As a rookie cop I’m always looking for ways to develop new skills and improve my existing set. One night I overheard this nerdy voice playing out over my patrol sergeant’s desktop speakers in the patrol office. The voice was touting the benefits of filling up fleet vehicles at the end of your shift. The guy made sense; and since common sense seems to be in short supply wherever I go, I had to find out who he was.
It turns out he was none other than Gordan Graham. I had no idea who Gordon Graham is so I asked my sergeant. If you don’t know who Gordan Graham is, check out his biography here. That night I subscribed to Mr. Graham’s tips from the company Lexipol. Every week I get an email from Lexipol with a link to a new tip that benefits public safety personnel . These are always informative and useful reminders or new bits of information that help keep me focused on my job as a police officer. The tips are not very long and just feature a small video of Mr. Graham speaking in the corner of your browser. His insight is accurate, concise and well presented.
Mr. Graham is an expert in risk management who knows what he’s talking about, especially when it comes to law enforcement. This is the kind of guy who I want giving me tips. Check it out for yourself if you’ve never heard of him. If you have heard of him, then I’m sure this is old but good news.
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Verbal Judo: A Rookie Review by HF
A couple months ago my department sent me to "Verbal Judo" training. Verbal Judo or Tactical Communications was founded by Dr. George Thompson. Dr. Thompson was a college professor who decided he wanted to be cop. After some time serving as a police officer Dr. Thompson noticed that some officers were able to talk anyone into compliance while others, more often than not, ended having to go hands on. Thompson began studying the officers who were able to generate voluntary compliance and eventually "Verbal Judo" was born.
Today Verbal Judo is taught all over the world. At the time I was sent to this training I had no idea how big a deal this stuff really is. Several state POST boards have adopted Verbal Judo into their official academy curriculum and many federal agencies actively train in tactical communications.
My introduction to Verbal Judo occurred at a large hotel near the airport. My class consisted of local, state, and federal law enforcement officials. Almost everyone in attendance was a field officer with a few mid level managers (i.e., sergeants, etc.) interspersed throughout. Our instructor for the entire course was Mike Manley.
I was very skeptical about the quality of training I was about to receive when I walked into the conference room and saw one guy with a lap top and a projector standing at the front of the room. All the tell tale signs of death by power point were present. Our instructor stood and watched everyone intently as we all mingled with each other. Then when it came time to start, it became apparent that we were in the presence of a master.
Mr. Manley is a very polished professional speaker and instructor. I looked around and it was clear that everyone was riveted on what he had to say throughout our training. Yes it was power point, but it was dynamic power point, expertly crafted with an engaging speaker who has honed his skills in the training and presentation world. Video clips and footage flowed very well into wonderfully timed and appropriate personal anecdotes taken from his long career as a New York City police officer. Breaks were given regularly throughout the training and he never seemed to lose steam. Throughout the training Mr. Manley would give bits of information about himself instead of the typical 10-30 minute introduction most speakers I've seen tend to do. This was a nice change and worked well. Each anecdotal story he told gave us a little more insight into who he was and kept me interested in what he had to say.
The course that I attended was a shortened course that condensed two days of material into a 9 hour block. This was the only 9 hour power point presentation that I would gladly pay my own money to attend again. It was that good.
During the course of the day I learned some valuable skills that I have since implemented into my professional and personal life. The meet and potatoes of the course are two styles of communications. One is called the 8 step soft style and the other is called the 5 step hard style approach. After learning about the three kinds of people in the world we learned how to communicate with them using one or both of these two styles in order to generate voluntary compliance. Video re-enactments emphasized the main points and illustrated how these techniques can be used in every aspect of police work. Manley frequently explained that these techniques can also be used with parenting and other personal communications.
I went home with a new sense of empowerment. I really felt as if I had picked up a new and valuable skill for my "tool box." It has been several months now and I have seen a difference in my professional and personal life.
On the professional side, I have adjusted my traffic and pedestrian stops to incorporate the two styles I mentioned above. I have seen a huge jump in the amount of voluntary compliance I get from my "clients." This may sound crazy but I am even being thanked by many of them after I arrest them or issue them a citation. Who would have thought?
On the personal side, I have found a new way to bond with my middle son Luke. He has always been our difficult child who likes to argue and violate one of our big family rules: "Obedience The First Time, Every Time." Since practicing my new found verbal judo skills with him, he feels like I listen to him and understand him. He has told me this in his own way when no one else is around and has begun to follow this family rule. This training has really changed my life in a great way.
Verbal Judo takes practice. One 9 hour course is probably the bare minimum needed to teach someone like me the basics. From there I have found that practicing on a regular basis has helped me hone the flow of my tactical communications with suspects and the general public.
Verbal Judo is a perishable skill, just like almost every other skill we have to be proficient in. If I get lazy and don't use it, I'll lose it. I am always looking for new ways to improve as a police officer, I can honestly say that this is one of those skills that is helping me do that. I have no doubt that many of the officers who are reading this are familiar with Verbal Judo. But if you're not, you owe it to yourself professionally and personally to seek out this training and get proficient. Tactical communications is a valuable tool that everyone should have in their tool boxes.
Today Verbal Judo is taught all over the world. At the time I was sent to this training I had no idea how big a deal this stuff really is. Several state POST boards have adopted Verbal Judo into their official academy curriculum and many federal agencies actively train in tactical communications.
My introduction to Verbal Judo occurred at a large hotel near the airport. My class consisted of local, state, and federal law enforcement officials. Almost everyone in attendance was a field officer with a few mid level managers (i.e., sergeants, etc.) interspersed throughout. Our instructor for the entire course was Mike Manley.
I was very skeptical about the quality of training I was about to receive when I walked into the conference room and saw one guy with a lap top and a projector standing at the front of the room. All the tell tale signs of death by power point were present. Our instructor stood and watched everyone intently as we all mingled with each other. Then when it came time to start, it became apparent that we were in the presence of a master.
Mr. Manley is a very polished professional speaker and instructor. I looked around and it was clear that everyone was riveted on what he had to say throughout our training. Yes it was power point, but it was dynamic power point, expertly crafted with an engaging speaker who has honed his skills in the training and presentation world. Video clips and footage flowed very well into wonderfully timed and appropriate personal anecdotes taken from his long career as a New York City police officer. Breaks were given regularly throughout the training and he never seemed to lose steam. Throughout the training Mr. Manley would give bits of information about himself instead of the typical 10-30 minute introduction most speakers I've seen tend to do. This was a nice change and worked well. Each anecdotal story he told gave us a little more insight into who he was and kept me interested in what he had to say.
The course that I attended was a shortened course that condensed two days of material into a 9 hour block. This was the only 9 hour power point presentation that I would gladly pay my own money to attend again. It was that good.
During the course of the day I learned some valuable skills that I have since implemented into my professional and personal life. The meet and potatoes of the course are two styles of communications. One is called the 8 step soft style and the other is called the 5 step hard style approach. After learning about the three kinds of people in the world we learned how to communicate with them using one or both of these two styles in order to generate voluntary compliance. Video re-enactments emphasized the main points and illustrated how these techniques can be used in every aspect of police work. Manley frequently explained that these techniques can also be used with parenting and other personal communications.
I went home with a new sense of empowerment. I really felt as if I had picked up a new and valuable skill for my "tool box." It has been several months now and I have seen a difference in my professional and personal life.
On the professional side, I have adjusted my traffic and pedestrian stops to incorporate the two styles I mentioned above. I have seen a huge jump in the amount of voluntary compliance I get from my "clients." This may sound crazy but I am even being thanked by many of them after I arrest them or issue them a citation. Who would have thought?
On the personal side, I have found a new way to bond with my middle son Luke. He has always been our difficult child who likes to argue and violate one of our big family rules: "Obedience The First Time, Every Time." Since practicing my new found verbal judo skills with him, he feels like I listen to him and understand him. He has told me this in his own way when no one else is around and has begun to follow this family rule. This training has really changed my life in a great way.
Verbal Judo takes practice. One 9 hour course is probably the bare minimum needed to teach someone like me the basics. From there I have found that practicing on a regular basis has helped me hone the flow of my tactical communications with suspects and the general public.
Verbal Judo is a perishable skill, just like almost every other skill we have to be proficient in. If I get lazy and don't use it, I'll lose it. I am always looking for new ways to improve as a police officer, I can honestly say that this is one of those skills that is helping me do that. I have no doubt that many of the officers who are reading this are familiar with Verbal Judo. But if you're not, you owe it to yourself professionally and personally to seek out this training and get proficient. Tactical communications is a valuable tool that everyone should have in their tool boxes.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Coast LED Lenser Reveiw (by HF)
"90% of your career will be spent in the dark. How many flashlights do you think you'll need?"
We all looked down at our duty belts. Everybody had one flashlight, most of them stream light Stingers. We all immediately understood his point. He went on to explain that there are various types of flashlights out there and that whatever model we would choose to use or would be issued, we would need to become proficient with them.
He went on to detail his long history as a self proclaimed "light whore." After several years he had become a fan of Surefire brand flashlights. Most of us were familiar with Surefire lights and knew of their high quality as well as their high "gas mileage," when it came to pricier lithium batteries.
He pulled out a light that was roughly the same size as a Surefire 6P. He turned it on and illuminated one of the targets on the range. It was bright. He then went on to describe it:
"This light has a 100 hour battery life. The bulb will last you your career. It has a nice tail cap switch and comes with a retention lanyard. It is made of aircraft grade machined aluminium, is shock proof, as far as I can tell so far it's water proof, and the best part is, it runs off of three common AAA batteries."
We were stunned.
"The best part is that you can get one of these at Lowes for $45.00. I have eight of these guys now. Don't get me wrong, I love my Surefire lights, but these are great lights."
That night I bought one and I've used it ever since.
I bought the Coast LED Lenser at Lowes home improvement store. I paid about $45.00 for it. It is about the size of a Surefire 6P and will fit in a 6P duty belt holster without any issues. The light is made of heavy duty aircraft grade aluminum, and comes with six AAA batteries. Three batteries were already in the light and three were packaged seperately in the clamshell packaging. I replaced the batteries as soon as I got it out of the packaging since I didn't know how long they had been in there and how many times the light had been left on while in the package at the store (the packaging allows shoppers to test the light).
The lens of the flash light features a prominent "bubble," that acts as a magnifyer. The light has the abilty to adjust the beam much like a mag light, which I love. The light has rubber/silicon O rings where they need to be to keep out water, dirt, etc. The body of the light is textured, though not very deeply, and the tail cap is a dome shape that protrudes slightly from the tail end of the light. Adjacent to the tail cap is an indentation with a hole for the attachment of the included lanyard. A flimsy (probably 200-300D) black cordura sheath comes with the light as well.
The light has performed wonderfully for me in the field. The tail cap allows me to use more gross motor skills when activating the light with my thumbs instead of looking for that little button near the head of so many other flash lights I've used. The tail cap allows me to activate a "momentary on" style of activation by using slight pressure without clicking the light all the way on if I want to, which is important to me. The light's size is great for shooting with. I can use a number of techniques effectively with this light due to the compact size and the functionality of the tail cap. The adjustable beam of the light is nice when I want to focus a direct beam at something or widen it out while "umbrella'ing" a room.
There are a few things that I don't like about the light. The shallow texturing is lame. I like grippy surfaces especially when wearing gloves and in bad weather.
The tail cap, while effective, could be a little more robust. I would like to see it protrude a little more from the body of the flashlight. Even a rubberized tail cap that contrasts with the metal body would be a welcome change for me.
The included accessories suck. The lanyard is a joke and is more meant for wearing around a boy scout's neck than equipment/weapon retention. The lanyard hole placement could be better too. The holster/pouch is also lame. Not very robust and has a red graphic on the outer flap which I don't like. There is no defense/strike bezel. I love strike bezels. The light as it is could be used as a weapon in a pinch (everything is a weapon) but a bezel would be nice.
The light could be brighter too. 83 lumens is pretty bright but I'd like something brighter. As of this writing Coast has introduced a tactical line of lights and the updated version of the light I have is now shining in at 105 lumens with a run time of 120 hours on three AAA's.
So keep in mind the light I'm reviewing is almost a year old and flashlight technology, especially LED technology, is like computer technology. Every 6 months it improves by leaps and bounds.
This light has proven to be affordable, tough, bright, and very usable as a law enforcement light. I love that it uses a common and readily available power source that won't break the bank. The light is cheap enough that you could buy a few of these for the car, bail out bag/go bag, duty belt, pocket, etc. The burn time is amazing. After about 50 hours I did notice degredation in luminous output. It dropped from 83 lumens down to about 63. The 100 hour burn time is actually pretty accurate. I have changed the batteries once since I installed the new ones right after I opened it up out of the packaging. I work nights and I have used this light extensively.
I will be buying the upgraded version that is now available for the same price as the original, at Lowes. In addition to the Coast LED Lenser I own a Stinger rechargeable light, triple D cell Mag light, standard mini mag light, One Surefire 6P, a Surefire 660 classic weapon light, a triple C cell Outback light, and an insight pocket light, and a UTG 200 Lumen weapon light. I'm afraid I'm just beginning my light whoredom.
Spouses, these make great gifts...
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