Phalanx Law Enforcement – Standing Shoulder to Shoulder to Build a Strong Foundation for Law Enforcement Trainers

“Choose to ‘Do Something’ for law enforcement rather than just ‘Be Someone’ in law enforcement.” ~Richard Neil

www.LEO-Trainer.com/blog

Not too long ago, I was developing a new program, Police Instructor 201: Train-the-Trainer, as a companion resource for our Police Instructor handbook. I wanted to create a sensible lesson plan that included audience participation, an interactive slide show to pass along to trainers, and an overall design that would be easily understood by any instructor who was passionate about training.

Teaching other trainers was not an area that I had concentrated on, or had loads of experience with.  I was sure that the trainers attending the program would benefit from the thoughts and insights of those who have developed similar programs before me. So that is when I decided to ask Jim Fraser for his help.

Jim is internationally recognized as the developer of the Master Instructor Training Program for California POST’s Instructor Development Institute. The highly regarded program is one of the most challenging and demanding instructor programs in the world. His training development expertise started in the U.S. Army where he rose to the rank of Colonel and ran the office that was a proponent for antiterrorism training world-wide.  He would go on to develop and facilitate training programs for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the 1986 Pan American Games, and the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. His diverse background in military and public safety training is a benefit to anyone who comes in contact with him, but there are a large number of law enforcement trainers who are not good at sharing.  Luckily for me, Jim Fraser is not one of those people. He is a Jedi Master when it comes to developing and facilitating training for law enforcement instructors, and just like Yoda (no family relation), he is happy to pass his wisdom on to anyone who is passionate about improving our craft.

I met Jim in 2011, in one of the police training forums on the LinkedIn network. He had mentioned  RIDEM©, an acronym he developed in 2000 that deals with the key elements of experience-based learning. It stands for Relevance, Involvement, Discovery, Experience, and Modeling. I was intrigued with the idea and asked him more about the method. Without hesitation, Jim emailed me a 13 page description of the model that is an excellent way to teach the principles of adult learning. He not only believed in many of the concepts and techniques I had been writing about, but had facilitated them for decades in several different training environments. I still value the first advice Jim offered me through an email after I replied to his RIDEM paper. He said:

“I learned long ago there are few new problems. The same ones merely resurface. We in law enforcement do not have a sterling reputation for sharing. Sadly it is not how the community was brought up. I was fortunate to have studied adult learning under the Master- Malcolm Knowles. I also get to work in a learning lab every day- and have for 30 years. Few get those kinds of opportunities. I also appreciate your passion for what you do—don’t let the consumers get you down. Continue to be a PRODUCER regardless of the obstacles. There will always be obstacles but overcoming them is part of the fun and challenge. Please do keep in touch. ~Jim”

When I looked at the vast collection of experiences on Jim’s LinkedIn profile, I was a bit intimidated, but I asked if he would consider reviewing my book when it was completed. I explained how I had just finished writing Police Instructor, and it was currently being edited so it didn’t sound like a country boy became a city cop and wrote a book. Even though he was trying to enjoy retirement and the holidays with his family he agreed to read a handbook, and it was on a subject that he has been intimate with since the 1970’s. I was eager to hear his thoughts and insights, but I was also hesitant knowing he would be honest and critical of any shortcomings. He is not the type of person who will put his stamp of approval on something that would not benefit the law enforcement training community.

I valued his insights and review of Police Instructor and recently asked for his help once again. I wanted to get his ideas on the train-the-trainer program to make sure it was active and engaging. I wanted the input from someone who had developed the model program now followed by California POST and others around the globe. Once again Jim was quick to offer his advice as I asked him question after question for the better part of an hour. He could have been fly fishing, or working on one of his many projects, but he made time to help another instructor who is passionate about preparing the future guardians of justice. Jim is just one example of what I refer to as – Phalanx Law Enforcement.

www.LEO-Trainer.com/mpr

Phalanx Law Enforcement

The Phalanx is a formation credited to the Spartans that we still use today in law enforcement for crowd control. The Spartan soldiers would stand shoulder to shoulder forming a strong foundation that could withstand a formidable attack. Each soldier was responsible for the safety of their comrades on either side. Their shield protected the soldier on their left and their spear protected the soldier on their right. They may have used the same cliché’ that we do, “I’ve got your back.”

Phalanx Law Enforcement is my take on the values that were handed down by the Spartans that lived and died inside the formation. As instructors, we should be willing to stand shoulder to shoulder in our common cause – to train the finest guardians possible. By aiding those instructors around us, we build a strong foundation of knowledge that develops into wisdom for our students. They will stand strong against evil because of our guidance and example as a police instructor.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed. It is the only thing that ever has.” ~Margaret Mead

Why Did You Become a Police Instructor?

We can get overwhelmed and caught up in the liabilities, learning theories, and complex world of law enforcement training. We can forget why we first decided to share our wisdom and experience with others. Instructors are sincere about policing, and we care about the society our families reside in.

I am a firm believer that only a guardian can train and fully prepare another guardian. This generation of instructors can do better than our predecessors did – all of society is counting on us. Why is it that you are an instructor? What is your passion? How can you transfer your experience and wisdom to others?  Why do you care about your students and how well they learn your topic?

Police instructors have the power to make a crucial upgrade for law enforcement – one cop or cadet at a time. Each instructor impacts the lives of countless law enforcers who in-turn influence many others throughout their careers. What greater calling is there? Not many come to mind, but I am a little biased.

Forget the Pessimists

Don’t let the pessimistic naysayers get you down. They will always scowl at you from the fringe while you continue to struggle to improve our craft through loyalty and determination. They wish they had the intestinal fortitude that is part of your character but that is something they will likely never possess. I had people tell me that a free website filled with resources for police trainers would never be visited. The LEO-Trainer.com site has been viewed by over 30,000 law enforcement officers during the first five months. All I was trying to do was share some free resources with other instructors from Ohio but it has grown to be much more than that. We all can benefit from sharing our best work with each other.

Never apologize for being a law enforcement officer, and never feel that you have to. We are not perfect, but I can think of no better profession on earth.  When things look their worst, we need each other the most – especially trainers. I believe in the noble profession of law enforcement and the devoted men and women that protect society from evil, but it is the police instructor who has the best opportunity to keep them safe.

Show Passion when Training

Without passion our training may fall on deaf ears; you cannot inspire others unless you are first inspired. An engaging presentation will go a long way to gaining attention, but only the police instructor can take the presentation to a dynamic level that compels a student to act upon what they have learned.

Be passionate in discovering new methods to train law enforcers. By changing your perspective, you expand your possibilities to see something you were unable to see before. New ideas and unique insights will come from such a change, and they will benefit your students, your training, and your community.

Be passionate about sharing your expertise and materials with other instructors. When I first started developing my own slide shows and lesson plans I would say to myself, “this PowerPoint is too good and it took me way too long to make. There is no way I am going to share it with anyone else.” But I finally reached the point in my life where I now say, “this PowerPoint is awesome, and it took me way too long to make it for me not to share it with anyone else who trains the future guardians of justice.”  Our students become safer when we form a strong foundation of learning for them through a Phalanx – Law Enforcement style. And that in turn, makes the communities where our families live safer as well.

The Phalanx Challenge 

Star Wars – Lucas Films

Remember that we are not the stars of our presentations. The audience members are. Like Jim, you are Master Yoda, not Luke Skywalker. You are the balding green guy, riding on Luke’s back while directing him through his training (hopefully that doesn’t actually resemble many of you). It is your mission to help our cops and cadets through the mazes of law enforcement training, so they can develop into worthy guardians to protect our society. Make sure your students always understand that you are not training them because you are important. You have been chosen to train them because they are important.

I want to challenge you, like Jim Fraser would, to be a producer of knowledge for fellow instructors – not just a consumer. Creativity does not happen by accident; you must intentionally pursue unique and innovative methods to enhance your craft. Combine your creativity and passion to write a better book than Police Instructor, or design a more engaging website than LEO-Trainer.com. Show your passion for training and join our mission to build a strong Phalanx – law enforcement style.

Richard Neil is the author of “Police Instructor: Deliver Dynamic Presentations, Create Engaging Slides, & Increase Active Learning.” He is a retired city cop, and instructs for several of Ohio’s criminal justice training academies. He can be contacted through his website that is dedicated to law enforcement training resources – http://www.leotrainer.com.

www.LEO-Trainer.com/training

 

Training Programs are Like Mops – Sometimes They Need Cleaned Up and Sometimes Replaced

Well over a decade ago Proctor and Gamble was feeling the competition from other soap companies who were competing for the mopping public. There were new and improved mopping formulas and even different types of mop heads like the sponge with the green scrubber my wife liked. The old-fashioned mop head with dread locks was still around but the soap competition was heating up.

Proctor and Gamble had more chemists with PhD’s working for them than any other company in the world at the time, as they started their research for a new and improved soap to win the mopping public back. The researchers spent millions of dollars developing new detergents that could clean anything that you could spill onto your floor. The problem was that most of these new formulas also took the top few layers of flooring with them.  This problem persisted as they attempted to create a powerful cleaner that would not harm different types of hard flooring surfaces. After two years of research the team of chemists was still no closer to solving the problem and the company had to decide what to do next.

The company leaders chose to send the problem to Continuum, a firm of engineers and consultants that help with innovation and design for businesses. They didn’t have chemists or the research facilities of Proctor and Gamble but they agreed to research the problem and see how a better soap could be developed for mopping floors. They chose not to start in a research lab but instead they hit the streets (or the kitchens) of America to figure out how to develop a strategy to solve P&G’s problem.

Continuum’s design researchers started visiting the average home to watch people mop their floors. They noticed several important things over the course of several months. The average kitchen floor was washed once a week and it required a lot of hot water and detergent for washing and then more hot water for rinsing. Just by watching a lot of people mop their floors they found that people spent more time cleaning the mop than cleaning the floor. They also discovered that most of the so-called dirt on the floor is not sticky, adhering dirt, it’s just dust. And water turns out to be a particularly bad way to get rid of dust because the dust will just float to the surface and then settle down in the form of mud.

Anyone could probably attest to their final finding, that almost no one enjoys washing the floor and touching a dirty mop, but the design researchers verified it, and instead of ignoring it because it was so obvious, they paid attention to it because it was so universal. One researcher wanted to see what the homeowners would do for a small spill so he made it appear that he accidently spilt his coffee on a floor that was just mopped. He apologized and asked the woman if he could mop the spill up for her. She said, “of course not, I’ll get it” as she walked over and pulled a paper towel from the roll on the counter. She went to the sink and ran some water on the towel and then wiped up the coffee spill and threw it all in the trash. They repeated the exercise with many others just to see the same response. No one got the mop back out because it was too big of a hassle to mix up the detergent and water and later clean the mop over a small spill.

They put all of their research together and instead of proposing how to formulate new soap for the old mop they proposed that a single sheet of paper could entrap dust—since dust was most of the problem—and created the Swiffer. The new design would replace the water, the chemicals in the detergent, the time and back strain associated with filling buckets, and the energy needed to heat the water. Of course, they also created the Swiffer WetJet, which uses a spray of cleaning agent to spot-clean caked-on dirt, if and when necessary.

By addressing both the technology and the users’ desires, Continuum helped to create a sustainable solution with the Swiffer, one that provided value to both P&G and the consumer while reducing the total impact on the environment. They realized that society didn’t need a better soap for their mops – society needed to replace their mops.

We should always look for new ways to improve and update the training we offer our cops and cadets. And then there are times when our training needs to have a complete overhaul, like the Swiffer. When you instruct, you are responsible for passing along wisdom – not just information. Engaged cops and cadets are enthusiastic to learn and become active participants in their own training. To create productive, memorable, and vibrant classes, an instructor must continually work on increasing audience participation. A good format will include group discussions, lectures, guest speakers, case studies, review games, and other activities.

Active learning and audience participation may require more from you as an instructor but, the payoff for the audience is worth it. Your efforts will benefit them with a deep understanding of the topic and prepare them for the tasks that lay ahead. I gave you “Rolling the Dice” in my article last week as a way to pull your students into the lesson you are teaching. These methods do not need to be complicated to work well with your class. The following method is also short and sweet but sure to have everyone involved with your topic.

Patrol Partners

Partnering up is a quick and easy way to involve everyone in the audience. When your topic does not allow enough time for other, more involved activities and exercises, have the students partner up with the person sitting next to them. It helps cadets form a personal bond with one of their peers as they discuss the topic, research a handout together, respond to a question, or compare their work. They learn to count on each other and trust others for back-up, a valuable lesson for law enforcers.

Placing questions throughout your slide show works well with Patrol Partners. Each time a question comes up, let the pairs quickly discuss their answer and check their notes before you choose someone to answer. Your students will see the value in seeking the opinion of others when time allows.

Any instructor reading this article can probably think of a curriculum that should be completely replaced, and we all realize there is always room for minor improvements in everything we do. We do not need to replace the mop every time we teach a topic but there is usually room for some fiddling. The best instructors are constantly fiddling with their format, slides, handouts, and materials to make the entire presentation better.  Learn to enjoy the fiddling, and the feeling that comes from knowing your next audience is in for an encounter – not just an education.

“We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.” ~C. S. Lewis

Active Training Method – Rolling the Dice

When you instruct, you are responsible for passing along wisdom – not just information. Engaged cops and cadets are enthusiastic to learn and become active participants in their own training. To create productive, memorable, and vibrant classes, an instructor must continually work on increasing audience participation. A good format will include group discussions, lectures, guest speakers, case studies, review games, and other activities. Active learning and audience participation may require more from you as an instructor but, the payoff for the audience is worth it. Your efforts will benefit them with a deep understanding of the topic and prepare them for the tasks that lay ahead.

The activity I am going to share with you today may seem odd but I learned to stop worrying about how odd my methods may appear at first, and I now just concentrate on if they help my students learn.

Rolling the Dice is an effective method of calling on a student when no one seems interested in volunteering an answer.  It also cuts down dramatically on the stage hog in your class by randomly selecting the cadet when a question arises.

There are several reasons to use dice but I started for only one. I wanted more student participation. I wanted to avoid creating passive students who were afraid to volunteer or answer a question. I originally started with the idea of using just one, but I now have a polyhedral 7 dice set. It sounds impressive, but it only costs five dollars from Amazon. The dice set normally comes with 10-, 12-, and 20-sided dice. They will cover the size of most classes, but 30-sided dice are available as well for another two dollars.

When a question is posed during your presentation, leave it to chance to see who will be answering. Assign a number to each student, and if the dice lands on that number, they are chosen – it’s that simple. It takes away the over-eager student who wants to answer everything as well as the student who avoids eye contact at all costs. It creates anticipation (I did not originally foresee) for the class, and to add some fun and drama, I have the students take turns rolling the dice. They have the fate of their classmates in their hands, and they like it.

You can add another component to the activity when a cadet answers incorrectly. Let them roll one of the dice to determine how many pushups, sit-ups, or leg scissors they have to do for missing the question. The one who answered wrong and the student who rolled the dice that chose them are in it together. Everyone is more attentive when their classmates can be affected by their participation in the class.

The random selection is unique and it keeps their attention on the presentation. Cadets like anything that keeps discussions from being dominated by a few students, and I find students are now looking forward to the dice coming out of my backpack. I do not have any research to tell you why it works so well – but it does.

The technique will solicit more wrong answers from the class at first, but you will find the wrong answers lead to better discussions and uncover confusion about your topic that might not have been volunteered otherwise. This is a winning combination for a police instructor.

You can use the dice for other decisions as well – be creative.  If you are using a group exercise, have each of them roll the dice to see who will be in charge.  That way it always changes, and the same stage hog will not take over each time they are in a group.  There are also jumbo sized foam dice available that you can throw around your classroom, and they are a cheap investment for such an effective learning tool.

Police Training through an Island Get a Way

Our audience of law enforcers and cadets learns best by doing, and any activity that provides them with a direct experience will help them understand more effectively. You can design your own experiential activities or adapt those created by others to gain the participation of your audience. These activities can add relevance and understanding where a lecture and bullet points cannot. I created Neil Island with the help of my daughter, Nadia. I originally created the exercise to force students to take a deep look at the components of our criminal justice system, but it works well with other topics including Community Policing, Community Diversity, Crime Prevention, Crisis Intervention, and others. You can decide how it best fits your students or topic, and feel free to change the activity to make it work for your audience.

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” ~Aristotle

Neil Island

Break your class up into small groups, and provide them with copies of the following story (or display it on the screen or white board).

You have joined others in starting a new society on Neil Island, but even with a careful selection process, crime has become an issue. There is a prison, but it only has room for five people. They will each have their own cell, but they must share the common areas like bathrooms and the recreation facilities. There is no separation available, and no system of parole or probation exists due to financial cuts.

Queen Nadia (my daughter wanted to be queen of Ohio, but she had to settle for an island instead) has issued a proclamation to deal with this scourge on society by setting an example. Your citizens will decide the fate of the following people who have been convicted.  The prisoners include:

1. A 50-year-old man who hired a hit-man to kill his son-in-law. The victim was physically abusing the suspect’s daughter for years.
2. A 27-year-old single mother of two convicted of a DUI accident that killed a 38-year-old man. He was a devoted husband and the father of three kids.
3. A 16-year-old burglar who was caught stealing an XBox from a neighbor’s house. He cooperated and confessed to three other burglaries in the area.
4. A 37-year-old man who abducted and repeatedly raped a 5-year-old girl. She was rescued after 10 days of captivity.
5. An 18-year-old gang member who was a passenger in a car that was involved in an armed robbery. A pursuit of the vehicle resulted in a crash that killed a police officer. She left a husband and her 6-month-old infant behind.
6. A 41-year-old man arrested while driving a stolen car. The car belongs to a missing woman who has never been found. The man has a previous conviction for rape.
7. A 26-year-old male teacher who had a consensual relationship with a 15-year-old student. The student said he loved his teacher and admitted that they were sexually involved.
8. A 13-year-old male who was caught molesting his two female cousins, ages 3 and 6. He has no criminal record but the victims’ parents want him locked away forever.

The citizens must follow the sentencing options based on the Queen Nadia’s proclamation, the available space, and the budget set for confinement.

1. One person must be executed. Try to make this a unanimous decision among your group.
2. One person must receive life in prison without parole.
3. One person must receive 20 years in prison.
4. One person must receive five years in prison.
5. One person must receive three years in prison.
6. One person must receive six months in prison.
7. Two people must go free with no punishment or court controls of any type.

Give the teams 20 to 45 minutes to work on their list (depending on the size of your groups). Some groups will want the option to give up. Force them to choose a sentence for each person. As officers, they will not have the option to give up. They need to experience the reality that some decisions in their career will be difficult to make. No one will want the responsibility of making them – they must make them just the same.

Each group must indicate who they executed and why. They must explain what influenced their decisions on who received the harshest sentence compared to the lightest. Have each group present their choices to the class and then compare the differences.

Did they lock up the 13-year-old? Will he simply become a better predator from the experience with other sex offenders all around him? Was he a victim himself? Most groups choose to execute the 37-year-old child abductor instead of the man who committed a premeditated murder even though capital punishment is not an option for such a crime in the real world. Ask them how they can rationalize such a decision? There are dozens of questions you can ask based on their discussions.

Ask how many members in a group had a difference of opinion. Go through the list one by one discussing the good and bad reasons for execution, imprisonment, or giving that particular person another chance. Some groups choose to release the 26 year old teacher who molests a student back into society because they see the word “consensual.” Students do not yet have the wisdom of a veteran officer, who understands a sexual predator uses the position of a teacher to find victims and the authority of the position to control them, but through exercises like Neil Island you can provide them with a valuable lesson. Talk about the ethics of our legal system as well as its inherent flaws.

Begin a class discussion by asking, “Do we really need services like probation, parole, child protective services, psychiatric hospitals, and rehabilitation centers?” Encourage an in-depth discussion on the importance of social services and incarceration, including the improvements that are needed in our current system. Ask them “What was the most frustrating part of the activity for you?”

This is one of the most compelling experiential activities that I have created. Deep discussions and strong arguments will occur. Be a facilitator and let the students control their group discussions. Stay out of their way unless they are getting completely off-track. Walk around and listen to their discussions, and take your own notes to use for the end of the exercise. The students will look at the different services in a new light when they are burdened with the responsibility to make decisions that will affect the community, the victim, the suspect, and both of their families.

Neil Island is thought-provoking and involves emotional situations that create a challenging activity for students, so make sure you have enough time before using this experiential activity. This activity can last 45 to 90 minutes depending on your class size and the depth of their discussions.

Neil Island is just one of the many activities illustrated in the book “Police Instructor: Deliver Dynamic Presentations, Create Engaging Slides, & Increase Active Learning.” I have placed a PowerPoint presentation of the activity at www.LEO-Trainer.com/games for you to download and use to create an active learning environment for your students.

Police Instructor is a student-centered handbook filled with active learning techniques, and even more experiential activities like Neil Island, for you to use as you develop worthy guardians for society. Consider developing your own activities and exercises from the cases that have challenged you, and then share them with other instructors so your experiences will benefit others throughout the law enforcement community.

The Foundation of Survival is Attitude

Why is it, that something disastrous can have a completely different impact on two people? One falls apart while the other grows stronger from the experience? One has faith that their best days are ahead and a belief that life is a gift, while the other sees life as a constant struggle with one hurdle after another. Their individual mind-set determines how they will deal with the crisis. I have not only seen it, I have lived it.

I asked, “Would you like to repeat that again.”  The dispatcher came across speaking slower and louder, “Danny Williams wants you to meet him at Greenlee and Jefferson Avenue.  He said he is going to kill you.”  Yep, that is exactly what I heard the first time; apparently it wasn’t a joke.  How lucky was I to be on duty when someone called wanting to kill me.  I was afraid because I knew what Danny was capable of doing.

Our previous meeting was for a parole violation arrest stemming from a murder he committed when I was a middle school student.  Danny had shot a man in the back after a bar fight and the plea bargain resulted in a 7 year sentence Soon after being released he violated parole and was once again wanted.  I spotted him walking down the street and called out for backup.  He noticed me and took off running.  I chased him into his apartment and tackled him in the bedroom where I found a sawed-off shotgun.  Not a nice guy!  I took him to jail and assumed that was the last time I would see him but he was released on his own recognizance – go figure.  

It was 3 a.m. when the call came in to dispatch.  I wasn’t a rookie with anything to prove so I took plenty of backup with me to the intersection.  We parked a block away so he couldn’t see our cars, and brought along our patrol rifles for good measure.

Frank, Dan, Doug, and I coordinated our approach on the radio – two officers would approach from the north, the other two from the south.  As we approached the area I expected Danny to be hiding from us, but he was right out in the open – naked!  Danny was standing directly below the streetlight with everything in plain sight.  He was holding a beer in his left hand and a rifle in his right.  I thought, “Great I’m gonna get killed by a naked dude.  That will look good on my tombstone.”  Frank, a cantankerous old veteran, leaned over and said, “You have a funny way of making friends.” 

Once we were all in position, I called out commands to Danny, who called back with a few colorful metaphors of his own.  Frank then yelled back, “We’ll turn you into Swiss cheese you derelict piece of sh@#!”  Danny realized he was surrounded and outgunned and threw the rifle down the street towards us, but he kept on drinking the beer.  When we approached, he resisted; we had the satisfaction that only comes from fighting a drunk, sweaty, and nude felon.  What a messed-up night shift.

I left the encounter ready for the next, but one of our new recruits heard about the call and had a different reaction. He told me the idea of a suspect wanting to kill an officer, they had only met once, was shocking to him. He was having second thoughts about his career choice. He wasn’t even there that night and the encounter affected him more than it did me. Our attitudes and mindset were quite different. I did not like being threatened but I found more humor in the situation than anything. Surviving the incident strengthened my faith that someone was looking over me. When I asked the rookie why he was so negative he explained how his academy commander and several instructors warned him how awful our profession was. He had the most negative outlook I ever heard from a rookie. That is not how to successfully prepare the guardians of tomorrow.

It is disappointing to me when I hear a cadet in the academy make a cynical statement about police work. They have not worked one day on the street and they are already complaining about how awful it will be. Where do they get such an attitude? They buy into the crap sold by TV shows depicting all cops as cynical tyrants, and they hear it reinforced by some instructors that complain instead of train.

I feel ill every time I hear a cop tell a new rookie, “Forget everything you learned in the academy,” or “A month in the academy isn’t worth one hour on the street,” or the worst, “The academy is over – now you’ll learn how to be a real cop.”

If done correctly, the academy is crucial to the success of our cadets, and this type of careless statement can cause confusion. Every topic has real-world implications if the instructor puts forth the effort to make it real. Even if you do not like the curriculum, there is always important information you can add. Your personal knowledge and experience is the most valuable teaching resource you have, and those nuggets of wisdom are what your students need the most, and what they look forward to.

Cadets should leave the academy excited to be part of a noble profession, and serving society as a guardian of justice should be a thrill, not an affliction. As police instructors we must understand our duty to act as their trainer, role model, and mentor. We should never forget – we are training our replacements. They will someday protect and serve society, as well as our families when we are gone.

Physical survival tactics are taught throughout the law enforcement community, and that is of great importance, but there is more to teach. Surviving, just to lose their marriage, family, and self-respect is not what cadets have in mind when they join our profession. Help them prepare a positive mindset as their instructor, because there will be those who model the negative.

John C. Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, former pastor, speaker, coach, and author who has sold over 19 million books. He reminds us of the importance of attitude in his book, Today Matters. “The bottom line on attitude is that a good one helps to increase your possibilities. Pessimists usually get what they expect. So do optimists. Believing in yourself increases your chances of success. Looking for the positive in every situation helps you see opportunities that you would otherwise miss. Being positive with people prompts them to be positive with you – and individuals who interact well with others have a leg up on people who don’t. I can’t think of one legitimate criticism of positive thinking. It’s all good.”

Our success and worth as an instructor is measured by the performance and abilities of our students. If I don’t believe in the importance of our noble profession neither will my students. If I don’t believe in the capabilities of my students they may question themselves when it matters most. Their survival will be enhanced by the mindset and attitude you instill in each one of your students, and that will enable them to make the sacrifices inherent with a career in law enforcement. Why is that so important?

Without sacrifice there can be no justice – without justice there can be no society.

Richard Neil is LET’s Police Training Contributor. He is the author of “Police Instructor: Deliver Dynamic Presentations, Create Engaging Slides, & Increase Active Learning.” He is a retired city cop, and instructs for several of Ohio’s criminal justice training academies. He can be contacted through his website that is dedicated to law enforcement training resources – www.LEOtrainer.com.

The View from a Cop’s Kid on the Law Enforcement Family

By: Nadia Neil

We always had the most boring cars growing up, soccer mom minivans (even though we didn’t play soccer) and SUVs that claimed to be as cool as their sports car relatives.  Somehow, though, cars still made a major impact on my life. Oh yeah, and the cop car in the driveway seemed to change everything – for better or worse.

A Friend Lost.

It all began when I was five.  Dad brought home a van that he was using in a drug investigation.  He had been out late and decided that it would not be too dangerous to bring it home.  My brother and I thought Christmas had come early as we climbed into the behemoth and discovered the periscope.

We were so excited that we cried until dad would let our best friend and next door neighbor Geoffrey come over and see it. Geoffrey loved it.  He told his mom how special it was.  She refused to believe his “nonsense.”. We heard her snapping at him from several yards away, but I could not understand why Dad blanched at the sight of her.

He looked like death as he pulled us back into the house and fiercely dialed a number into his phone. “It’s over,” he informed the chief concerning the drug investigation that involved my best friend’s mother. None of us, including my father, realized that Geoffrey’s mother was one of the drug dealers he had been monitoring from the undercover van.

Fortunately, she didn’t believe Geoffrey’s story about the periscope and electronics in the white van that appeared to belong to a plumber or electrician. She told him that he watched too much Barney (the dinosaur, not the cop) as she pulled him along. My father raided her house the next day and we never saw them again.

A Confidence Gained.

Middle school is all about image. I tried desperately to explain this to my father several times as he dropped me off or picked me up in the car that ruined my reputation freshman year.  Some people had beat up old station wagons, but brand new Corvettes were just as popular where I grew up.  We had neither. I didn’t have the shame of a dilapidated car in a wealthy community.  I had something worse, a cop for a father who was constantly running late and shoving me out the side of his cruiser as we slowed down by the school.  He would also take off in a hurry after I got in the car from volleyball practice, because his cop humor would rather indulge the rumors of a straight a student being whisked off by the police than put them to rest. I don’t know what conclusions people came to, but I like to think that everyone was amazed by my versatility. I learned to care less and love my family for exactly what they were, crazy.

A Favor Returned.

People might commonly hear, “Officer, please don’t give me a ticket,” but that was not my plea the first and only time I have ever been pulled over.  “Officer, please don’t call my Dad. Please.” I actually begged with all of the sincerity in my being for the cop, who just pulled me over for reckless operation weeks after I got my license, to give me the ticket and move on.  Despite my tears and petitions, he insisted I come to his car and wait as he contacted my father.

I followed him back to his car, but he looked agitated as I moved his reports out of the passenger chair to sit down instead of taking a seat in the back. He asked me “what are you doing?” I explained, “People throw up back there. I know. My dad’s a cop and he told me.” The trooper looked a little bewildered, but he shook his head in agreement and allowed me to sit in the front with him.

He called my dad and mumbled something into his radio. I was sobbing as I heard him answer on the other end; he was going to be so angry. I broke the law. The officer explained to my father what had happened.  I was passing my friend’s car while someone was approaching in the oncoming lane in the not too far distance – the trooper.  He then handed the phone to me. I prepared to be berated for my indiscretion.  I was sobbing and could barely hear what my father was asking me.  And then I realized that he was not asking me anything.

He was talking about Star Wars; he and my brother were at the movies laughing about something while I dripped salt water and snot down the officer’s cell phone.  He wasn’t mad and knew I had already paid the price for the infraction.

I hung up angry just as a voice came out of the radio, “Did you say Neil? Nadia N-E-I-L?”  The officer affirmed and was promptly told to let me go with a forceful verbal warning.  Apparently, the daughter of the trooper in charge was quite mischievous, and my father had dealt rather generously with her on more than one occasion.

An Insult Appreciated.

On summer nights, I still love to go to the drive-in theatre and watch ridiculous movies until 2 am.  Unfortunately, on the day before my 17^th birthday I did just that with a bunch of kids from my church group who were all younger than me.  On our way home, we ran into a small traffic jam that ended in a station of cops checking each car for drunks or anything else.

By the time I realized what was going on, it was too late to turn around without looking exceptionally suspicious.  So, we pressed on. I knew that the five of us were out past curfew; the tags were expired, and I was not legally allowed to drive more than one other person in my car until the next day. Crap. I inched up and handed the brightly clad officer my license. “Who is the cop in your family?” he asked right away noticing the FOP plates.  I told him that my dad was the cop and where he worked.  He mumbled something akin to, “The cops must be lazy there. Tell him to fix the tail light, and go home.”

A Culture Misunderstood.

At Ohio State our college atmosphere is incredibly diverse, but every now and then I meet another cop’s kid or a cop’s wife and there is an understanding. When most people see police cars, there is a stigma that jumps into their mind; the police are good, bad, indifferent, something, but not really people with lives outside of their careers. When I see a police car, I just think of home.

Nadia Neil attends The Ohio State University. She is the daughter of Officer Richard Neil (ret.), and the editor of  his book  Police Instructor: Deliver Dynamic Presentations, Create Engaging Slides, & Increase Active Learning.  www.LEOtrainer.com

Asking Questions Can Save Lives – Train the Trainer

We all have times when we get into such a hurry that we have no idea what is going on around us.  It gets worse when we fail to ask questions when we have them. I helped train one rookie police officer who refused to ask me any questions because he was older than I was.  He had previously served as an Army officer, whereas I had been an enlisted Infantryman. While Bill was a nice person, I don’t know how the guy survived his rookie year.

Bill was 40 years old and starting his second career after retiring from the Army as a personnel captain.  The problems started when he was assigned to our shift for field training.  I was 10 years his junior.  It is an unfortunate truth that those who served in Army personnel assignments were often harassed by combat soldiers. It can be hard to shuffle paperwork in a military branch focused on combat training and missions.   It was obvious that Bill did not want my help and even made the point that he would be a more successful officer than I was.

The second week that Bill was on the midnight shift he spotted a drunk driver and pulled him over. I was shadowing him in another patrol car so I arrived to back him up in just moments.  Bill insisted he was ready to handle the stop on his own and that he did not want or need my help.  I told him to go right ahead; I would watch from the patrol car. He had the man out of the car, through his field sobriety tests, and arrested without much of a snag.

He put the man in the back of his patrol car and decided that he would also complete the inventory of the vehicle for the tow truck by himself.

I asked him if he had inventoried and searched a Cadillac before, but he just scoffed at me.  After Bill inventoried the contents of the trunk, he tried to close it, but as I mentioned, this was a Cadillac. Once the trunk lid is within a few inches of closing a small electric motor takes over, slowly completing the process.  I knew this as an experienced officer who had searched plenty of cars, but Bill did not.

When the trunk lid failed to close all the way, Bill grabbed it in an attempt to open it back up and slam it harder.  I yelled “Leave it alone. Get your fingers out of there!” He turned and gave me one more look of disgust as he tried to pull it open again.  The entire neighborhood could hear the blood-curdling scream that came from Bill as eight of his fingers were crushed under the force of the closing trunk lid.  He dropped to his knees in pain while screaming “Help me!” He finally found something that I was worthy of helping him with.

I ran to the passenger side of the car, opened the glove compartment and pushed the trunk release button, but nothing happened.  The car was off and the button did not function without power from the ignition. I ran back to Bill, who was now a new shade of white, and his eyes appeared to be rolling back into his head. I asked “I need the keys. Where are the keys?”  He was barely able to reply, “They’re in my pants pocket.”

Of all the places, why did they have to be in his pants pocket? Now I was digging around in another man’s pants pocket and hoping no one else noticed. Of course, the first pocket I stuck my hand in was empty. After sticking my hand in his other pocket, I found the keys and headed back to the driver’s seat. I turned the ignition on and hit the trunk release button.  I watched through the rearview mirror as the pressure was released off of Bill’s fingers and he passed out onto the roadway.

His black out was only momentary but his swollen fingers and bruised ego would last a while longer.  Once I knew he was going to be okay, I started laughing.  Bill looked at me and said “It’s not funny, Rich.” I apologized and then we heard laughter coming from behind us.  When we turned to look, Bill’s patrol car was rocking from the DUI suspect in the back seat – who was now cracking up.  He was the happiest person I have ever delivered to jail. He laughed all the way there, into the sally port, and during his intake as he shared the experience with the deputies who booked him in that night.

Encourage Questions from Academy Cadets and Veterans

We should encourage our cops and cadets to ask questions when they don’t understand a particular topic, and remove any barriers that may keep them from inquiring in the first place. Some students (especially new cadets) will have the same barrier as Bill did – ego.

They are so concerned with how they appear to the others that they neglect their own safety and effectiveness as a law enforcement officer. Work to remove the barriers that may be holding your students back from asking questions. Start with this simple statement: “No one knows everything about law enforcement – no one! This includes you, me, police chiefs, prosecutors, criminal justice professors, and the Attorney General of the United States. You should have questions and you should not be afraid to ask them. After all, it is said that knowledge is power, and who here doesn’t want the power to be a safe and effective guardian of justice?”

There are several good methods in the Police Instructor Handbook to encourage questions and reduce the barriers that interfere with your audience’s participation. Here are a couple of techniques from the book that you may find helpful for your next class.

Leave a Note

Provide your students with index cards to record any questions they might have.  Tell them, if a question comes to mind but it is off topic, write it down.  If the question is about a subject that was covered 20 minutes ago, write it down. If they feel embarrassed to ask the question in front of the others, have them write it down.

Have your students leave the questions on the lectern at break time, and then answer them when they return or at the end of the day. The questions get answered for everyone and the student who wants to remain anonymous does.  To my surprise, I have found that the anonymous questions are commonly the most insightful.

Question Board

Have a designated question board in the classroom.  Advise your audience to write their questions on the white board (or chalk board if you’re old-school) during the break.  If other students have the same question, instruct them to place a checkmark next to it.

The technique serves as a quick method to see if any of your students are struggling with a particular topic. Once they realize they share the same questions and interests, students will discuss the information during the break with one another.

Questions Encourage Participation and Understanding

I am amazed how professional cops, who spend their days asking questions of others, shy away from asking questions during their training. Lack of knowledge and understanding in our profession inhibits officer safety, but that can be remedied by encouraging our audience to ask questions without hesitation. The duties faced by law enforcers are dangerous enough without adding the hurdles caused by cops and cadets who resist asking for help. Questions should become commonplace in the police academy, increase with intensity during field training, and then continue to help us grow throughout our career as law enforcement officers.

Every law enforcement topic has real-world implications if the instructor puts forth the effort to make it real. There is always important information you can add and plenty of questions that need to be answered in the minds of your students. Your knowledge and experience is the most valuable teaching resource you have.  Those nuggets of wisdom are what your students need the most, and what they look forward to. Do everything you can to make sure they get those nuggets.

~Richard Neil, LEOtrainer.com, author of “Police Instructor: Deliver Dynamic Presentations, Create Engaging Slides, & Increase Active Learning”