The video below has been floating around among my email buddies lately. Multiple sources tell me it is from an incident in Oakland (Calif.), but I have been unable to independently verify that claim (although I admit the patch does look like OPD).
One of my email pen pals — who shall remain nameless/anonymous in this space but who I believe is known to many Police1 Members — said that even though you may have already seen this, it’s “good to watch again.” In fact, he suggests watching it three times. “First time, watch what the officer does only. Notice what happens to his gear. Second time, watch the suspect only and what he is doing. Third time, watch only the crowd and bystanders. If you watch it a fourth, then watch the responding officers.”
Another one of my pen pals — Lawrence Lujan, who many of you also know — commented in his email to me that incidents like these “are the reason we do stress-inoculation drills in training.”
Check out the video, and then pick back up with this column — where we’ll drill down a little deeper into one particular stress-inoculation drill — in the space below.
The Fight-for-Life Drill
Lujan pointed out that if you’ve previously been exposed to a low-frequency, high-stress event like this — even in a training environment — you’ll “have a clearer frame of mind and it will help to reduce the panic or fear that will present itself when it happens to you in the field.”
“You will be able to say to yourself, "’OK, no need to panic. Take a deep breath. I’ve done this before... I can overcome it and I will win!”
Lujan said that this video spurred him to think of the “Fight-for-Life Drill” he learned from Lew Hicks a decade ago.
“The drill is basically what happened to this officer except that in it you are fighting for your handgun,” Lujan said. “It is a great eye opener for all... those with as MMA background will do better than most.
In short, here it is:
• Get a red or blue gun and tape up all the edges. Don’t forget to tape up the trigger and trigger guard to prevent anyone from placing their finger in it.
• In a mat room or on grass, the two participating officers are surrounded by a wide circle comprised of all the other students. The officers forming this circle are not only role-playing the part of onlookers, but they’re also an effective safety rail containing the drill.
• From the starting position — on hands and knees facing each other, heads side by side and against the other officers shoulder, each officer has a two handed grip on the handgun (both are holding onto the gun as best as possible).
• On the “go” command, the officers have to fight for the gun — to take it away and to “shoot” the other officer.
• The instructor runs a timer for three minutes — stopping the action if things get “too heated” or if there is an impasse, or if the officers are “just going through the motions.”
“Not everyone likes stress inoculation drills,” Lujan explained, “but they are a necessary and key part of your training, just like visualization drills and shooting and moving drills.”
Yes, there is a potential for minor injury when you do this drill. Those injuries don’t tend to be serious — bruises, rug/mat burns, or a bloody nose here and there — but you absolutely must accommodate for the overall safety of those concerned.
But as I wrote in my 25 foundational principles column (closing out the year 2010), “I will not be afraid to lose a little blood in training, lest I lose it all in real world.”
Stay safe my brothers and sisters.
