When forced to use your defensive tactics or physical control skills on the job, you should learn a lesson with each contact. In fact, the best learning repetitions will often be the ones you do in the real world, so don’t let the lesson go unnoticed. After each physical contact you should ask yourself three questions:
• What did I do right?
• What did I learn?
• What will I do differently and/or better next time?
When looking at incidents where officers found themselves in terrible situations and came out of them on top, often a common factor is that the officers had prepared themselves in advance for that terrible day. Regularly repeating these three questions AFTER an incident can help you to stay prepared for the next one.
Stay strong everyone.