The Failure Drill — What It Is And Why It’s Critical
Recently, the pros and cons of Failure Drill again became a topic of discussion in the firearms training space. I have a good understanding of the subject. Instructor Development In 1989, I was assigned to my agency's SWAT Team as a Firearms Instructor. I was young and knew that, while my level of firearms knowledge was well above that of anyone in my agency, I was underqualified for the task. To fix that, I [...]
Luck of the Draw – First Responder Wellness
By Alicea Reddy “I’m fine.” Ask any Cop how they are doing and that is the answer you will get. Because they are conditioned to turn off normal reactions and emotions in order to do their job. Because they are conditioned to simply suck it up and show no weakness. [...]
THE BEST BAD CHOICE | When Is Something Tactically Unsound?
Is it tactically sound or unsound to draw with a weak hand? Is it wrong to call it your “weak” hand? If you get your gun into the fight, does that make the draw tactically sound? The notion of tactical soundness is one permeating the discipline [...]
Our History – Are There Lessons?
Our History – Are There Lessons? The United States Marine Corp excels at instilling its history into every Marine. What about the police and our history? Now, I understand there are about 800,000 cops in various assignments, from corrections to the Presidential protective detail. And that those cops are [...]
REALITY CHECK II | Dangerous People
Sacrifice is the surrender of something for the sake of gaining something else. At a firearm’s instructor development school here in Oregon a regional law enforcement officer and lead instructor of the class said, “we might need to sacrifice safety for realism in firearms training.” WE MIGHT? I got an [...]
BAD GUYS DON’T COME WITH SCORING RINGS | Targets Online
Over my last 20 years in law enforcement, I’ve seen a wide variety of training philosophies and targets come and go. Some techniques look really cool on a sterile gun range; yet have no application under the real-world stress on the street. Most of what my agency uses are plain [...]
STREET LEVEL | Rules Of Engagement The War On Veterans
Early in the Cenozoic Era, back in 1968 when cops walked the beat barefoot with stone clubs, I was aggressively recruited for the San Diego police Academy. It wasn’t because of my looks, charm or amazing physical prowess. In fact, the chief officer who recruited me had to do a [...]
POOR POLICY CAN KILL | Is It Just Stupidity Or Cost Savings?
On March 2005, in Atlanta, Georgia, a rape suspect being escorted to a courtroom in the Fulton County court-house overpowers a deputy, takes the service weapon from the deputy and then shoots and kills a judge, clerk and a sheriff’s deputy before escaping. Because of this incident, prisoner transport policy [...]
The Behavior Management Psychology Of Patrol
The vast majority of what we do as police officers is to interact with people. So it’s safe to say our inter-personal and communication skills will dictate our effectiveness. Any of us who’ve been on the job for any length of time know an officer who can come into almost [...]
REALITY CHECK II | The 13th Letter
The number 13 is often considered unlucky, as in Friday the 13th, or then again, it could promote something tasty like in the extra doughnut in a baker’s dozen. The 13th letter is “M” and I use Ms already in training in the “M&M” mode and have for years. Following [...]
REALITY CHECK II | Drawing?
If you need the gun just draw it. This sounds simple enough — except for the trouble we get into while just drawing it or just putting it away. Yeah I know; simple — yes — except, I can think of a whole bunch of times cops have shot themselves [...]