Observation, Orientation, Decision and Action Cycles. The essence for Boyd was human perception, not weapons or circumstances. He once said, “Machines don’t fight wars. Terrain doesn’t fight wars. Humans fight wars. You must get into the minds of humans. That’s where the battles are won.” The O-O-D-A loop put in simple terms is as follows:
Observe
- Sensing yourself and the world around you.
- Utilizing all your senses including intuition.
Orientation
- Is guided by the complex set of filters of genetic heritage, cultural predisposition, personal experience, and knowledge.
- Its Mental image or snapshot of the situation. Its also ongoing and continually evolving.
- What’s happening? Is it good or bad?
Decision
- The review of alternative courses of action and the selection of preferred course as a hypothesis to be tested.
- Takes into account all the factors present at the time of orientation.
Action
- The testing of the decision selected by implementation.
- You do it!
- "Decisions without actions are pointless. Actions without decisions are reckless.”
According to Col. Boyd the key here is to understand that fluidly going through this process is critical to winning conflict. The Boyd Cycle and how it relates to non-verbal communications is simply stated as, situational awareness. Being aware of the signs of danger, looking for them with attention to detail, and most importantly once you see the signs, orienting yourself to the signs, understanding what they mean to you as a law enforcement officer. According to Boyd the orientation phase is the most critical. You must make observations, but more importantly you must understand (orient) what your observations mean. What is, what you’re seeing, telling you? Then based on this, make decisions and finally take action based on the O-O-D-A cycle. The notion of the loop, the constant repetition of the O-O-D-A cycle, is the essential connection that is repeated again and again. Because our actions will have changed the situation, the cycle begins anew and repeats itself throughout the tactical situation.
In the above scenario the importance of the Boyd Cycle and its relationship to survival is obvious. The officer in the scenario is complacent and not expecting anything other than the so-called routine stop. We have all been there. As the situation unfolds the subtle and not so subtle signs are obvious and therefore controllable. However they were not picked up on by the officer. This allows the subject to take the initiative and launch a vicious assault on the officer. In my opinion this lack of awareness is found in most incidents where officers are assaulted or killed in the line of duty. The Boyd Cycle equals situational awareness and situational awareness gives us the edge we in law enforcement need. The Boyd cycle must be practiced on every call, every call and proactive response law enforcement officers handle.
The Boyd cycle and its importance to law enforcement in the realm of officer survival and winning conflicts, whether through the use of verbal persuasion or, hands on defensive tactics or, deadly force, are obvious. Its importance to the observation (reading) and orientation (understanding) of body language or non-verbal communications is critical to the decisions and actions taken by law enforcement. Not only so they may justify these decisions legally, but so they may live to go home at the end of their shifts. That is the number one rule in law enforcement.
Training
The critical aspect of getting law enforcement officers in the right mind set so they can utilize the skills necessary to read, interpret and make appropriate decisions based on interpersonal and nonverbal communications, is training. The development of these skills is critical to survival of law enforcement officers on the street, survival, both in the context of living and dying, and survival in the context of the legalities of the circumstances.
Training is the way to get this done, but how do we train? We must train first in the basic fundamentals of interpersonal communications, the dynamics of conflict and how we process the information as in the Boyd Cycle. The training tools used in the development of the basics are classroom environment and tactical decision games, written scenarios where the officer must give a written response with a how and why he handled the situation the way he did. The responses are reviewed and discussed amongst members of the law enforcement agency. They identify ideas of how the circumstances were handled, with both the positive and negative aspects being openly explored. This tactical decision game is an outstanding way of developing the decision making cycle and developing the working knowledge of non-verbal communications.
Its important to utilize interactive training, which involves role playing and free play exercises, with a real, living, breathing and thinking opposing force, utilizing simmunitions, paint ball guns, or blue guns, if that all you got. The key is to use what you have and make the best of it. Train as you will fight as the military says. This type of training is critical in the development of the above both cognitive and physical skills. It puts the student into simulated stresses of actual situations and they learn through experience to react appropriately to the threats perceived. This observation, orientation, decision and action cycle is tested in the simulated environment and reinforced through the repetitive interactive training.
The final way to reinforce and continue the training of our officers in the above disciplines of interpersonal communications, specifically non-verbal communications and its importance to officer survival, as well as the decision making Boyd Cycle, is the use of after action reviews. There is no better way to reinforce lessons learned than to sit down and talk about an incident that actually took place. To conduct the after action review process correctly, candor and honest feedback are imperative. The officers have to understand that it is a tool for training and not a tool to be used against them in a disciplinary action.
The after action review process is a must if we are to seriously move forward in the development of our tactics on the street. Using the incident above, where the officer was assaulted, try to see yourself as the officer involved sitting down and discussing the incident with fellow officers. Break the incident down step by step honestly. Picture the circumstances unfolding in front of you. After you have critiqued yourself in an after action review and have discussed all the lessons learned, I guarantee you will not handle the situation the same way the next time. You should pick up on the signs of danger and make faster decisions based on what you see and take the initiative necessary to put you in control of that situation.
Conclusion
Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War 2,500 hundred years ago. A quote from that book is as follows:
“If you know yourself and know your enemy in a hundred battles you will not be in peril, If you know yourself and not your enemy for every battle won you will suffer a defeat, If you know neither yourself nor your enemy in every battle you will be in peril.”
The meaning of this quote by Sun Tzu is obvious as to how it relates to interpersonal communications and decision making in the law enforcement profession. It does not, in my estimation, need to be explained.
The importance of understanding interpersonal communication and its relationship to proper decision-making and officer survival is obvious. If you learn to read the situation and understand that non-verbal communication is somewhere between 65% and 80% percent of the total communication process, you’ll see that it is imperative that law enforcement officers must understand this process. The officers have to be able to read the signs of anxiety and danger if they truly want to win in hostile encounters. Predicting behavior is something that cannot be done 100% of the time; if it could we probably would not need the law enforcement profession. The law enforcement culture has to move forward and develop individual officer’s skills in the art of reading non-verbal communication and decision-making. Training in this discipline and mastering the skills of reading people is a continuous process that is difficult, but the attempt must be made if we want to lower the number of names being placed on the law enforcement memorial each year.
Stay Oriented!
Fred
References
Coram, Robert (2002) Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War. Little Brown and Company.
Griffith, Samuel B. (1963) Sun Tzu: The Art of War. Oxford University Press
Heal, Charles (2000) Sound Doctrine: A Tactical Primer. Lantern Books.
Hammond, Grant T. (2001) The Mind of War: John Boyd and American Security. Smithsonian Institution Press.
Kappeler, V. (1997) Critical Issues in Police Civil Liability. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland.
Kolenda, Christopher (2001) Leadership: The Warriors Art. The Army War College Foundation Press.
Rhoades, Steven, Detecting Danger. Part 1 and 2 Line of Duty Inc.
Pinizzotto, Anthony, PhD, Davis, Edward F. M.A., Miller, Charles E. (1997) In the Line of Fire: Violence against Law Enforcement. U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Pinizzotto, Anthony. PhD, Davis, Edward F. M.A., Miller, Charles E. (February 2004) Intuitive Policing. US Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin .
Skolnick, J. (1966) Justice Without Trial – Law Enforcement in a Democratic Society. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
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