Yesterday, we had the privilege of bringing the Officer Down 2012 seminar to the NRA HQ in Fairfax, Virginia.  This was a great class with a state-of-the-art training facility.  Forty-five agencies were represented from eight states, including officers and Federal agents from DC, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Florida, New York, West Virginia and Texas who came out just for the seminar.

What a privilege to have the opportunity to get the message out about the research that has been done to the law enforcement officers who really need it.  As usual, I learned a good deal of additional information about the details of some of these cases from my students.  One of them wanted me to know that K-9 Officer Derek Kotecki did not have his K-9 partner at his side at the time he was shot and killed in Lower Burrell, PA.  Thus, like K-9 Officer Jeffrey Yaslowitz, the K-9 was not actually present at the handler's side at the time of the shooting.  

Another student asked: Why didn't Officer Yaslowitz take his K-9 into the attic with him during the search for suspect Hydra Lacy?  My opinion was that perhaps the opening was not very accessible because the officers had used a makeshift ladder to climb up into the opening that didn't accommodate the K-9.  The student told me that, in his department, they have been training their folks to lift and take the K-9 with them into confined spaces in these kinds of situations.  They hoist those tough (and probably heavy) Belgian Malinois and German Shepherds right up and into spaces like these to prevent similar outcomes!  That's great news.   It means that the lessons of Officer Yaslowitz's experience are now immortal.

Another student pointed out that few officers learn to shoot from inside their squad cars.  Several officers were killed while still seated.  Perhaps this is a training need that we should incorporate into our programs.  Some officers may not have been adequately trained in the use of the felony stop in high-risk situations, and in shooting from the seated position in particular.  One student pointed out that FLETC does teach this skill on the Federal side.  For local and state officers, another student recommended the Sig Sauer Academy course called Bullets and Vehicles.  It looks like an awesome course!  Check it out at: 
http://www.sigsaueracademy.com/Courses/ShowCourseDetails.aspx?CourseID=92 

I want to thank the NRA for their generous cost-free venue and their continuing support of law enforcement.  They treated us and the attendees like VIPs.  Dave Gledhill and his folks are the best in the biz.

Regarding the murder of Constable Brian Bachmann on Monday, I take issue with the media missing the mark on the role of mental illness in line-of-duty deaths.  They say: "The contribution of people with mental illnesses to overall rates of violence is small… the magnitude of the relationship is greatly exaggerated in the minds of the general population… according to Scientific American, severely mentally ill people account for just 3-5% of violent crimes” (Stableford, D. on Yahoo, Aug 14).

The truth is: mentally ill people kill police officers with guns at a much higher rate than most people realize.  I recently wrote a book on sixty 2011 line-of-duty murders of police officers.  Do you know how many officers were killed by mentally ill offenders with guns last year alone?  In a single year, the following officers were killed by confirmed mentally ill offenders: Deputy Suzanne Hopper, Chief Ralph Painter, Deputy Eric Stein, Officer Chris Kilcullen, Deputy Kenneth Vann, Deputy Keith Bellar, Officer Jeremy Henwood, Deputy Robert Lasso, and Deputy Rick Rhyne.  This equates to about 15% of cop-killers in 2011 who were diagnosed as mentally ill.  

However, more than 40% of the shooters were symptomatic, meaning they were clinically depressed, making suicidal statements to family and friends, actively delusional, hallucinating, or otherwise in need of immediate mental health intervention at the time they came into contact with law enforcement and killed a police officer.

I bear no ill will against the mentally ill and agree that, in general, they are a low-risk population for criminal behavior.  It is the flawed "community treatment model" that is presenting a major problem for officer survival.  Keeping severely ill folks in the community who need intensive MH treatment in an inpatient hospital setting is not a good idea.  Often, the families of these shooters agree: they could not get their loved one the treatment they needed.  

For those who may be interested, my book is called Officer Down 2012: Lessons Learned from Line-of-Duty Deaths.  You can read excerpts from the book on my website at www.dynamicpolicetraining.com.  And, my hope is to share with other officers what I have learned in my research, not just sell books.

Amazon has just partnered with me to sell Officer Down 2012!  With the ability to reach 100 million Amazon customers online, I am very excited about this partnership.

Have you had a chance to read the excerpts on this site?  What do you think?  Did I learn anything of value in my research or did I miss the mark?  Your impression is the most important one.

I have been privileged to send out a few copies of OD12 to police trainers and law enforcement supporters whom I really respect during the book launch.  These are my peers who have nothing to gain and can be honest.  One of them wrote:  

"This book goes well beyond the information provided by the FBI LEOKA... It becomes personal... We all talk about the who, what, and where but seldom why line-of-duty deaths happen...  OD12 covers that often the most important piece of the puzzle."

This is exactly the kind of information I wanted to produce for the profession.  Is he right?  You might have to read the book for yourself to find out! 

Another police trainer said I should expand my training implications sections to provide examples of officers who survived similar incidents to contrast with the officers who did not.  I am thinking about this for next year.  Although I wrote the work primarily to honor the memories of these officers and to attempt to learn from their sacrifices, I am concerned that adding a contrast with an officer who survived might be a subtle criticism.  Would this be like saying to the officers who died: "if you had done what he did, you would have lived."  I'm not sure that would be true.

What do you think?