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May 21, 2008 10:21 AM •

At a recent Force Science Certification Class, Ed Davis, a member of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit and one of the key players in the development of a groundbreaking study into the types of people who kill cops, made an interesting observation. He noted that some officers have a dangerous tendency to give suspects the benefit of the doubt when commands they issue aren’t followed. Initially, he noted, these officers will give a command like, “Stop and turn around!” and when it’s not followed, they’ll conclude that the subject simply didn’t hear them. So, they repeat the command, only louder. Then when it’s not followed again, they’ll conclude that he didn’t understand the command, so the officer will say it slower, or in another language. Then when it’s still not followed, he’ll conclude that the suspect is just being difficult, but probably isn’t going to become violent.

If you’re giving commands and they’re not being followed, don’t immediately assume it’s a communication problem. Certainly your commands should be clear and able to be understood, but if they’re not being followed, don’t assume the best. In the world of police work, it’s often best to assume the worst.

Officer Safety

Scott Buhrmaster

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.