CRIMINAL JUSTICE NEWS

This month's newsletter focuses on terrorism and training. We welcome to the newsletter Corporal David Blosser who wrote an outstanding article on SWAT training and mindset.

As SWAT Officers we train for and prepare to provide a tactical resolution to a variety of high risk incidents. Ultimately SWAT must be prepared to use their training, equipment, and expertise to go head to head with an armed suspect(s). This is where there are no second chances, and very limited time to act. How then do we prepare ourselves to think on our feet, make quick decisions, and have the winning mindset?

Our traditional firearms training has placed the focus on how to shoot. It is now time to place our focus on improving our performance in applying our skills in real life deadly force encounters.

A variety of counter-terrorism-based educational and technical assistance resources are available to law enforcement professionals and other first responders. Knowing what educational outlets exist and where to turn for technical assistance can help you and your agency prepare for or respond to a terrorist incident..

The Counter-Terrorism Training Coordination Working Group convended by the U.S. Department of Justice Programs maintains a website dedicated to providing counter-terrorism tools to law enforcement and first responders.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) promotes the National Response Plan (NRP) as a comprehensive all-hazards approach to enhance the ability of the United States to manage domestic incidents . However, the federal, state and local response to Katrina should have every first responder asking serious questions.

Earlier articles in this series pointed out that it is more likely we will have to work through a major natural disaster than a human caused terrorist event. Although serious debriefing on the response to Katrina has yet to take place, we should use the event as impetus to explore the NRP. In essence, we should get ready in our own communities.

Using poker as analogy for leadership, Captain Andrew Harvey, CPD (ret.), PhD and Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA found the right mix of practical experience and academic credentials to write a definitive book for leaders. Working together, Harvey and Foster have written Leadership: Texas Hold em Style. Most often leaders find they are given a set of resources people, equipment, funds, experience and a mission. As Foster noted, You are dealt a certain hand. How you play that hand as a leader determines your success.

On March 1, 2006, the authors signed a publishing contract with Quill Driver Books/Wood Dancer Press of Sanger, California. The book will go into production in early April and is anticipated to print in September. Harvey, whose previous book The Call to Lead: How Ordinary People become Extraordinary Leaders, said of the current work, Learning to be a better leader is one of the most important things a person can do, because the implications are so far- reaching, in ways both personal and professional. However, trying to make your way through the current works in the field can be a daunting experience. In our book we have used the game of poker as a fun and different way to view leadership

Foster, whose latest work was Police Technology added, Poker, and card games in general, gave us a rich source of metaphor and analogy. We were able to examine and explain leadership concepts and tools from a unique perspective. Harvey added, You dont even have to be a poker player to get a great experience from this book. The book is academically sound and the focus is on giving current and aspiring leaders practical tools that can be put to use immediately, with emphasis on common sense, logic, and a true care and concern for people.

An additional innovation with the book is the fully integrated companion website. At the same time the book is in production, the authors are developing supplemental material that compliments the book.

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