The whole point of observation in the context of policing is so that we are able to make sense of what’s going on in real time rapidly changing conditions. We make situational assessments in the midst of uncertainty as circumstances ebb and flow through our minds that we interpret based on our life experience and the unfolding conditions we now find ourselves in. The patterns we recognize make sense to us and hence we are capable to responding accordingly. However what if the patterns we are observing does not make sense?

The Professional Reading Program is intended to save leaders that most precious commodity - time.

This post was inspired by a post at the Business Insider: General James 'Mad Dog' Mattis Email About Being 'Too Busy To Read' Is A Must-Read The General was asked by a colleague about the importance of reading for officers who often exclaimed they were too busy to read. The general’s response:

Sid Heal sent this very insightful piece on leadership and its development for me to share with those who frequent this Blog. It was written back in August 2009 By GEN. TONY ZINNI and TONY KOLTZ. great insights on the age old questions are leaders born, made...or something in between?

Where good leaders come from.

Three officers respond at 3AM to the call of a disturbance. When they arrive, there are three people present, two males and a female. One male is intoxicated; I will only focus on him for the purpose of this example. Intoxicated male is spoken to by responding officers. They tell him to call it a night and to go to bed and sleep it off. He says he will and turns to go into the house. The officers continue gathering information for the incident report.

“It’s a proud day to be a Boston police officer,” Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis told his force over the radio moments after the arrest. “Thank you all.”

I had a discussion on facebook that centered on the question; how can a law enforcement organization gain “world class” tactical proficiency? This posed an insightful question from my good friend Marshall Wallace, What is "world class"? Is there a definition or metric that would allow an officer to know that he/she was approaching that level? I thought to myself that, my friend is the question? What is “world class” and how do we measure it?

The purpose of this blog is to bring you information from various sources that are relevant to the law enforcement officer on the street and leaders in the law enforcement profession. Don Vandergriff my good friend and mentor has a great piece on “mission command” a command and influence method that is very much needed in the military as Don discusses in his piece “Misinterpretation and Confusion: What is Mission Command and Can the U.S.