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Family training for off-duty safety

You may be trained to handle an off-duty encounter wisely, but have you trained your family? One way you can help keep your spouse and children safe in an off-duty encounter is to explain ahead of time how crucial it is for them to listen and act immediately--no questions asked--when you tell them to leave an area.

You can let them know that you’ve eyed trouble that may require your intervention and their full cooperation by creating a special phrase that will be used only in these scenarios… something like, “I’ve got a situation,” or “It’s time to listen and act.”

If you have planned ahead, they will immediately follow your directions and know where to go (a place out of the line of potential fire, a heavily trafficked intersection where patrol units may drive by, a place with a phone) and know what to do (call 911 or flag down a squad and remember to alert the emergency operator or responding officers to the fact that there is an off-duty officer on the scene wearing whatever you’re wearing.)

Scott Buhrmaster is Vice President of Training and Editorial for Police1.com, which was awarded the “Quill & Badge Award” for Excellence in Journalism by the International Association of Police Unions. He is also the Publisher of Police Marksman magazine and has served as Contributing Editor for Law Officer magazine. He has been a member of the law enforcement training community since 1989, when he began work as Director of Research with Calibre Press, Inc., producers of The Street Survival Seminar.

Throughout his tenure at Calibre, Buhrmaster was involved with virtually every aspect of the company’s officer survival training efforts, from the planning, creation and marketing of the organization’s award-winning textbooks and videos to developing and securing training content for the Seminar. In 1995, he was named Director of the Calibre Press Street Survival Newsline®, an Internet-based officer survival training service he helped found. In less than five years, Newsline readership grew from 25 officers to more than 250,000 in 26 countries, making it one of the most popular training vehicles in law enforcement history. His efforts now focus on providing training and information to the nearly 400,000 officers worldwide who visit Police1.com every month.

Prior to joining Police1, Buhrmaster, who also serves on the National Advisory Board of the Force Science Research Center and stands as an active member of the American Society for Law Enforcement Training and the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, was President of The Buhrmaster Consulting Group, an international consulting practice for the law enforcement training sector and the publishing industry. Scott may be reached at buhrmastergroup@comcast.net.

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