How many times have you, as either an instructor or student, accepted the word of the person you were learning from as the unvarnished truth of the way something is done? I have seen some nutty tactics and unsupported beliefs over the years. We tend to do this as cops. We grab some bit of […]
Full warning. You’ve entered into a post where I will nerd out on systems theory in order to explain why policing cannot be treated like a business making widgets. One is complex and one is complicated. Why should you know the difference between a complicated endeavor and a complex one, such as policing? Because knowing […]
For starters, check out this video of an officer-involved shooting. There is a lot of training value to unpack from this one, but I want to focus on one aspect of the incident. Watch the video and then we will discuss. So, a little painful. For you trainers out there, I am sure you squirmed […]
There are many criminological theories that have been pushed forward to explain why crime occurs. Social disorganization theory indicates that the dissolution of social structures like the family, church, or schools leads to a youth not being properly oriented in society. Social learning theory explains crime as an effect of a person being influenced to […]
Check out this post from Todd Henry at The Accidental Creative. There is an important lesson here for would-be leaders. You may be able to control small groups, but police organizations are complex endeavors and it is impossible to control everyone all the time. I’ve said it hundreds of times in my own organization when […]
Like most all officers, I have been involved in dynamic incidents and in reflecting on those, wanted to know why I would do this and not that, what prompted specific responses, and how I could better understand human performance in these events. The goal became a quest to understand so I can better prepare officers […]
