Trainer's Bullpen: Recent Episodes
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A free expert resource for Law Enforcement Trainers to talk about safety and risk management training Welcome to the Trainer's Bullpen where trainers in Law Enforcement come to hear experts talk about their work, experience, and research into human performance, particularly as it relates to the critical aspects of training motor learning and crisis decision-making. The purpose of the Trainer’s Bullpen is to help bridge the gap between current law enforcement training and the findings of academic research and pedagogical best practices.
Welcome to Episode # 33 of the Trainers Bullpen, the ‘’How We Learn to Move series– Part 2"
Rob Gray is a psychology professor and researchpsychologist with a focus on perceptual-motor control in driving, aviation, and sports. He also hosts the Perception & Action Podcast, is the author of two books, including two bestsellers on the acquisition of movement skills ‘How We Learn To Move’ and ‘Learning to Optimize Movement’, and he serves as the Skill Acquisition Specialist for the Boston Red Sox.
In this interview, Dr. Gray addresses key concepts from chapters 3 and 4 of ‘How We Learn To Move’ and he delves into the importance of movement variability andthe degrees of freedom of movement, which sets the foundation for the entire training design and coaching and the instructional model that follows. Rob explains the two predominant schools of thought on this issue - the information processing model and the self-organization model - and illustrates their differences using examples from sports domains.
Topics discussed in this interview include information processing model, self-organization model, explanation of ‘Freedom Through Constraints’, Newell’s alternative view of how to execute and learn motor skills, why actions are not caused by constraints, and the three types of constraints in the self-organization system.
This interview contains practical insights on how trainers should design and apply training based on research from ecological dynamics and constraints-led approach to enhance movement variability, promote self-organization, and create conditions for better perception, decision making, and performance in learners.
Listeners are strongly encouraged to read chapters 3 and 4 of How We Learn To Move to bolster your understanding of these important motor learning principles.
Previous episodes on the Trainer's Bullpen contain research papers relating to these concepts that you can access and download for free at www.trainersbullpen.com
Rob Gray is a psychology professor and research psychologist with a focus on perceptual-motor control in driving, aviation, and sports. He also hosts thePerception & Action Podcast, is the author of two books, including a bestseller on learning movement skills, and serves as the Skill Acquisition Specialist for the Boston Red Sox.
In this interview, Rob Gray discusses key aspects from chapters 1 and 2 of his best-selling book: ‘How We Learn to Move’. Dr. Gray provides valuable insights for trainerslooking improve their motor learning design and reduce the risk of injury. He challenges the traditional approach to motor skill training and emphasizes the importance of embracing contextual variability in the training environment.
Topics covered in this podcast include Dr. Gray’s background that led to the conceptualization and success of his book, The ‘Myth’ of the One Correct Repeatable Technique, the importance of variability in movement for skilled performance, how constraints impact movement variability, and the relationship between variability and adaptability.
This interview contains practical insights on how trainers should rethink traditional ‘technique-based’ motor skill training methods and embrace a nonlinear ecological methodology to improve their training design, enhance learning, retention and transfer, and reduce the risk of injury.
Welcome to Episode 31 of the Trainer’s Bullpen, ‘Motor Learning Feedback’ with Dr. Tim Lee.
The type of feedback that a trainer or coach gives their students and the manner in which that feedback is provided is of critical importance to the effective of how well motor skills are acquired, retained and transferred.
The most common type of feedback that is often applied in the law enforcement motor skill learning environment is described as ‘quick and corrective’. That is, the trainer views mistakes and errors as enemies and therefore is very quick to step in and provide feedback when the student is struggling. In addition, the feedback that is usually provided is highly corrective ‘this is what you aredoing wrong, this is what you need to do to correct it, now do that’.
Ironically, while most prevalent, this type of feedback has been demonstrated to result in the worst retention and transfer of movement skills to the ‘real world’.
In this interview, Motor Learning expert, researcher, accomplished author and coach for the Titleist Performance Institute, Dr. Tim Lee will discuss the impact of feedback and the methods of feedback that trainers should consider in order to optimize the learning potential of their students.
In this interview we discuss:
· The different types of feedback – Inherent and Augmented
· Using knowledge of results rather than knowledge of performance feedback
· The importance of student motivation and how feedback can either bolster, or impair, student motivation
· The relationship between feedback types and the students focus of attention
· The danger of creating students who are ‘feedback dependent’ and how to avoid this from happening
· The use of video as a feedback tool
· The timing of feedback – hint – delayed feedback is usually optimal
· Bandwidth feedback – what it is and how to apply it to really maximize your feedback potential for motor learning.
Have your pen and paper ready. This interview contains very important information to help you advance your tradecraft as a trainer!
As a reminder, all resources, documents and links are available to you at www.trainersbullpen.com
Dr. Tim Lee can be contacted at scapps@mcmaster.ca
In this episode, we welcome back to the show, Dr. Paul Taylor. Paul is a Professor at University of Colorado Denver where he studies decision-making, human factors, and system safety in the context of police interactions with the public. He has over ten years of practical law enforcement experience including time as a departmenttraining manager, patrol sergeant, and use-of-force instructor. Paul is the founder of the Association of Force Investigators and has delivered law enforcement related instruction for academy, field training, and advanced in-service audiences as well as graduate andundergraduate level courses. Paul is actively engaged in law enforcement research and training across the United States and internationally.
In this interview you will learn about a fascinating study with important training implications that was conducted on the ability, or more accurately, the lack of ability, ofofficers to effectively and efficiently transition between their sidearm and the Taser or between their Taser and their sidearm under time compressed events.
The ability for officers to have the requisite motor skill to be able to conduct these transitions is very important for officer and public safety. This study identifiessignificant gaps in performance and helps further our understanding of how to improve our training design and delivery to ensure we enable our officers to developthese essential skills.
As a reminder, the research paper referenced in this interview is appended to the show notes and free to download over at the Trainers Bullpen website at www.trainersbullpen.com
Law enforcement trainers frequently stress the importance of Situational Awareness or 'SA'. But what even is it? If you ask a room full of trainers, you will get asmany varied answers as there are people in the room! And yet, situational awareness in other domains has been found to be the hallmark of expert performance. Experts have developed ways of rapidly assessing an unfolding, often ambiguous event, and knowing what to anticipate, where to scan, how to understand what they are seeing, and are then able to make the most effectivedecisions to solve the problem.
In this interview, Dr’s Huhta and Di Nota will discuss the research they conducted on expert performers and their situational awareness patterns in law enforcement.The paper which serves as the foundation for this discussion is titled “Deriving Expert Knowledge of Situational Awareness in Policing: a Mixed-Methods Study” and was published in the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology in 2023.
In this interview, we explore:
· The importance of situationalawareness,
· The definition of situationalawareness – what does it mean?
· How experts actually attend to andprocess unfolding incidents,
· Differences between how experts andnovices scan and assess a scene,
· The 7 themes of expert situationalawareness,
· Considerations for structuring alearning environment to assist students with the skill of developing situationalawareness expertise,
· Accelerating ‘game intelligence’ intraining by applying the principles of the 7 S/A themes.
As a reminder, the publication we are speaking about in this interview is available for download over at the Trainers Bullpen website at www.trainersbullpen.com
According to a national survey of police mental health, astaggering 90% of police officers affected by stress reported stigma as a barrier to seeking mental health support.
In this very important interview, Senior Lecturer,Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Manchester Metropolitan University, Dr. Mariana Kaiseler, discusses the research that she and colleagueshave published specifically pertaining to the stress of police work and the many training, policy and leadershipimplications that need to be considered in order to help advance police officer mental health and resilience.
Two research papers used as the foundation for this interview are Ambulatory Assessment of Psychophysiological Stress among Police Officerspublished in the journal of Occupational Health, and Transitioning from Recruit to Officer: An Investigation of how Stress Appraisal and Coping Influence WorkEngagement.
In this interview, we discuss:
· Why stress is, or ought to be, such a concernfor police trainers and agency leadership,
· Chronic vs acute stress and the relationship between them.
· The shocking reality that it is actually not theacute stress of incidents that officer encounter that put them at greatest risk of harm to their mental wellness, but organizational stress.
· The deficiencies of organizational supports thatare critical to help keep officers resilient and mentally healthy.
· How the policing ‘culture’ causes officers to bereluctant to seek out help and will actually avoid critical social supports.
· How poor officer wellness negatively impacts police / community trust.
· The importance of intentional stress-managementroutines and how police trainers should understand their role as an essential component of helping their students develop intentional mental health strategies.
Please note, if you or any officer you know is experiencingthe negative and possibility debilitating effects of stress, please be courageous and seek out life-changing help. The week that this interview was conducted, several police officers in the US and Canada took their lives bytheir own hand. Also, this same week, a report was released by the National Police Federation indicating that mental wellness amongst RCMP officers was at apoint of crisis and still plummeting. This is a clarion call to action for police leadership.
If you need assistance or know of someone who does, inCanada, please consider contacting Canada Beyond The Blue (www.canadabeyondtheblue.com )avolunteer organization committed to providing a community of essential supportto law enforcement members and their families. In the United States, contactCOPLINE at www.copline.org or call theircrisis line at 1-800-COPLINE.
In this episode, we speak with Dr Logan Markwell, humanfactors scientist and motor behaviour expert to discuss the Challenge Point Framework and why coaches and trainers should understand and apply this framework in the design and delivery of motor skills training.
In this interview you will learn about nominal vs functionaltask difficulties, the role of variability and contextual interference in motor learning, how to appropriately balance performer capability with task difficulty, the difference between performance and learning and why coaches andtrainers so often get this wrong, the importance of offline learning and instructor feedback, as well as several other nuggets of evidence-led training wisdom!
An exciting bonus in this interview is that it rounds outwith asking Dr Markwell questions about his motor learning ‘Myth Bust Monday’ Instagram Posts. You will be fascinated to hear long-held motor learning myths ‘busted’!
I hope you can hear some of those golden idols of traditionalist law enforcement training crashing to the ground! If you are not following Logan on Instagram you will want to be sure to do so!
As a reminder, research related to the challenge pointframework is appended to the show notes and free to download over at the Trainers Bullpen website at www.trainersbullpen.com
In this interview Dr. Craig Bennell from Carleton University in Ontario Canada discusses the research he and his colleagues conducted into the core Knowledge, Skills and Abilities that law enforcement officers must possess in order to effectively manage potentially violent police public interactions. Thisimportant conversation evolves from a study that was published in Frontiers in Psychology in March 2022. In this interview Dr. Bennell outlines the critical findings of the paper that identified ten core knowledge, skills and abilities that are required by police officers for excellent performance in high pressuresituations in order to meet societal expectations. Some of these KSA’s discussed are: Awareness and Management of Stress Effects, Communication Skills, Decision Making and Problem Solving, Perceptual Skills and Motor Skills Relating to Use of Force, among others.
This interview discusses training and instructional methods to consider in order to help law enforcement officers improvetheir ability to manage potentially violent interactions with the public by focusing on developing their essential knowledge, skills and abilities through effective training design and delivery.
Welcome to episode 25 of the Trainer’s Bullpen. TrainingUnder Pressure with Dr. Tim Lee. If you are interested in how to train officers for the best decision making and motor performance on the street, this interview is for you as Dr. Lee blows several training myths out of the water.
In this episode, we welcome back to the bullpen, Dr. Tim Lee,professor emeritus of motor learning from McMaster University to discuss the relationship between pressure, training under pressure, and officer performance in the line of duty where it counts the most.
Have paper and pen ready as Dr. Lee discusses the role ofpressure in law enforcement training and the effect of pressure on officer performance in real life shooting and defensive tactics situations.
We also discuss how attention and perception are affected bypressure; how skills ‘well rehearsed’ in low pressure learning environments can quickly collapse under real threat conditions.
In addition, Tim discusses how pressure affects attentionalprocesses, internal vs external attention, that can adversely affect perception and performance.
Also discussed is the ‘Progression / regression’ theory ofmotor learning and the difference between ‘performance’ improvements and real ‘learning’ including online and offline learning.
The importance of training under conditions of realisticpressure to develop the ability to perform under those same conditions in ‘the real world.’
Why ‘what we practice’ is ‘what we learn’ and therefore whyskills practiced in sterile or low-pressure learning environments don’t transfer well.
The importance of richly varying and contextualizing yourlearning environment to develop adaptable skill application in pressure conditions.
And many other critical concepts and practical takeaways fortrainers.
Welcome to Episode 24 of the Trainer’s Bullpen, ‘Relationships Between Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Occupational Performance, and Fitness for Tactical Personnel’ with Colin Tomes.
For years law enforcement trainers have sought to understand therelationship between heart rate and officer performance and have frequently, and incorrectly, applied a linear application from heart rate to performance decrements under conditions of high stress.
If you are interested in refining your understanding of cardiovascular function and human performance, this interviewis for you.
In this interview, Colin outlines the findings of his Systematic Review that was published in Frontiers in Public Health. This interview touches on:
· The important differences between HR and HRV and how they correlate, or don’t correlate, to human performance intactical populations.
· Understanding the often misunderstood ‘stress response’ and the relationship between stress arousal and performance.
· The role that sleep plays in maintaining a healthy HRV and improving the arousal / performance relationship.
· The important interaction between PNS and SNS as they relate to cardiovascular function and performance.
· The relationship between ‘cognitive load’ and the adverse affect on HRV.
· How HRV monitoring by agencies can provide an accurate indication of the stress arousal state of the performer.
· Concepts for agencies to explore inimplementing HRV monitoring in both candidate selection for specialty tactical units as well as in-training monitoring of HRV.
· And many more important takeaways!
Reminder - you can access and download a copy of the cited research paper at www.trainersbullpen.com
Welcome to Episode 23 of the Trainer’s Bullpen, ‘Offsetting the Negative Consequences of Pressure on Marksmanship’ with Daniel Cooper. In this interview Dan discusses the relationshipbetween stress arousal and officer performance with firearms in combat conditions. Importantly, Daniel discusses the very important systematic review and meta-analysis that he and colleagues conducted that reinforced the factthat officer performance under threat conditions can be significantly improved by ensuring the training design and implementation includes early contextuallyrelevant pressure. The study ‘Negative Consequences of Pressure on Marksmanship May be Offset by Early Training Exposure to Contextually Relevant Threat Training: A Systematic Review and Meta Analysis, was published in Human Factors in 2023.
If your goal is to deliver training, or to train yourself, so that it develops the ability to perform well under high pressure conditions, this interview is for you. Dan Cooper exhorts firearms and skills trainers to seriously reconsider the manner in which firearms training is presently conducted in many law enforcementtraining academies and agencies.
Daniel is a human performance specialist who focuses on improving individual and team performance in high-pressure, high-consequence situations for first responders and tactical operators. He is currently completing a 3-year PhD researchproject investigating the impacts of pressure and evidence-based training methodologies in Use of Force behaviours to improve the transfer of training to performance. Daniel has built on his previous academic understanding from a double master’s degree in physiology and integrated cognitive factors and compliments this through unique experience from 18yrs service in the Special Air Service, high-performance coaching in professional sports and personal pursuits in conquering the world’s toughest extreme endurance events across the planets most unforgiving environments.
Welcome to Episode 22 of Trainers Bullpen, the‘Evaluation of Tactical Movement and Firearm Draw Performance During Charging Knife Attacks’ with Dr. Michael Kantor Assistant Professor of Exercise Physiology at Ohio Northern University.
It is of course no surprise to law enforcement officers and trainers that edged weapons can pose a lethal threat to officers.Many of the critical blood bearing vessels lie very close to the surface of the skin and even a small blade or an improvised edges weapon can quickly inflict potentially fatal injuries.
Law enforcement trainers owe an extreme debt of gratitude to Lt (ret) Dennis Tueller who in 1982 first explored the questionof at what distance does someone charging at an officer with an edged weapon pose a potentially lethal threat to an officer. Tueller found that a subject could cover 21 feet in the time it took an officer to draw their handgun and fire one round.
Although some additional peer-reviewed research has been done since Tueller’s original work on how fast suspects can sprint andcover ground and how long it takes officers to react, draw and shoot, Dr. Kantor’s current study, using advanced measurement technology, is the first one to deeply explore the movement patterns and draw kinematics of an officer when asuspect is rapidly charging an officer.
In this critically important interview, Dr. Kantor discusses the research, the findings and the shocking implications ofthis study for law enforcement officers and trainers.
Summary of implications include. The “myth” of the perfect draw technique that successful officers do not repeat techniquesthey solve problems and repeat outcomes; One handed shooting – at close range attacks the brain will drive forward the draw and shooting response at the speed of survival. This typically involves shooting one handed as the muzzle clears the holster; “Movement is King” - How static range training instills exactly the opposite outcomes that officers need to survive these encounters; Functional fitness is lacking – fitness training regimes need to be designed to develop the explosive, fast-twitch muscle systems officers need to be able to move rapidly…and many more important takeaways.
This study, ‘Evaluation of Tactical Movementand Firearm Draw Performance During Charging Knife Attacks’ was published in Police Practice and Research in 2023. Just a reminder, this study is available at www.trainersbullpen.com
Effective law enforcement trainers know the critical importance of conducting force-on-force high-fidelity training. The ability to develop highly adaptable and resilient officers, capable ofmaking excellent decisions during complex and rapidly unfolding events rests squarely on the effectiveness and ‘reality-based’ nature of their training.However, over the past year there has , yet again, been several incidents of training incidents in North America where functional and loaded firearms have been discharged during high-fidelity force on force training where only nonlethal training ammunition and non-live firearms should have been used. Many of these incidents were ‘near misses’ tragedy where was averted only because of luck, in some of these incidents trainees have been seriously injured, in some fatalities have resulted.
In this timely interview, Trainers Bullpen host Dan Fraser talks with law enforcement training expert Ken Murray, Directorof the Reality Based Training Association and author of Training at the Speed of Life , discusses the critical aspects of designing and implementing training that is “Safe by Design”.
This interview contains several important and practical take-aways that law enforcement trainers should be sureto implement in order to conduct safe scenario-based training.
With thousands of policing agencies scrambling in recent years to change use of force policies and provide'deescalation' training to their officers and millions if not billions of dollars being spent to provide this training, do we know if it is even making adifference to impact officer performance on the street? Interestingly, despite widespread promotion and proliferation of deescalation training, no researchhas empirically demonstrated that this training is reducing use of force frequency or severity in the field. In addition, it is unknown if these policyreactions and unproven deescalation training programs are having unintended negative consequences that may increase injuries to officers or citizens.
In this fascinating and instructive interview, we speak with Dr. Robin Engel who led a research project with theLouisville Metropolitan Police Department (LMPD) to evaluate the impact of their agency's deescalation program. This study, 'Assessing the Impact of Deescalation Trainingon Police Behavior: Reducing Police Use of Force in the Louisville Metro Police Department' (published in Criminology & Public Policy) determined that theLMPD deescalation program significantly reduced the frequency of use of force incidents as well as led to reductions in citizen and officer injury rates andseverity. This interview contains very important policy and training implications for agencies implementing deescalation or seeking to evaluate theeffectiveness of their existing deescalation program.
Dr. Engel serves as Senior Vice President at the National Policing Institute, following over 25 years inacademic positions within higher education institutions. As an award-winningresearcher, she has partnered with dozens of police agencies in the U.S. andinternationally, served as Principal Investigator for over a hundred researchstudies and projects, and ranked among the top academics nationally in criminaljustice/criminology. From 2015 – 2019, she served as Vice President for Safetyand Reform at the University of Cincinnati, where her executive duties includedoversight of daily operations and successful implementation of comprehensivepolice reforms in the aftermath of a fatal police shooting of an unarmedmotorist. As a top scholar and trusted leading authority in police science, Dr.Engel oversees the Institute’s vast scientific investments designed totranslate and integrate research into practice.
In this insightful interview, human factors expert GarethLock discusses the critical aspects of how we should understand sense-makingand decision making especially in ambiguous and high-consequence environments.The research shows that if performers have 'successful' outcome following anear-miss, then our perception of the risk is lowered and therefore we are morelikely to erode vital safety margins (training, equipment, standards andpolicy).
Gareth explores the importance of distinguishing 'couldhappen' events from 'almost happened' events, understanding levels ofuncertainty, mental models, and avoiding the normalization of deviance. What can lawenforcement trainers and supervisors do about this? Gareth explains how we candevelop counter-factual thinking to raise understanding of how our perceptionof risk can shift and how to make probabilities more visible.
Finally, Gareth explains his DEBrIEF model of how we canstrategically guide our people to build important self-reflection skills toimprove decision-making and deeply learn from all incidents and near misses.
Gareth Lock is the founder of The Human Diver, anorganization set up to deliver education and research into the role and benefitof applying human factors, non-technical skills, psychological safety, and‘just culture’ in sports, military, and scientific diving. He has published thebook ‘Under Pressure’ and produced the documentary ‘If only…,’ both focused onimproving safety and performance by looking at incidents through the lens ofhuman factors.
Show Notes from Gareth Lock: www.thehumandiver.com - where everything I do in the world of diving sits!
www.humaninthesystem.com - this is where I put my non-diving programmes!
DEBrIEF framework - www.thehumandiver.com/debrief
Under Pressure: Diving Deeper with Human Factors - Gareth Lock - www.thehumandiver.com/underpre
Shawn Myszka is a Movement Skill Acquisition Coach for NFL players, having worked with numerous All-Pro and Pro Bowl team members. He is also the Founder of the Sport Movement Skill Conference and author of articles and educational materials on mastering movement in sports. Shawn discusses the relevance and value of Bruce Lee's coaching philosophy in movement skill acquisition for law enforcement, as explored in the research paper 'Being Water: how key ideas from the practice of Bruce Lee align with contemporary theorizing in movement skill acquisition' authored by Myszka, Yearby and Davids and published in Sport, Education and Society (2023).
Topics covered in this podcast are the ecological dynamics framework and its differences from traditional linear movement training in law enforcement, the importance of representativeness in learning design. As well as the background, art, style, coaching style, and philosophy of Bruce Lee. The concept of becoming “formless” is also mentioned and its relationship to current ecological dynamics pedagogy.
This interview contains practical insights on how law enforcement training officers should teach, specifically in terms of building emotional intelligence, increasing self-awareness, and fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement within law enforcement agencies. In addition, Listeners will gain practical insights on how law enforcement trainers can use Bruce Lee's philosophy and ecological dynamics to help their students acquire skillful movement, adapt to dynamic and unpredictable violent encounters, and become more efficient and powerful in their movements.
Listeners interested in finding out more about the incredible services and training offered by Shawn and his colleagues as well as information on the highly anticipated 'Sport Movement Skill Conference' can get all the information at Emergence https://emergentmvmt.com/
Law enforcement officers know that their mental toughness is of critical importance on the job. The ability to remain focussed and maintain emotional regulation, to overcome adversity and conflict, and even injury and pain, in order to professionally and effectively manage situations is extremely important. But how do we understand effective ways in which to intentionally and strategically incorporate mental imagery into the law enforcement training paradigm?
In this interview, the third in our series on the use of mental imagery in training, Brian Willis from Winning Mind Training will talk about his extensive experience in over 33 years of law enforcement training, in using performance enhancement imagery in law enforcement training, as well as in other domains such has elite level athletic performance, overcoming anxiety, and recovery from serious injury and illness.
Topics covered in this interview include what imagery is, how it is different from ‘visualization’, the use of imagery to enhance physical performance as well as mental cognitive skills, the different types of imagery and where and when to use them, how to use language effectively in imagery, and keys to using imagery to enhance learning and make it ‘stick. In addition, Brian will discuss lessons learned from years of using and reforming performance enhancement imagery as a method of effecting powerful change in officers and athletes performance.
This is the second episode in our exciting three-part series on the use of performance enhancement imagery to improve officers skill aquisition, decision making and mental resilience.
Dr. Arne Nieuwenhuys is Senior Lecturer in Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology. He obtained his PhD from VU University Amsterdam. Dr Nieuwenhuys and colleagues published the study “Positive Effects of Police Officer Shooting Performance Under Threat in the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology.
In this interview, Dr. Nieuwenhuys explains strategies to consider in order to develop evidence-based interventions that help law enforcement officers improve their performance in those rapidly unfolding, ambiguous and extremely high-pressure situations where it counts the most.
Topics reviewed in this podcast are the positive effects of performance enhancement imagery on police offer shooting capability under stress, and how the research supported PETTLEP imagery model effectively achieves functional equivalence. In addition, he discusses the importance of task representativeness in training and how it correlates with the Constraints Led Approach or CLA training method.
This interview contains practical insights on the importance of law enforcement trainers using evidence-based interventions such as imagery, PETTLEP model, and task representativeness, to enhance police officers' performance and shooter capability under stress, ultimately improving their ability to handle high-pressure situations on the job.
This part 1 of an exciting 3-part series in which we explore the effective use of performance enhancement imagery.
In law enforcement it is generally accepted that officer mental toughness and mental focus is critical for great decision making and performance. Despite this, very few trainers utilize any type of formalized mental training program. In multiple other domains, the use of mental imagery instruction to increase learning, enhance performance and improve adaptive decision-making has been used for years with proven positive effects.
In this interview, Dr Adam Nicholls discusses the research findings of the effectiveness of using mental imagery training in sport. He discusses the proven benefits of mental imagery, the content of effective mental imagery, internal vs external perspectives, the imagery ability of the performer and how it can be enhanced. In addition, Adam discusses the PETTLEP imagery model and considerations for applying it in your training and coaching.
Dr Adam Nicholls is a professor of psychology at the University of Hull, UK. Adam’s main focus of research is on psychosocial support to athletes and coaches ranging from grassroots to elite level. Adam is also an accomplished BJJ competitor and in 2021 he won silver at the British Open in gi and bronze at the 2022 no-gi British Open. Dr Nicholls is the author of the textbook ‘Psychology in Sports Coaching’ published by Routledge press. In this important book, Dr Nicholls devotes an entire chapter to the effective use of mental imagery.
Law enforcement officers are often faced with having to make critical shoot or no shoot decisions in rapidly occurring, ambiguous and high-consequence environments. The potential consequences of a decision-making error involving the use of lethal force carries serious implications. What rolecan training play in helping to develop more accurate decision making?
In this interview Dr. Taylor explains that his study, ‘Engineering Resilience into Split-Second Shoot / No Shoot Decision Making’ which was published in Police Quarterly, was driven by the need to improve decision-making in the split-second environments that police officers face during potential deadly force encounters. He discusses how the study examined the impact of muzzle position on officer response time to legitimate threats and the likelihood of misdiagnosis shooting errors when no threat was present.
Topics discussed in this podcast include the importance of accurate decision-making skills in law enforcement, the role of improved judgment and tactical capability among officers, and how does an officers muzzle position impact the accuracy of decision making
This interview contains practical insights on how engineering resilience into split-second decision-making environments through factors like muzzle position, officers can improve their decision-making and reduce the likelihood of misdiagnosis shooting errors. Additionally, Paul discusses how continued research into other factors that may affect officer decision-making in these environments is necessary to improve law enforcement training.
The prevalence and impact of recruit injuries during academy physical training is a significant issue. Recruit injuries can cause recruits to fall out of the training cadence resulting in a failure to successfully complete the academy, back-trooping and in serious cases, eliminating the recruits law enforcement employment prospects altogether.
Therefore, the need for evidence-based injury prevention programs in law enforcement academies to minimize the high incidence of injuries, particularly during physical training is a critical issue.
Dr. Jay Dawes is an Associate Professor of Applied Exercise Science at Oklahoma State University. Dawes has worked as a university athletic performance coordinator, strength/performance coach, personal trainer, and educator for approximately 25 years. His paper ‘Profiling the Injuries of Law Enforcement Recruits During Academy Training’ was published in Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation.
In this interview Jay provides insightful data and knowledge on the influencing factors of law enforcement injuries during training and how to mitigate those injuries.
Topics discussed in this podcast are the common law enforcement training conditions that inflict injury, the most common types of injury, Strategies that should be considered to 'pre-habilitate' recruits against injuries during training, Effectiveness of a 'voluntary' pre-academy fitness program, and the relationship between previous injuries potentially causing future injuries.
This interview contains practical insights on how strategically prioritizing injury prevention as part of training design is crucial for the safety of recruits and the effectiveness of law enforcement organizations.
The most important goal of police academy training is the retention and transfer of knowledge and skills.
In this interview, Dr. Staci Yutzie, training manager at Oregon’s statewide public safety training academy, Department of Public Safety Training, or DPSST discusses the evidence-based, adult learning approach that was undertaken at the Center for Policing Excellence in Oregon to completely overhaul the state academy training program. Staci explains the rational to move away from the para-military style stress-based approach and adopt the collegiate approach to training. Dr. Yutzie also explains the process undertaken by her and colleagues to redesign the law enforcement curriculum which included the move away from block or siloed training and adopting a truly interleaved methodology.
Topics covered in this podcast are the building blocks of evidence-based training, the philosophies used to approach training design and implementation, and the necessity of retention and transfer analysis.
In this interview, valuable perspectives are shared regarding how law enforcement trainers, curriculum designers and academy executives ought to approach the significance of appropriately designing a law enforcement educational syllabus and instructional pedagogy for their trainees.
Listeners to this podcast can download a copy of the research paper, which was published in the textbook, Interventions, Training and Technologies for Improved Police Wellbeing and Performance, at Trainersbullpen.com.
The use of the vascular neck restraint by law enforcement officers has been the topic of recent, intense, debate. Specialinterest groups have equated the use of the vascular neck restraint with ‘near-death’ experiences and have called for outright bans. Policy makers have been very critical of agencies that train and permit the use of the VNR, and some agencies have been influenced by heavy political pressure to discontinue itsuse. All of this debate has taken place in the absence or ignorance of what the research actually says about the safety of the VNR when applied by officers inthe operational setting.
In this interview, Dr. Craig Bennell, professor of Psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, where he also serves asDirector of Carleton’s Police Research Laboratory, talks about the important findings from research conducted by an incredibly talented cast ofinternational researchers. The paper is titled ‘Safety of Vascular Neck Restraint Applied by Law Enforcement Officers’ and was published in the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine.
Topics covered in this interview regarding the VNR research findings include, the significance and frequency of use of force, theapplication and consequences of the Vascular Neck Restraint, how many agencies teach the proper use of it, the methodology of the VNR, the effectiveness of its technique, and, of course, the actual empirical safety of the technique.
This interview contains practical insights on how agency administrators and trainers should consider the technical, training andpolitical implications of the VNR method and its impact on police training and policy. In addition, in this interview, Dr Bennell strongly exhorts policeleaders to use an evidence-based approach to critical decisions that broadly impact officer and public safety.
A copy of the paper can be accessed and downloaded at www.trainersbullpen.com
It is important to recognize the value of highly contextual training to equip lawenforcement officers to be professional and adaptive decision-makers. However,the majority of current training practices often develop officers who lack theability to transfer static skills into the highly dynamic operational demandsthat they face.
In this interview, Dr. Mario Staller, professor at the University of Applied Sciencesof Police and Public Administration North-Rhine Westphalia in Aachen, Germany, talksabout the importance of officer adaptability towards the context of highly realistic use of force scenarios and why it is important to not strip the solution space from the problem in thetraining context.
Topics covered in this interview include the definition and application of theConstraints Led Approach, how best to implement the CLA into a learningenvironment while considering appropriate design methodology. In addition, thecritical importance of including aspects of high context relevance from thecriterion environment into the training will be discussed.
This interview contains helpful practical insights on how trainers should designeffective training and communicate with their students for optimal retentionand transfer of skills. This is a callto action for law enforcement trainers to change curriculum and design into aCLA oriented training program.
For many years, law enforcement trainers and tactical professionals have been somewhatfamiliar with the importance of how intentional breathing techniques can helplower physiological arousal. This is a critical concept because physiologicalstate directly impacts emotional regulation, attention and quality of decisionmaking.
However, there has been little in the form of evidence-based research as to which typesof breathing techniques are more (or less) effective in quickly reducingphysiological arousal.
In this interview, we talk with Harvard trained neuroscientist, with expertise inneurobiology of stress and stress interventions, Dr. Melis Yilmaz Balban about incredibly importantresearch that compared the effectiveness of Cyclic Hyperventilation, Box Breathingand the Cyclic Sigh. This research study, ‘Brief Structured RespirationPractices Enhance Mood and Reduce Physiological Arousal’, was published in CellReports Medicine in January 2023. A copy of the paper is attached to the shownotes at www.trainersbullpen.com
In this interview with Dr Balban, we discuss the research finding that the Cyclic Sighis a significantly more effective technique to rapidly lower physiological arousalwhen compared to the much more commonly taught ‘Box Breathing’ technique. Inaddition, the Cyclic Sigh can be conducted extremely quickly (during conflict), and, importantly, can be automated with practice.
This interview contains helpful practical insights on how trainers should consideradjusting training methodology to improve officer performance. In addition, DrBalban briefly discusses NeuroSmart – exciting new technology that will helpofficers learn and automate the Cyclic Sigh during the training process. Thisholds incredible promise for advancing law enforcement and military training!
All law enforcement instructors would agree that one of the core functions of policeskills training is to develop great adaptive decision-making skills in ourofficers. The question that must be asked is, what is the relationship betweeninstructor / coach feedback methods and the development of independent adaptivedecision-making and, are there proven techniques that work better than others?
In this interview, we talk with decision-making expert Dr. Joel Suss about severalcritical components of training that should be understood and implemented inorder to accomplish these important training objectives.
Topics covered in this interview include recognition-primed / naturalistic decisionmaking, the use of effective probing questions to get ‘inside the studentshead’, the effective use of story-telling, and the application of the ‘7cognitive skills’ to guide the student to understand, assess and correct theirown decision-making and performance.
This interview contains helpful practical insights on how trainers should consideradjusting training methodology to improve officer performance.
In this interview, Dr. Jonathan Wender from POLIS Solutions talk to the Trainer’sBullpen about the ‘Adaptive Defensive and Protective Tactics’ (ADAPT) researchreport which was published in March 2022. You can download a copy of thisreport by going to the Trainers Bullpen website at trainersbullpen.com. Thishighly important research presents the current state of police control anddefensive tactics training and makes twenty core recommendations that policeacademies, agency leaders and law enforcement trainers must be aware of. Dr.Wender discusses the research report, the perspectives on police trainingpresently and what he feels are the ‘top three’ changes that need to be madeimminently. This is a ‘call to action’ so have your pen and paper ready!
In this interview Dr Paula Di Nota from the University of Toronto discusses the findings and training implications of her research review ‘Complex Motor Learning and Police Training: Applied, Cognitive, and Clinical Perspectives’ (Frontiers in Psychology; 2019). The purpose of the review was to explore pedagogical best practices to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge of human performance and best practices to consider for training complex motor skills. Ten vital aspects of the components of effective training are discussed such as the role of pressure in training, physiological and emotional regulation, performance enhancement imagery, and the importance of error in training among others.
Watch the interview video here: https://www.trainersbullpen.ca
In this interview, human performance expert Dr Rob Gray from Arizona State University and author of ‘How We Learn to Move’ and ‘Learning to Optimize Movement’ discusses the important findings of the research paper ‘Police Training Revisited – Meeting the Demands of Conflict Training in Police with an Alternative Pedagogical Approach’ (Policing; December 2020). While operational police actions place high demands on police officers, and training should be providing the skills necessary to meet those demands, the research shows there is a significant problem. The problem is evidenced by a large gap between the current training methodology and the lack of retention and transfer of skills. A serious ‘call to action’ for the reimagination of police training is discussed along with the introduction of the ‘Constraints Led Approach’ to motor skills training which holds great promise for improving police training.
Watch the video interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FeIAmufO8k&t=1s
In this interview Dr Simon Baldwin from Carleton University walks us through the fascinating research study ‘A Reasonable Officer: Examining the Relationships Among Stress, Training, and Performance in a Highly Realistic Lethal Force Scenario’ (Frontiers in Psychology; January 2022). Dr Baldwin presents the findings and importantly, he addresses the critical implications for training to help build law enforcement officers who can make excellent decisions in rapidly unfolding, high consequence events. Have you paper and pen handy. There are a lot of incredible insights for trainers in this interview!
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOUWw0aBpyg&feature=youtu.be
In this interview experts in behavior analysis, police psychology, ergonomics and exercise science Dr’s John and Dawn O’Neill discuss the results of their important study ‘Police Academy Training, Performance and Learning’. The study involved an empirical analyses of training at 3 large regional police academies in the United States during the motor training of simple and complex defensive and control tactics skills. The study included an analysis of block training versus spaced training on retention and transfer of skills. Types of instructional feedback methods are also discussed. The author’s provide recommendations and a call for research based on the performance and learning literature, grounded in behavioral science.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywYN9vsmOG0&feature=youtu.be
In this interview human performance expert Dr Rob Gray from Arizona State University and author of ‘How We Learn to Move’ and ‘Learning to Optimize Movement’ discusses the important differences between ‘linear’ (technique based) and ‘non-linear’ (ecological) motor skill training. Dr Gray helps us interpret the findings of a fascinating recent research project that explored the different performance outcomes in police knife defense training that utilized both linear and non-linear training methods. Implications for law enforcement training is discussed.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doU-pE74FfY&feature=youtu.be
In this interview about motor learning principles, Dr Tim Lee (McMaster University; Department of Kinesiology) discusses an important article he wrote for The Tactical Edge magazine in the Summer 2022 Edition, in which Lee outlined several critical factors that law enforcement trainers should consider when designing and implementing motor skills training. Implementing these important aspects into training has been proven through repeated studies across multiple domains to enhance both retention and transfer of motor skills.