Rob R Morris

FACT: Change is difficult and change is not always welcome.

FACT: An entrenched belief system of, “That’s the way we have always done it…” will get you or someone killed.

SOLUTION: We have to change. We have to learn from our past mistakes. Tactics evolve and so should we. We also have to understand the everchanging world that we operate in.

SOLUTION: We need to base our training and tactics in science; how our brains work and process information under stress. We need to create training programs based in contemporary philosophy and doctrine. We have to choose the appropriate tactics for the given mission. 

FACT: Police use of force incidents are rare instances relative to the total number of police/citizen contacts. Even so, use of force incidents never look good to the average citizen. The optics are terrible.

FACT: Police officers in general are grossly undertrained in use of force concepts (firearms, defensive tactics, decision making, critical incident response, etc.). Police training programs are often a “check the box” formality to remain in compliance with state mandates. 

SOLUTION: If we want police officers to make better decisions in critical incidents, we must train them better. Training must be purposeful and be based in science and facts known about human performance norms. 

SOLUTION: Training programs must be designed based on real world data. We must analyze use of force incidents and identify fact patterns of behavior for both officers and suspects. Data collected from use of force incidents must be fed back into training programs with the goal of training out undesirable officer patterns of behavior.

FACT: Most states in this country have gone through some recent version of police reform. Some states have been impacted more than others. Either way, legislation is constantly changing. These legislative changes affect the way police officers conduct business. Policing in this country today is confusing to say the least. 

FACT: Legislative changes mean our agency policies must be constantly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in law. Something as simple as a definition change could greatly impact an officer’s legal ability to use force. Failing to keep up with these changes or not educating officers properly could be catastrophic for an agency. Not only could an agency be civilly liable, but agencies could jeopardize their state certification/accreditation. 

SOLUTION: Agency policies must regularly be reviewed and updated to remain in compliance with legislative updates.

SOLUTION:  Officers must be educated on legislative changes that impact the way they operate. Training programs must be built with mindfulness of these legislative changes to reinforce a true understanding of the law. Officers operate in tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving events and make split second decisions to use force, including deadly force. Understanding of the law is vital to our success.

FACT: The world is a violent place. Politics aside, murder rates and rates of violent crimes are at an all-time high across this country. Police officers and tactical teams are forced to respond to these incidents on a regular basis. Mass shooting/killings continue to happen, however, many end with an ambush on responding officers. That is a new trend that we should be preparing for.

FACT: Police officer performance (on average) during high stress, novel, critical incidents is less than desirable. Most police officers / agencies are not prepared to respond to or handle a large scale critical incident. We are constantly being reminded of this fact when we watch news coverage of the latest active shooter, hostage, or response to suicidal person. There is a clear breakdown because we are actually smarter and better equipped than we have ever been, yet we still perform less than favorably. Why is that? How is that?

SOLUTION: We can’t stop these large scale critical incidents from happening. All we can do is prepare for them. We must understand critical vulnerability points within a society (schools, malls, restaurants, work places, etc.) and anticipate these violent novel events. We must have comprehensive training programs to prepare for a response and quick solution. This needs to be trained to the line-level first responders, first supervisors, middle managers, command staff, mutual aid deployment and integration, and media relations. When we fail during these incidents, it’s usually a failure at multiple levels and always contains a failure of leadership.

SOLUTION: Training is paramount. Tactics must be based in science and philosophy. We must deploy tactics that actually work in high stress situations, based on priorities and our ability to process information (think and make decisions).