Our new Think Smart Law Enforcement Survival seminars offer in-depth training on a broad range of law enforcement topics. Whether you are thinking about sponsoring a seminar in your area or you’re facing major challenges in your agency, we have a course that can help you. We can customize our courses specifically to your agency’s needs.
Surviving On The Street
The bottom-line is no matter how much training a police officer has, learning how to survive on the street may be the most important. Understanding the unique realities that they’ll encounter on the street will make them more effective police officers. Even more importantly–it’ll help keep them alive in even the most challenging urban environments.
The Law Enforcement Street Survival Seminar offers your police officers the information they need. Our experienced instructors will teach them the most essential and up-to-date information that will allow them to perform their duties effectively and come home alive at the end of the day.
Teaching Officers ‘Street Smart Tactics’:
The commonly used slang term ‘street smarts’ very succinctly explains what our instructional program can instill in your officers. The street has its own unique forms of language, etiquette, and justice. It’s important for law enforcement to understand the ethos of the street. It’ll help them do their job more effectively and keep them safer in the process.
Every day, police officers face an ever-changing set of challenges and dangers while on street patrol. Our instruction provides them with in-depth and up-to-date information on what they can potentially face and more importantly how best to deal with it. Having this knowledge before a difficult situation occurs gives your officers the edge and provides the best chance to keep them alive.
Flattening The ‘Learning Curve’
Historically, police officers have learned the ‘way of the street’ from their more seasoned colleagues or the time they put in walking the beat. While there’s no substitute for experience, the Law Enforcement Street Survival Seminar helps reduce the ‘learning curve’ that officers face when dealing with the urban ecosystem.
In the past, becoming ‘street smart’ was a process that took years and happened in ‘bits and pieces’. Our instructional program provides an intensive and immersive education in the realities of the street. We give your officers the knowledge of the dangers they face on the street that they need to do their job safely and effectively. More importantly, we give them the skill sets necessarily to deal with even the most difficult and dangerous challenges.
To lay the foundation for the learning to come our instructors will address the topics most fundamental to survival on the streets:
>>The Primary Threats To Police Officer Survival:<<
The most common causes of death among active-duty police officers are:
- Aggravated and Felonious Assaults
- Deaths Caused by Motor Vehicles
- Physical Health (e.g., heart attacks)
- Mental Health (e.g., suicides)
Hard Wired Human Reactions To Stress and Fear:
- Understanding and Assessing the Situation
- Fight or Flight
- Dysfunctional Reactions to Stress and Fear
- Risks and Responsibilities Behind The Wheel
- Tactical Vigilance on Patrol
- Early Indicators of Attack
- Deceptive Behavior on the Street
- Divergent Thinking: When Anything Can Happen
- The Day to Day Reality of Being A Police Officer
- The Dynamics of Confrontation
THE WINNING FIGHTER:
You’ll frequently hear it said that professional boxers ‘think differently’ than the average person. The same type of mental preparation and emotional balance can be effective for police officers in the field. It can also be leveraged by officers as they prepare for a patrol shift much in the same way that a boxer plans his tactical approach to a fight.
The professional prizefighter has a tough challenge whenever he enters the ring, but he has an important advantage over law enforcement officers. The fighter knows within a certain set of parameters what he will potentially face in a boxing match. He can focus on doing his job well without concern that he’ll be attacked with weapons, run over with a car, or jumped by an angry mob.
Even though, the police officer faces geometrically more dangerous threats on the street the same mental and emotional preparation that the best professional fighters exhibit applies. This section helps develop the right mental and emotional attitude in your officers. We teach them the ‘Way of the Warrior’ and instill the ‘will to win’ in even the most dangerous and formidable situations. This mindset is the foundation for a police officer that conducts himself with confidence, respect, integrity, and effectiveness.
Topics covered include:
- The ‘Will To Win’
- The Killers on the Street
- Recent Events of Relevance
- The Process of Killing
- Five Primal Realities of Human Behavior
- Preparing for the Worst Before It Happens
- Visual Indicators of Behavior
- Signs of Deception
- Human Stress Instinct
TRAFFIC STOP WINNER’S MENTALITY:
There are few situations that are more dangerous to an officer than a traffic stop. At the same time, they are one of the most routine and commonplace elements of duty. Traffic stops can potentially be dangerous no matter where a police officer serves. Any traffic stop on any road could prove to be a threat to the officer’s life.
In this component of the course, our instructors deconstruct the traffic stop using video, photographs and other types of media. This comprehensive approach to the analysis of the traffic stop allows examination of stops ‘gone bad’ as well as instruction in their proper administration. Our goal is to make sure that your officers never approach a traffic stop unfocused or unsure of how to proceed. With our knowledge, officers develop the theoretical framework and practical skill sets to minimize danger when performing traffic stops. We also give them the know-how and confidence to deal with danger when it occurs.
After officers complete this phase of the training, they are equipped with improved theoretical and tactical knowledge that they can utilize immediately. This program isn’t abstract and ephemeral knowledge–it’s actionable, practical information that is ready to use the next time your officers hit the street. The result is an enhanced ability to deal effectively with traffic stops and to react properly to any problems that occur.
Topics covered include:
- Understanding the Basics of A Traffic Stop
- Interpersonal Communication Skills
- Tactics for Different Vehicle Types (SUVs, Vans, Motorcycles, etc.)
- Dealing With Window Tint and Other Types of Visual Impairment
- Approaching a Vehicle at Night
- Cutting Edge Search and Frisk Techniques
- Responding to the Non-Cooperative Driver
- Legal Information for Traffic Stops
ELITE PATROL TACTICS:
This component of the training focuses on officer interaction with the most dangerous types of criminals including drug dealers, gang members, escaped fugitives and others. More specifically, the Elite Patrol Tactics training improves an officer’s ability to detect and arrest these highly dangerous criminals while operating motor vehicles. This training is not about ‘profiling’, but instead teaches officers how to use objective criteria to detect criminal behavior.
Let’s face it, there are certain subsets of criminals that lack not only respect for the law but have no qualms about killing or injuring law enforcement officers or even innocent bystanders. This type of criminal is among the most significant threat to public safety as well as to the personal safety of your officers. There is no greater public need than keeping their communities safe from violence, gangs, and drugs. At the same time, there is no greater challenge for law enforcement.
Our training teaches your officers how to understand and detect the most nefarious of criminals. It provides them with the skills to safely apprehend them while preventing harm to themselves and civilians. Furthermore, we provide instruction in advanced investigative tactics that can be effective in combating the most dangerous types of criminals.
Topics covered include:
- Patrol Procedural Tactics
- Keeping Officers Safe
- Roadway Suspect Interviews
- Spotting Deceptive Behavior
- Conducting Consent Searches
- Dealing With Turn Downs
- Arrest Tactics
- Contact and Cover
- Utilizing Informants
- Controlled Deliveries
SPOTTING HIDDEN WEAPONS:
This course component provides an officer with extensive information on how to detect concealed weapons. The focus here is not only on common methods of concealment, but more unorthodox methods including in household objects, altered devices and other types of specially designed instruments to hide weapons.
Whatever the means of weapons concealment with criminal intent, an officer will be better at detection with the information they learn in this section of the training. Instruction will focus on the tactical theory behind concealment as well as offering ‘real world’ examples. The ways that weapons can be hidden and brought to bear against police officers is limited only by the imagination of law breakers. It’s a never-ending struggle to stay on top of the latest methods of concealment, and we provide your officers with the most up-to-date information.
Additional training focuses in tactics officers can use to detect hidden weapons and protect themselves and others from their use. Specific instruction will deal with encountering and neutralizing concealed weapons during the arrest and search process. It’s one thing to deal with a deadly weapon in plain sight. It’s another thing entirely when you don’t see it coming until the last second. Our specialized tactical training for dealing with concealed weapons gives your officers another tool that can keep them safe in the most dangerous situations.
Topics covered include:
- Concealment Methods and How Criminals Obtain Specially Designed Items
- Search Technique Methodology
- How To Stay Safe During a Search
- How Concealed Weapons Kill Officers
- Ten Things That No Police Officer Should Do
COMBAT FEMALE:
The Combat Female instructional area directly addresses the unique challenges of female law enforcement officers. Historically, police officer instruction has been ‘one size fits all’ despite growing numbers of female officers serving in all areas of law enforcement. The goal of this instructional area is to provide specific instruction to improve female officers’ performance physically, mentally and tactically.
It’s well known that law enforcement has historically been a male-dominated profession. For that reason, female officers have been expected to approach their job in the same manner as their male colleagues. The reality, however, is that female officers face their own unique challenges in all phases of their job. The training they receive in our program will address these challenges and make them better officers.
Topics covered include:
- Overview of Women In Law Enforcement Throughout History
- Interpersonal Communication Style Differences Between Men and Women
- Equipment and Training–Effectively Dealing With Lethal Force Situations
- Options In Use of Force Situations
- Health and Physical Conditioning
- Finding Mental Balance Personally and Professionally
USE OF FORCE IMPACT:
Use of force situations are perhaps the most misunderstood area of police work. This section seeks to explain the reality of the use of force as distinguished from the misconceptions derived from TV shows or ‘urban legend’. Areas of exploration include level of force, civil liability from lethal force use, decision-making processes for force use and more. It’s crucial that every police officer have a holistic understanding of theory and practice in use of force situations.
Our instructors use legal precedent and objective research to provide the definitive informational framework for use of force situations. The goal is to train officers with the ability to make the right decisions before, during and after a lethal force situation. Since hesitation in the field can be fatal, the information provided also includes an emphasis on how officers can confidently decide when and how to use force. Knowing this information is not ‘optional’–it is of paramount importance for the safety of your officers and the general public.
Topics covered include:
- Separating Fact From Fiction
- Use of Force Decision Making Continuums
- Writing Reports on Use of Force Incidents
- Making Decisions In Stressful Situations
- What Happens After A Deadly Force Incident
- Reducing Officer Deaths in the Line of Duty
- Five Essential Concepts That Can Keep You Alive
DEALING WITH MINORITIES ON THE STREET:
This area of discussion is obviously very controversial but as recent events have underscored an essential topic for every law enforcement officer. Officers have lost their jobs over racial issues, but there is very little training on the subject provided to law enforcement agencies. Our goal is to prepare officers for how best to deal with Minorities (African-Americans, Hispanics, Women) on the street through the use of real-world scenarios and video demonstrations.
Topics covered include:
- Why A Deep Distrust of Law Enforcement Exists In The Black Community
- Why ‘Diversity Training’ Won’t Solve The Problem
- Racial Tension in Police Work: Where Did it Originate From
- The Four Critical Mistakes Even The Most Seasoned Officers Make
- Understanding Cultural Differences
- How To Deal With a Confrontational Individual
- How Words and Perception Can Cause Confrontation
- How To Effectively Use Words To Minimize Use of Force
CONCLUSION:
There is no better investment that any law enforcement agency can make than in their officers. Our instructional services provide your officers with the ‘street smarts’ that usually take years to develop. Understanding what to expect on the street and how to deal effectively with it will enable your officers to do a better job enforcing the law. Most importantly, it will increase the likelihood that they’ll come home alive at the end of a shift.
Contact us if you’re interested in hosting a seminar in your city.