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Screenshot 2025-01-27 at 5.16.58 PM

This was the second year that AmericanCop has been a co-sponsor for the Law Enforcement Education Program (LEEP) during the SHOT Show. LEEP is a long-running, law enforcement-centric version of SHOT Show University, focused on the business side of SHOT.

 

In conjunction with sponsoring LEEP, AmericanCop was asked each year about giving presentations. Last year, we gave two. This year, we agreed to do just one.

 

This year’s presentation bore the same title as this article – Trends in Police Training. The idea was to look at what was going on in the police training world.


Pracademic

Before going back to school on the GI Bill, I complained about the lack of relevant research. What I found was that research was being done. Unfortunately, the majority of it is “hidden” behind the academic wall. If you aren’t behind that wall, you will not see it.

 

A friend coined the term “pracademic” – a contraction of Practitioner and Academic. A pracademic is someone who takes a deeper dive than either a researcher, trainer, or end-user would. The idea is to combine all approaches.

 

Regardless of what skill is being discussed, performance needs to be tested under some pressure. The author shooting a state-wide law enforcement match.



TC Fuller

Prior to the above term being coined, TC Fuller had published his book: No Safe Alternative – Improving how we teach cops to kill back in 2015.

Fuller is not only a former U.S. Army officer; he is also a retired FBI Special Agent. One of Fuller’s observations was:

 

“Right now, too few trainers are practitioners.

 

“Too few academics are trainers.

 

“Those with solid experience and academic credentials need to be doing desperately needed research in order to improve training in how we teach law enforcement officers to use deadly force. It is as change agents that academic rigor and research can have the largest impact.”

 

He advocates for those with an academic background and experience applying these skills to combine them to improve how we educate and train the next generation.

Biggs

Another researcher whose work I pay attention to is Adam Biggs. He is currently a U.S. Navy officer. His research has focused heavily on deadly force decision-making. Biggs offered the following in regard to the recurring discussion about how much influence should come from the academic or application experience sides of the equation:

“These latter findings highlight the need for empirical evidence to supplement subject matter expertise for training-related decisions. Subject matter expertise, although valid given the experience of the operators, lacks the rigor of empirical research as anecdotes dominate repeatable evidence.”

 

The bottom line? The collective “we” need to consider the totality of input from academia, application, experience, and research—not just one or two but a combination of all.

 

We will never have all of the time we want for training, but we can create usable amounts.



Time

Very few trainers will get all of the time they want to conduct the training for which they are responsible. Most will not get anything resembling even the minimal time needed to conduct the required training.

 

So, what can you do?

 

Make the Time. Time Must Be Available—for you, your peers, your shift, and the organization. Then, train as frequently as you and your shift can.

In other words – Train a little, A Lot

The progression of learning a skill and validating one’s performance.

Interaction With Other Trainers

Before the latter part of the Nineties, I don’t recall much interaction with trainers from other organizations. The exception was going to a class somewhere and staying in touch with a classmate for two.

 

Beginning in the late 1990s, various online forums, some occupation or subject matter-specific, were created. I was active on several of them over the years. Some have gone away completely; others are still around but are not quite as active as they once were.

 

As we moved into the teens, the forums gave way to Facebook. For the past several years, I have seen a lot of material on Instagram. While not as interactive as the forums were, IG is currently definitely the most active space for those discussions.  

 

Fitness, hands-on skills, and shooting are actively discussed there. I will admit that some of the discussions dive too deep into “speed” for me because the shot timer is convenient to use and easy to display in that medium.  

 

Several training-specific case law decisions and mandates.


Train Or Qualify?

We have covered the subject before – here and here too – so we will not revisit them.

 

There is significant case law on the application and evaluation of force, as well as what has to be covered during training. Read those cases before developing your material.

 

Are we adapting our training programs to the needs of our people? Or have we adapted our training to the facilities we use?

 


Knowing when we can use force and how those decisions should be evaluated are addressed in these cases.

Testing Methodologies

When it comes to teaching foundational skills, it is likely being done in a Silo. Or, a stove pipe, if you will. Each skill is shown in isolation, without the impact or influence of other issues. Think about teaching the act of reloading. Once the instructor has explained the importance and method as well as demonstrated how to do it, the students then imitate the instructor before starting to practice it. This can be done in a one-shot, reload, one-shot method. At least initially. At some point, that reload has to be executed when it is not expected. In other words, after the skill is engrained, we need to work it in context.

 

A One, reload, One drill is a Closed loop skill. Doing that reload when it is not explicitly expected is the start of Open Loop skills.

 

Next on the path is Interleaving, when a variety of skills are required. In other words, the need for a speed reload – regardless of whether or not the slide is forward – happens during the shooting part of a more involved scenario.

 

Scenario training is a way to test how well skills are mastered.

 

AmericanCop, the NSSF, and the SHOT Show all had a hand in sponsoring LEEP and this presentation.

Next?

Part II will examine the rest of the presentation, which was more focused on the evolution of training hands-on and shooting skills.  

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