chutchinson

One thing that everyone working in our field must know is their authority. What laws do you operate under?

Law isn’t the most glamorous class to sit through. Most people aren’t really that interested. They want to learn how to throw people to the ground and put the cuffs on. Unfortunately when officers don’t know their legal authority they often get into trouble justifying their actions. This trouble can range from professional discipline to criminal convictions and even jail time. ...

10. "Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it."

Too often, change is stifled by people who cling to familiar turfs and job descriptions. One reason that even large organizations wither is that managers won't challenge old, comfortable ways of doing things. But real leaders understand that, nowadays, every one of our jobs is becoming obsolete. The proper response is to obsolete our activities before someone else ...

Several years ago I found a presentation that Colin Powell gives regarding leadership. I saved the presentation to my hard drive and promptly forgot all about it. Several weeks ago I was looking through audio books to put on my MP3 player and came across an audio version of Colin Powell’s leadership secrets. The info I got from the audio book was among some of the best leadership training that I have had the privilege of receiving. Since not all leaders in our field are given leadership training ...

One of the most important skills that officers can posses is the ability to communicate. This goes beyond language ability and moves into what to say and how. Unfortunately too often this essential skill is forgotten and left out of training programs. Additionally many officers don’t want to take the time to learn it because it’s not as “cool” as combatives programs. However, any agency that wants to see the number of complaints against officers and fights that their personnel get into decrease, ...

I want to briefly go over the principles of contact-cover. I hope that everyone was taught this once upon a time.

While working the front line I see a lot of officers (sworn and non-sworn) interacting with subjects and suspects. Most of the time the officer is in some sort of interview stance (but not always). Sadly when more then one officer is present they stand next to each other or one walks away to call information in and/or take notes.

The way I work contact-cover ...