I spent most of last week at a conclave of police trainers at the High Liability Instructor seminar at the Pat Thomas police training academy in Tallahassee.  Tonight finds me in Orlando at the annual convention of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).  Earlier today I spoke on a panel dedicated to the reduction of officer casualties, along with Sgt. Marcus Young (retired from Ukiah, CA PD) and Lt. Adam Kasanof (retired from NYPD), chaired by Dr. Fabrice Czarnecki, one of IACP’s top medical consultants.

It pleases me to see chiefs taking an interest in this. There is a public perception that bosses everywhere are faceless automatons who care nothing for their underlings, but the fact is, supervisor is to subordinate as parent is to child in some ways, including responsibility for their welfare. Because so many chiefs started as patrolmen and have DONE the job they now oversee, I get a strong sense from these top cops of a deep commitment to the safety and well-being of their personnel.

I was particularly gratified to see a lot of cross-trained medical personnel in our panel’s audience, including a number of SWAT MDs.  These are full-fledged physicians with the latest training in treatment of life-threatening trauma. They roll with the SWAT teams, not just to save the lives of wounded officers but to save the lives of injured victims they rescue from hostage takers, and even the wounded perpetrators once the fight is over.

It’s a huge convention: there are several thousand in attendance.  For perspective, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a police trainers’ conference hit a thousand attendees. There are some names you’d recognize among that sea of officers, from Bill Bratton, now-retired chief of NYPD and later LAPD, to Gunnery Sergeant Lee Ermey, who was giving autographs at the Glock booth in the vast police equipment expo section.

I met some old friends and some new ones – the sort of networking that such conferences are all about – and expect to meet more this week.  I ain’t a chief, but whatever level you’re at in the hierarchy, you’re in the same business.

There was lots of cool stuff in the Expo hall. Mini-helicopter for patrol, anyone?

Local mounted patrol greets a visitor.

Panel, from left: Mas, Fabrice Czarnecki, Marcus Young, Adam Kasanof.

1 COMMENT

  1. Just curious, any sense in changing attitudes among chief LEOs regarding CCW?

    I know here in Ohio, the rank and file LEOs seem to be over-whelming in favor and supportive of our CCW here, but the medium to large metro chief LEOs are still often against it – even after 200,000+ CCWs and 6-7 years of stats that don’t back up many concerns that have been expressed.

    Personally, I think there really has been a fundamental shift in the thoughts on firearms and the second amendment in the last decade among the general population – in a positive direction.

    Hopefully, among all the improvements in LEO training and equipment, the cruisers are continuing to improve – since auto accidents still seem to be a big taker of good LEOs.

    Thanks for your continued work and writing…

  3. Yakima Kid, I’m no judge of horseflesh, sorry. This particular conference is in Orlando, and while I didn’t check the shoulder patches, I’m guessing the mounted unit members were from OPD.

    Dann, I am indeed getting some positive feedback on that, and will be discussing it in a future blog entry. Stay tuned.

    best,
    Mas

  4. Hi Mas,
    Sorry, whenever I press the tab key the stupid computer thinks I am done and it sends the message.
    When I took my photography course I was taught to center the must important object unless there was a good reason to offset the object.
    Now in that first picture the copter is barely discernable, my eye went straight to the most important part of the picture.
    As for Lee Ermey, I used to think of him as a man’s man. Now that he has been doing those stupid commercials for that un-named insurance company, well we know what we call a woman who will do anything for money.
    Best,
    Randy

  5. Really, Randolph? Is that all you can come up with is calling Ermey a whore for doing one Geico commercial? The commercial was very funny and totally within character. I really have to think, Randolph, that you can find something more meaningful to do with your time.

  6. For Jon,
    It wasn’t just one tv commercial. He has done a couple for radio too. I have his whole set of Mail Call dvds as well as the bloopers. Ermey has made his living with his shtick and that’s ok. I have seen many of his movies as well. I especially liked Switchback and of course Full Metal Jacket. It pains me to see him do a crummy commercial for a second rate car insurance co. I believe he is hurting his image. If he wants to do commercials he should have a talk with his publicist and see about doing some he man commercials like tires or after shave etc. I believe he has done commercials for Glock. Being associated with a lizard really is beneath him and only hurts his image. Sorry if you were offended. I call them the way I see them.
    Regards,
    Randy

  7. I honestly don’t see how he’s hurting his image. That commercial for Geiko was hilarious and spot on with his schtick.

    I have no interest in the insurance (I have USAA, after all), but I still liked his work in that ad. Very well done.

  8. If R. Lee Ermey wants to sell pink hot-pants to the ladies, that’s perfectly O.K. with me. If I see him in a reversible-mortgage commercial, though, Ill dump him from my Christmas card list, along with Fred Thompson!

  10. Randolph, as a photographer, I can say that whoever gave you the advice to center the most important object was certainly off base. Without getting into a photo composition lecture, the basic principle is to offset the primary object to one side or the other (or top or bottom) a bit. I call the desire to center everything the “Bull’s Eye Syndrome.” I suppose if you were a rank amateur and were handed a camera for the first time then the advice to center might be acceptable, however, teaching this to anyone else is bad. Google the “rule of thirds” for some excellent advice on the subject.

    As to your comments regarding Lee Ermey, why not just keep them to yourself. They can do nothing but incite. I find it best to just keep quite when I don’t agree with someone. It’s like walking into a biker bar and yelling “Harleys suck.”

    Mas, any chance you’ll be coming to Wisconsin any time soon? You are certainly on my bucket list of people that I’d like to shake hands with.

  12. First, I will be looking forward to any observations you can offer regarding LEO Chiefs and their changing attitudes on citizen CCW. Every time there is a national debate regarding some form of firearm restriction, their attitudes seem to be trotted out to reinforce the biases of the Left (and the Anti-Gun Organizations),
    “All the Police Chiefs across the nation favor it (gun control/restriction/confiscation – take your pick).

    Second, regarding R. Lee Ermey, I find his commercials on behalf of GEICO to be funny. Yes, I use GEICO (and have even before he became one of the spokemen for the organization). I don’t us USAA (I’m a retired NCO and I retired before NCOs were allowed to join – so I don’t qualify). I have other disagreements with a couple of the other major Auto Insurance Firms so GEICO will have to be my Insurance Carrier for the time being.

    Thanks for the insights that you regularly offer through this forum…