I am a firm believer in two things. One: "You play like you practice." Two: "The more reps I do, the better I get." For me, most of the time, this applies to my golf swing. There is no losing... there is winning and learning to win. Police training, no matter the topic is just that, learning to win. When I teach a class, I get so excited to see the new officer's face when they finally connect the dots in a use of force analysis and understand how to apply it in the field. I also get excited to see the veteran nodding along and asking questions to in order to re-affirm the knowledge they have. I get even more excited when they start to ask the nuanced questions which show a master level of understanding that only two people on the same plane can discuss.

I get up every day exctied to do this work because the cops and deputies who put their lives on the line to keep my family, friends, and community safe deserve good training. They deserve to have safe, stress-free zones to ask questions, get the right legal answers, and feel confident that their verbal skills and understanding of the law is as strong as their take down techniques and LVNR applications. The world of police today is seeing a reduction in the application of use of force, but officer's need to always be confident in what tactics are appropriate when verbal judo has not worked and physical force is required. Use of force by officer is a manageable risk that starts in the classroom and being confident in their skill to apply sound reasoning to their decision making benefits the officer, his team and the agency each time that skill is called upon.