GETTING INSIDE COPS’ HEADS

Most folks who haven’t done the police job just don’t seem to understand how cops think. Generations of Hollywood interpretations seem to have given the public a terribly skewed image of the police profession.

It helps to read what articulate longtime cops have committed to writing about their job. Dave Smith began his career with the Tucson Police, moving on to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, en route to becoming one of the most inspirational police instructors in the history of The Job. He created the persona of bumbling trooper “JD ‘Buck’ Savage,” sort of a cult figure in law enforcement, and proved that it is indeed possible to deliver positive teaching by negative example. A collection of Dave’s short essays titled “In My Sights” is a great starting place to see the humor and the tragedy, and the gamut of emotions from “in pursuit” to “on the carpet,” that shape a police career. “In My Sights” is $15 from Xlibris Corporation at 1-888-795-4274.

Another old friend is Phil Messina, best known for the years he served as a decoy for muggers as an NYPD cop. A lifelong martial artist, this gave him ample chance to practice his craft, much to the dismay of countless muggers who discovered they had suffered a sudden and acu

te failure of the victim selection process. After leaving NYPD, Phil opened the Modern Warrior dojo on Long Island. It’s not your average martial arts studio: Phil fitted it out to duplicate everything from an indigenous New York alley to foggy streets for realistic self-defense training.

Phil’s book “Warrior 101,” its foreword written by Col. Dave Grossman, is a serious treatment of combative mindset that ties in the ways of the ancient ones with the rulesthat have to be followed in today’s society. Not so much a police book as a guide to those who face evil in all its forms, it nonetheless encompasses a philosophy that helps the reader understand some of the decisions that must be made by those who are society’s dedicated centurions. It’s $19.95 from www.modernwarrior.com.

I’ve known both men for many years. We often teach at the same venues, and Phil and I served together for some time on the ethics committee of the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers.  Both have dedicated their careers to keeping good cops alive. There is much in what they write that is of like benefit to both the police, and the citizens they serve.