Historically, the majority of police training has focused on tools.  These tools can range from body cameras to evidence tracking software to weapons training.  There is a large emphasis with many hours spent annually on weapons training including pepper spray, less lethal munitions, batons, tasers, and firearms.  This training is important, because when these weapons are deployed it is critical that they be deployed correctly to minimize accidental harm or death.  The problem with such emphasis on weapons is reflected in the old proverb, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.”

At the U.S.N.S.T.A., we believe the most important tools for any officer are their brain and their voice.  Officers can go weeks, months, or years without discharging a firearm in the line of duty.  But they will be required to use their brain and their voice every hour of every shift.  Sadly, training of these two critical tools has been woefully underrepresented to a massive degree nationally.

We believe that the future of effective policing will require extensive training in the use of mind and voice, and as a result the U.S.N.S.T.A. is committed to providing training that covers these obvious gaps in the typical training programs in place today.  Our approach is to provide end-to-end training that is holistic in nature, covering the big picture issues that are too often overlooked.  A few examples of our different programs include the following:

Social Intelligence – Social Intelligence combines human behavior, evolutionary psychology and neuroscience to help us overcome personal biases that affect our behavior.  Strong social intelligence skills allow organizations and individuals to create – or re-create – a clear vision of their mission in an agile and resilient manner. When they find themselves in a tough spot, advanced social intelligence skills allow comfort in trying new approaches.

Communication – Of critical importance when engaging communities and their members are well-developed communication skills.  Requirements can range from dealing with the mentally ill, gaining cooperation from witnesses, providing death notifications to victims’ families, or getting a subject to peaceably cooperate to avoid the application of any force.

Techniques – To protect communities, actions need to be taken to safely remove threats to that community.  Ideally, this can will be accomplished in the safest way possible that provides minimum risk to both the officers and the subjects involved. Critical topics would include subject control, In-custody care, proficiency in critical incident responses, and tactical training including an updated officer response continuum, situational awareness, active shooter mitigation and response, and tactical decision making.

Leadership – In order for any law enforcement training system to be successful, it must have buy-in and backing from departmental leadership to reinforce the concepts being taught to the rank and file.  This is particularly true for reinforcing appropriate attitudes where you want leadership to challenge each shift to “go out there and protect our communities!” versus “go out there and take down some bad guys!”

Implementation – Any training program needs to be properly rolled out and monitored to ensure that appropriate lessons are being learned, implemented, and behaviorally embedded.  Oversight of the training rollout needs to be a structured process (Field Training) to closely monitor where and when failures occur, and to oversee the implementation of timely adjustments.