Author: Dave Smith

Tip: Preparing for patrol in winter weather

Dave Smith
“JD Buck Savage”

In many parts of the country, cold weather begins around Thanksgiving — well in advance of the official start of winter. In this video, Street Survival Instructor Dave Smith discusses the importance of training to use your firearm and other equipment when you’re bundled up in a winter parka and gloves, and to be sure to regularly check that equipment for adverse effects that snow and ice can have on things like firearms.

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About the Author:

As a police officer, Dave Smith has held positions in patrol, training, narcotics, SWAT, and management. Dave continues to develop new and innovative programs across the spectrum of police training needs designed to assist your agency and your personnel in meeting the challenges of policing in the new millennium. As a trainer, speaker, and consultant Dave brings with him unparalleled access to modern law enforcement trends.

Dave is now the owner of “The Winning Mind LLC,”  the Director of Video Training for PoliceOne Video and author of the new book “In My Sights.” His experiences as officer, trainer, manager, and police spouse lend a unique perspective to his signature class, “The Winning Mind.”  Visit Dave’s website at www.jdbucksavage.com.

Contact Dave Smith and Follow Dave on Twitter

Credits

Article originally posted on PoliceOne, republished with permission from Dave Smith & Associates.

The best police trainers never stop learning

Dave Smith
“JD Buck Savage”

One of the things I’ve noticed over my last few decades as a law enforcement trainer is that the good ones never stop learning. I’ve always tried to emulate that, but I must confess, sometimes it is pretty easy to just sit comfortably in my knowledge base and do training today the same way I did it yesterday.

I think that is why conferences and sites like PoliceOne are so important — they get us off our mental butts and getting us growing again.

I’d been getting behind in my reading (and growing) lately when my editor, Doug Wyllie, called to see if I was going to be on time with my article for today. I swore I would [Ed Note: Dave beat deadline by several days!] and wondered how he found out my middle name is Procrastination.

Practicing, Coaching, and Adapting

Going to my “to read” stack I had let get backed up, I grabbed a little tome I had been wanting to finish for a while and suddenly remembered why I had liked it so much.

Doug Lemov’s Practice Perfect is one of those books you can apply to your training programs, your leadership style, and your personal growth. So many times reading I would stop and think, “yep, that’s what I have been saying for years!” and a paragraph later saying to myself, “I wish I had said that!”

The premise of the book is simple, and whether you read it or not keep this mind.

Practice doesn’t make perfect, it only makes permanent. Ten thousand repetitions done improperly will leave you with a student who has some seriously bad habits. In our profession, such things can have dire consequences. Practicing correctly is the key and there are plenty of ideas in the book to help you design your training to be more effective.

But practicing isn’t the only aspect that matters in training — so, too, is how you coach the learner. Too many instructors have one method and one method only.

Being able to adapt to a learner is a sign of a great teacher. I remember a discussion several years ago with several top trainers, and we all agreed the greatest reward wasn’t how well our best cadet had done, but how our class had done (especially when we had one or two who seemed incapable of mastering almost any motor skill).

Proper practice using discrete skills, and enough repetitions, with effective feedback, can turn your apparently-hopeless trainee into a competent performer.

The problem is, we often don’t have enough time in the academy or in service training sessions to make a difference, so how we structure training and practice is very important. Getting the novice learner to a point where they can practice a skill on there is a huge step in developing skills.

Also, instilling a culture of learning and practice in our agencies is the other component that often gets ignored. Too often we just test, not train, in our in-service training. If we want learning and improving to become a basic part of our professional culture, we need to make it rewarding and not punishing, successful and not frustrating. How we design not only training but also supervision is critically important.

Continuing Education

Sergeants and supervisors have got to be considered a basic part of organizational training. They are law enforcement’s courtside coaches and should be trained to not only check paperwork but also all aspects of organization expectations including such things as officer safety, and tactics.

How many times have you watched a video of an officer getting injured or killed and wondered how did their skills get so corrupted?

I’ll tell you how — they’ve had routine erode their performance in repetition after repetition without any coaching from their sergeant. Feedback only works if it is given, and the closer to the performance it is given the more powerful the training effect!

Every activity is a repetition, and just as Lemov says in his book, “Practice all the wrong moves and your team will execute the wrong moves when it comes time to perform.”

He points out whether you are doing a skill or activity right or wrong, do enough repetitions and that skill will become a habit, and in law enforcement your habits are often the difference in life and death. Trainers and supervisors need to monitor performance and give feedback as quickly as possible to that performance.

Another key point is how that feedback or coaching is given is critical to long term success. Focusing on mistakes instead of successful performance simply leads to mistake-avoidance behavior.

The tendency to not try or grow doesn’t build a “success model” in the learner’s mind.

We are a high-risk profession and our folks need to have high levels of faith in their skills and abilities. Trainers and supervisors can play a key role. If you want to be a better trainer (and I believe all good trainers do), run over to the local library and check out Practice Perfect and be prepared to take notes.

Train hard, train safe, but always train correct technique!

 

About the Author:

As a police officer, Dave Smith has held positions in patrol, training, narcotics, SWAT, and management. Dave continues to develop new and innovative programs across the spectrum of police training needs designed to assist your agency and your personnel in meeting the challenges of policing in the new millennium. As a trainer, speaker, and consultant Dave brings with him unparalleled access to modern law enforcement trends.

Dave is now the owner of “The Winning Mind LLC,”  the Director of Video Training for PoliceOne Video and author of the new book “In My Sights.” His experiences as officer, trainer, manager, and police spouse lend a unique perspective to his signature class, “The Winning Mind.”  Visit Dave’s website at www.jdbucksavage.com.

Contact Dave Smith and Follow Dave on Twitter

Credits

Article originally posted on PoliceOne, republished with permission from Dave Smith & Associates.

Tip: Video: Applying when-then thinking to evasive driving

Dave Smith
“JD Buck Savage”

When do you need to be prepared to use evasive driving? Always, prepared, right? There’s no such thing as routine. PoliceOne Columnist Dave Smith discusses the need to have your broad external awareness focused on when/then thinking, knowing when you should take action to evade something in your path, and just as importantly, when to drive through the threat.

 

About the Author:

As a police officer, Dave Smith has held positions in patrol, training, narcotics, SWAT, and management. Dave continues to develop new and innovative programs across the spectrum of police training needs designed to assist your agency and your personnel in meeting the challenges of policing in the new millennium. As a trainer, speaker, and consultant Dave brings with him unparalleled access to modern law enforcement trends.

Dave is now the owner of “The Winning Mind LLC,”  the Director of Video Training for PoliceOne Video and author of the new book “In My Sights.” His experiences as officer, trainer, manager, and police spouse lend a unique perspective to his signature class, “The Winning Mind.”  Visit Dave’s website at www.jdbucksavage.com.

Contact Dave Smith and Follow Dave on Twitter

Credits

Article originally posted on PoliceOne, republished with permission from Dave Smith & Associates.

Ensuring your training avoids negative training scars

Dave Smith
“JD Buck Savage”

The word “artifact” has many meanings depending on its context or what profession is using it.   Museums are filled with artifacts. So are computer programs. What matters to us is that so do many of our motor programs. The dictionary describes these artifacts as method-depend results. In police lingo we call it, “Playing the way you practice!”

We all know you perform a motor program under stress exactly as you trained it and anything the learner does in the performance of that repetition during training will do it under duress.

Faulty Programmers, Faulty Programming
The problem is, when students do a skill a certain way to fulfill the criteria for measurement, the limitations of the facility — or the whim of the trainer — that student can get programmed with useless or detrimental artifacts.

Firearms’ training is filled with artifacts, from the design of ranges to courses of qualification.

Why are we standing, without cover, at seven, fifteen15, and twenty-five25 yards?

Why is a two-by-four bolted on a pole considered a barricade?

Why are some agencies still having officers shoot two and evaluate? Evaluate what?

If you do enough repetitions, this is will become an artifact that will pop up in the midst of a life-and-death struggle. We shoot until we stop the threat then we look for another…period!

Early firearms simulators simply reinforced the bad artifact of standing in the open. Worse they taught students to continue to stand, frozen in place in the open.

Today, simulators shoot back, cover is often used and video feedback is given to the officer to enhance learning and give feedback that help minimize artifacts. This is sort of the same as scrimmaging in sports to give a skill context and mitigate or eliminate any artifact the initial learning phase may have given the athlete.

In law enforcement the student is an athlete of another sort performing under extreme stress without the benefit of referees, coaches and timekeepers or even boundaries.   Our skills are performed in a purely “open” environment where sports are performed in various degrees of structure or “closed” activities.

Graphically, a continuum of activities or skills it would look something like this:

Closed Skills Open Skills
Darts Archery Basketball Soccer Hunting Policing

In darts, the instrument, the distance, and the board are all fixed. As we move down the continuum more and more ambiguity is introduced and the participant needs to have a greater and greater awareness of the outside world — there is little time for introspection or pacing, mostly recognition and reaction.

Whereas darts is one, self-paced skill, law enforcement has no line to stand at, no starting whistle, no clock to run out. There is pure ambiguity as to when a particular crisis will occur and what skill you will need when it does.

The Artifacts of Measurement
Unfortunately, traditional firearms training has been a lot closer to darts than police work. This was due to the need to acquire a training score (versus winning a life-and-death struggle on the street.

Because the artifact we are looking for in our training is a high level of performance designed to win on the street, our training should have a lot more scrimmaging than standing. The need to qualify often leaves the officer with several bad habits which are nothing more than the physical manifestations — the artifacts — of measurement.

Trainers can introduce artifacts by simply doing repetitions a certain way because of facilities or ease of observation, or by the way they measure the progress of the learning, or simply failing to have the learner do the skill in the context it will be performed.   Where does this skill occur, what are the cues that trigger it, what are cues that the performer needs to attend to, and does the officer believe in that skill?

In this day and age, we can use Airsoft, Simunition, and red man gear, to train in context…to scrimmage, and that is an essential element in the training process.   Not only does the brain learn the final parts of the “schema” of a motor program but the trainer can spot any artifacts that are being done and correct them.

Getting smacked with Simunition is a pretty good reinforcement for effectively using cover!

The goal of our training isn’t to just get a certificate or to qualify — it is to WIN on the street and WIN in life.

The trainer is in a unique position to not only provide skills to our officers, but to help them to develop and maintain a winning attitude and faith in their performance that will give our law enforcement folks the edge they need.

The main artifact of training should be a Winning Mind!

 

About the Author:

As a police officer, Dave Smith has held positions in patrol, training, narcotics, SWAT, and management. Dave continues to develop new and innovative programs across the spectrum of police training needs designed to assist your agency and your personnel in meeting the challenges of policing in the new millennium. As a trainer, speaker, and consultant Dave brings with him unparalleled access to modern law enforcement trends.

Dave is now the owner of “The Winning Mind LLC,”  the Director of Video Training for PoliceOne Video and author of the new book “In My Sights.” His experiences as officer, trainer, manager, and police spouse lend a unique perspective to his signature class, “The Winning Mind.”  Visit Dave’s website at www.jdbucksavage.com.

Contact Dave Smith and Follow Dave on Twitter

Credits

Article originally posted on PoliceOne, republished with permission from Dave Smith & Associates.

Is your inner voice a coach or critic?

Dave Smith
“JD Buck Savage”

One of the most powerful indicators of your level of self esteem is what do you say when you talk to yourself? I know this sounds pretty simplistic but it is a very important monitor for those who work in high risk professions. Our critical split-second decision making is quite simply getting what you believe you deserve.

If you think you deserve to win you will — if you believe you are a loser, you are.

The most reliable indicator of what you think about yourself is what you say to yourself.

While many think this is touchy-feely stuff, it has become an integral part of the positive psychology movement that includes the science of peak performance… winning!

Wearing your badge and gun means it is essential for you to win — not just on the street but in every aspect of your life — and anything that gives us an edge, from new flashlights, to better firearms, to mental skills that enhance performance under stress are all items we should take advantage of without hesitation.

For the next few days, monitor what you say to yourself.

Do you say “I” or “you” when talking? Do you talk about limitations (“you can’t”) or abilities (“I do”)?

Is your inner voice a coach or critic? Do you find yourself saying a lot of “I shoulds” or “I would if’s” or “why didn’t you do’s?”

All this is important in starting to improve you life and performance. We have to understand exactly where we are before we can move forward — make that commitment to improve, to be happy and more resilient.

Next, make a list of three things you want to improve and ask yourself what you would have to do to be better? Say your list is lose weight, improve your firearms scores, and spend more time with your friends.

My first question to you would be how are you going to know when you have achieved any one of these? How much weight? How much better a shot? How much time and doing what with your friends?

Actually, your list tells me more about your self criticisms rather than what you really want! Too many people are carrying a lot of baggage in their heads that others have given them to carry around.

This comes from friends, mentors, parents, coaches, teachers, supervisors, managers and others who have influence over us and if we believe them we can find ourselves with limiting or destructive beliefs about ourselves.

Sometimes those who think they are helping us are actually hurting us. The first week of the academy we used to tell all the women cadets to buy a grip strength exerciser since the firearms coordinator felt that the reason that so many women failed or performed poorly at the range was because of grip strength.

In talking with one of my favorite professors of sports psychology about women and firearms, she admonished me that shooting should be a positive experience for the women because it’s a fine motor skill. Our academy at the time was turning it into a negative.

When she heard we asked the female recruits to buy an exerciser without ever testing their grip strength, she scolded me that I had just told every woman in the class I thought they were weak. The ones that trusted me the most would be the most injured. Imagine their self talk!

During the next recruit class we emphasized how fun firearms was and that everyone would do well, and suddenly we had the first perfect score ever shot by a woman and the females mean score was one point higher than the males.

The class itself shot the highest class score in our academy history.

If a cadet was shooting poorly, I am confident her self talk was, “I can do better, I can squeeze the trigger more smoothly,” and her performance followed her talk!

Practice Positive Self Talk
So here are some action steps after you have evaluated your self talk. First, actively practice positive self talk. Emphasize what you can do and improve what you think you need to improve by determining measurable goals. Nothing disables self esteem like unreachable goals or expectations.

Improve your shooting score ten points this month, lose ten pounds this month, get back into that sport or activity you did with your friends this season, and understand failing to do these may be indicative of bad techniques, lack of discipline, or outside circumstances, but scolding or denigrating yourself isn’t the answer, saying to yourself you’ve learned from that and now going forward I do this!

Next time we will explore structured self talk exercises and cards, but until then, keep it positive and believe you deserve to win!

 

About the Author:

As a police officer, Dave Smith has held positions in patrol, training, narcotics, SWAT, and management. Dave continues to develop new and innovative programs across the spectrum of police training needs designed to assist your agency and your personnel in meeting the challenges of policing in the new millennium. As a trainer, speaker, and consultant Dave brings with him unparalleled access to modern law enforcement trends.

Dave is now the owner of “The Winning Mind LLC,”  the Director of Video Training for PoliceOne Video and author of the new book “In My Sights.” His experiences as officer, trainer, manager, and police spouse lend a unique perspective to his signature class, “The Winning Mind.”  Visit Dave’s website at www.jdbucksavage.com.

Contact Dave Smith and Follow Dave on Twitter

Credits

Article originally posted on PoliceOne, republished with permission from Dave Smith & Associates.

The deadly dangers of ‘detraining’

Dave Smith
“JD Buck Savage”

Who’s training you?

One of the big issues I have argued about over the years is what is — and what isn’t — training. I have had many “experts” say video training isn’t training, or a class on mindset isn’t training.

We don’t do any repetitions, we don’t practice, so it isn’t training, they argue.

These folks are confusing the verb “training” with the noun “training.”

Training (the noun) is defined as the long-term modification of behavior. If I have you do hundreds of repetitions and hours of training (the verb) in the academy we can say you have learned this skill or that tactic, but is it training in the long run?

If the first “high level operator” you work with says to you “standing to the side of a door when knocking isn’t macho” or “wearing a seatbelt isn’t tactical,” and it changes the way you stand at a door or drive a vehicle, all of the repetitions are for naught, and the fool has been the more effective trainer with a single sentence!

Observational Learning
It is easy to diagnose what this officer did wrong or that deputy should have done to survive but often what they did reflects the effects of the many things that change our behaviors, train us, or in some ways detrain us.

Routine is perhaps the deadliest of these “detrainers” in our lives.

Familiarity truly does breed contempt for the various risks and threats we face; and every time we get away with turning our gun side to a subject, or do poor or no searches on our arrestees, it is a powerful repetition that , if not corrected by some feedback such as a good fight for your life, will become a habit, which means the bad behaviors will be done by you every time!

Supervisors should always be seeing themselves as a powerful feedback mechanism to correct an officer’s behavior back to the appropriate level of performance. When I review a video of an officer injured or killed and I see one bad habit after the other I wonder why no one cared enough to challenge that behavior, that deadly habit. Remember, if you don’t challenge a destructive behavior you are an enabler.

Once an officer is detrained by routine, others will observe their new bad habits and learn from that. Observational learning is a powerful and insidious enemy of good tactics. Humans watch and learn and our brains don’t discern good from bad very often, they just learn and change.

I often watch a television show and laugh as the hero kicks her assailants butt with great sweeping slow punches while simultaneously drawing her firearm and shooting two additional ones without even raising her weapon to eye level. I wonder how many people thought you could make a bullet curve after watching the movie “Wanted?”

How many times have you seen an officer handcuffing a suspect in a lackadaisical manner with a technique we might best describe as “half-assed” and wonder how they learned it. That perception is key because it is the technique that they have been ultimately “trained” to do, it is what they do, and all the academy training, the in-service practice, all of it is moot!

The Informal Leader
The next deadly trainer in law enforcement is the informal leader who either is detrained, macho, or foolish. The wall has many names of officers who fell because with a simple sentence or mocking phrase, the informal leader is able destroy weeks or months of training.
I remember as a young officer being mocked for wearing body armor back in 1975 by a large strapping veteran who said it would make us reckless and he could deal with a .357 without one. He implied anyone who wore one was a wimp!

I just replied every time I put on my vest I was reminded someone, somewhere wants to test my vest and I would be ready.

I know many of you expect me to tell you he was shot a year later or some such thing but it seems luck sometimes favors the stupid and the fellow had a long career marked by foolish tactics and actions that endangered other officer, but his words never improved and I often wondered how many youngsters were detrained by his influence.

The challenge is to ask yourself who has truly trained you? Do you still do the good tactics you trained to do or did some other influence change your behavior, your tactics, your habits, for the worse?  If you replay your last traffic stop in your mind, do you see yourself doing anything foolish?

Not Today
Finally, I want to challenge all you supervisors to think about the various influences on your people and your role in being the antidote for the negative training that occurs. Sergeants are the natural extension of verb “training” throughout on officer’s career.

Feedback modifies behavior and the closer to the repetition, the more effective the feedback. If one of your deputies keeps turning his back on violators, challenge that behavior, go to BLUtube and review a video of an officer getting in a confrontation because of that behavior.

Correct it , challenge it, don’t enable it.

Remember, the negative trainers — such as routine or foolish peers — are relentless in their training and it can only be countered by good training and coaching. A good supervisor sees their role as coaching for excellence and survival.

We keep safe by maintaining our good tactics and skills and it seems so often the world conspires to erode them so we have to decide to actively resist. Risk is everywhere, so remember, on every traffic stop, on every building search, on every arrest, think, “Not Today!”

 

About the Author:

As a police officer, Dave Smith has held positions in patrol, training, narcotics, SWAT, and management. Dave continues to develop new and innovative programs across the spectrum of police training needs designed to assist your agency and your personnel in meeting the challenges of policing in the new millennium. As a trainer, speaker, and consultant Dave brings with him unparalleled access to modern law enforcement trends.

Dave is now the owner of “The Winning Mind LLC,”  the Director of Video Training for PoliceOne Video and author of the new book “In My Sights.” His experiences as officer, trainer, manager, and police spouse lend a unique perspective to his signature class, “The Winning Mind.”  Visit Dave’s website at www.jdbucksavage.com.

Contact Dave Smith and Follow Dave on Twitter

Credits

Article originally posted on PoliceOne, republished with permission from Dave Smith & Associates.

Tip: Police trainer’s reading list: Recommended books for cops on fear, women veterans and more

Dave Smith
“JD Buck Savage”

What’s on police trainer Dave “JD Buck Savage” Smith‘s night stand? A bottle of water, a Glock 17, and these five books.

1.) Flourish by Dr. Martin Seligman
Flourish illustrates the concept of Positive Psychology using stories, including one about how the entire U.S. Army is now trained in emotional resilience.

2.) Good Boss, Bad Boss by Robert Sutton Ph.D.
Good Boss, Bad Boss reveals the mindset of some of the best and worst bosses. Applicable to anyone who works in a team, a central theme is built upon an examination of the way great leaders stay in tune with the reactions they get from their charges, superiors and peers.

3.) The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
The Power of Habit takes a close look at successful people and how they achieved that success by studying and applying the patterns that shape life.

4.) When Janey Comes Marching Home: Portraits of Women Combat Veterans by Laura Browder
A collection of 48 photographs of women veterans accompanies stories from all five branches of the military of American women making sacrifices in the line of duty.

5.) The Science of Fear by Daniel Gardner
Irrational fear can have tragic results. In a look at how people assess risk in a modern age of seemingly looming threats at every corner, Gardner says we shouldn’t fear – but do anyway.

 

About the Author:

As a police officer, Dave Smith has held positions in patrol, training, narcotics, SWAT, and management. Dave continues to develop new and innovative programs across the spectrum of police training needs designed to assist your agency and your personnel in meeting the challenges of policing in the new millennium. As a trainer, speaker, and consultant Dave brings with him unparalleled access to modern law enforcement trends.

Dave is now the owner of “The Winning Mind LLC,”  the Director of Video Training for PoliceOne Video and author of the new book “In My Sights.” His experiences as officer, trainer, manager, and police spouse lend a unique perspective to his signature class, “The Winning Mind.”  Visit Dave’s website at www.jdbucksavage.com.

Contact Dave Smith and Follow Dave on Twitter

Credits

Article originally posted on PoliceOne, republished with permission from Dave Smith & Associates.

Tip: Lose your sight, lose the fight

Dave Smith
“JD Buck Savage”

If you wear glasses or contact lenses at work, make sure you have a second pair of glasses readily available to you at all times.  If your glasses become damaged or you lose a contact lens, you need to immediately get your sight back and a “back up” pair of glasses will make that happen.  If you’re a day shifter and you wear prescription sunglasses, make sure you always have your “clear” glasses (and a flashlight) with you as well.

 

About the Author:

As a police officer, Dave Smith has held positions in patrol, training, narcotics, SWAT, and management. Dave continues to develop new and innovative programs across the spectrum of police training needs designed to assist your agency and your personnel in meeting the challenges of policing in the new millennium. As a trainer, speaker, and consultant Dave brings with him unparalleled access to modern law enforcement trends.

Dave is now the owner of “The Winning Mind LLC,”  the Director of Video Training for PoliceOne Video and author of the new book “In My Sights.” His experiences as officer, trainer, manager, and police spouse lend a unique perspective to his signature class, “The Winning Mind.”  Visit Dave’s website at www.jdbucksavage.com.

Contact Dave Smith and Follow Dave on Twitter

Credits

Article originally posted on PoliceOne, republished with permission from Dave Smith & Associates.

Are you ready to retire?

 

Dave Smith
“JD Buck Savage”

Law enforcement is a family. No doubt about it, once you are initiated into the fraternity of warrior men and women you feel the sense of it, the pull of it everywhere you go. If you are “on the job” you instantly have rapport with hundreds of thousands of folks anywhere you go, from San Diego to Halifax, from Hamburg to Orlando. From your hometown to mine, the sense of belonging is a comforting certainty you will enjoy the rest of your life… or will you?

I was talking with my friend Jim Gerien — NYPD retired — about this very issue at a recent Street Survival Seminar. “Once a cop, always a cop, except once you’re retired you are expected to move on. ‘On the job, you’re the best, off the job, you’re a pest!’ is an NYPD homily meant to remind everyone of that very fact,” Jim explained of his beloved NYPD. Jim and the folks at NYPD have a very solid support structure for retirees to feel connected and not suffer the brutal sense of separation so many report upon “leaving the family” upon retirement.

Yet even with those support services, some have a hard time letting go of that sense of belonging, and the vast majority of you will not have anything like the NYPD has to ease you into retirement. It’s going to be up to you. Also, it doesn’t matter if you have a “countdown to retirement clock” on your computer screen or just don’t want to think about it because you are enjoying the job too much to consider the idea of leaving, the day will come when you leave this profession as an active participant.

Believe me, it will be stressful, so start planning today.

Think of the outside activities you enjoy and keep building on them. Think about the next job you might like to have when you “grow up.”

Many of you will go into other law enforcement endeavors, some will go into other professions, and some of you will just kick back and start the tough mission of being the adventurous retired. Know that this changes things. It changes your relationships, your routines, and your life in many ways you cannot imagine today, and that is where the need to develop a plan that makes it as pain free as possible.

The healthy way to transition is to make your retirement just that — a transition. Make it a path to a new adventure in your life and not an ending. Your friends will still be your friends but understand the nature of the change in your relationship. Showing unexpectedly up at briefing with donuts can become a little creepy if you overdo it, so don’t. Make your friends still on the job at your old agency envy your life — don’t sit around and envy them.

Get ready for your next adventure — your next path in life and please by happy. For those of you with friends retired or retiring, stay supportive and never fail to heed a call for help from a former colleague. We are still family.

 

About the Author:

As a police officer, Dave Smith has held positions in patrol, training, narcotics, SWAT, and management. Dave continues to develop new and innovative programs across the spectrum of police training needs designed to assist your agency and your personnel in meeting the challenges of policing in the new millennium. As a trainer, speaker, and consultant Dave brings with him unparalleled access to modern law enforcement trends.

Dave is now the owner of “The Winning Mind LLC,”  the Director of Video Training for PoliceOne Video and author of the new book “In My Sights.” His experiences as officer, trainer, manager, and police spouse lend a unique perspective to his signature class, “The Winning Mind.”  Visit Dave’s website at www.jdbucksavage.com.

Contact Dave Smith and Follow Dave on Twitter

Credits

Article originally posted on PoliceOne, republished with permission from Dave Smith & Associates.

Tip: Video: Give closure to dispatchers after critical incidents

Dave Smith
“JD Buck Savage”

Dispatchers, like all other law enforcement personnel, can suffer from emotional issues as a result of their involvement in critical incidents. By including your dispatchers in debriefs, you can improve teamwork and communications, as well as provide feedback and closure essential to emotional survival.

BLUtube is powered by PoliceOne.com
 

About the Author:

As a police officer, Dave Smith has held positions in patrol, training, narcotics, SWAT, and management. Dave continues to develop new and innovative programs across the spectrum of police training needs designed to assist your agency and your personnel in meeting the challenges of policing in the new millennium. As a trainer, speaker, and consultant Dave brings with him unparalleled access to modern law enforcement trends.

Dave is now the owner of “The Winning Mind LLC,”  the Director of Video Training for PoliceOne Video and author of the new book “In My Sights.” His experiences as officer, trainer, manager, and police spouse lend a unique perspective to his signature class, “The Winning Mind.”  Visit Dave’s website at www.jdbucksavage.com.

Contact Dave Smith and Follow Dave on Twitter

Credits

Article originally posted on PoliceOne, republished with permission from Dave Smith & Associates.