Avoiding verbal flak

What’s one way to cut down on the odds that you’ll be met with a barrage of verbal abuse during an encounter? By introducing yourself, as Dr. George Thompson points out in Verbal Judo.

By personalizing the contact you help counter a subject’s perception of you as nothing more than a uniform and a badge there for the sole reason of making their day difficult. Instead, there’s a greater chance they’ll see you as a real person with a job to do, which can make it just that much harder to unload on you verbally.

If you don’t introduce yourself during encounters (where appropriate), give it a try. It might make your day a little easier.

About the author

Scott Buhrmaster is the CEO of Calibre Press, one of the leading law enforcement training and information providers in the industry. Scott’s 30-year tenure began in 1989 when he originally signed on with Calibre where he was involved in the creation and marketing of the organization’s popular training courses and award-winning textbooks, videos and online publications.

In 1999, Scott launched The Buhrmaster Group, an organization focused on helping law enforcement training companies develop, market and expand their training efforts. Among his clients was Police1.com, which he signed on with full time as their vice president of training and editorial. During that period, Scott was named to the National Advisory Board of the Force Science Institute, at the time a newly developing organization which was also among his list of clients. Following a seven-year tenure at Police1, Scott signed on with Force Science full-time, initially serving as their vice president of operations and most recently serving as their COO.

Scott has been a long-time contributor to Police1 and has written extensively for other publications and Web sites in the law enforcement market. Additionally, he helped launch two of the most popular e-newsletters in the industry; the Street Survival Newsline and Force Science News. While at Police1, Scott served as the publisher of Police Marksman magazine and a contributing editor for Law Officer magazine.