The Officer Down seminar is coming to the metro Baltimore area.  It is being hosted by the great folks at the State of Maryland's Public Safety Education and Training Center in Sykesville, Maryland on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 from 8 am - 5 pm.  Many thanks to Dennis Murphey and Gail Treglia for making this event possible.  

I am able to offer this session at a substantial discount to the attendees courtesy of venue provided the Commissions.  Thank you again!

One of the questions I was recently asked is: what is the Officer Down seminar really about?  My answer: sharing the stories of the officers who lost their lives in 2011 and the strategies for developing training to prevent the same tragedies in 2012.  I will let the seminar speak for itself, so come and find out what I have to offer.

I hope you can join us.  You can register using the 2012 Seminars tab above.  Questions?  Contact me.

My research is showing an interesting trend with regard to police weapons that use an electrical charge to temporarily disable a suspect.  Would it surprise you to hear that Conducted Electrical Weapons (CEWs) are often used as an alternative when a police firearm is the appropriate response?  I am seeing an uptrend in officer deaths in 2011 immediately following the display or deployment of a CEW.  

I have no specific bias for or against the use of these weapons.  I did not have the privilege of being trained to use one when I was an officer, so I do not speak from experience as a certified user.  I do find their mechanism of action intriguing.  I also find the concept of being able to disable a combatant humanely and temporarily as a great alternative to the use of OC spray, with its associated risks and unpleasant after-effects to both suspects and officers.  However, despite its utility, if a CEW contributes to a police officer's death in even one incident, officers need to rethink its use.

A recent study by Jared Strote, MD and his colleagues examined the use of the CEW and the injuries it caused to suspects  in the article Conducted Electrical Weapon Use by Law Enforcement: An Evaluation of Safety and Injury (2010).  The subjects who were given the CEW were very often substance-impaired (70%) and/or had psychiatric issues (46%).  Not surprisingly, these are also characteristics of many cop-killers and others who fight police.