This article is part of a series by Lt. Dan Marcou. Click here to access all of Dan’s street survival lessons. Order “Street Survival II” here.
There is a seductive lure drawing every officer toward complacency. Let’s face it, complacency makes our law enforcement lives simpler. It is much easier to head toward alarms you know to be false, make traffic stops you know to be “routine” and arrest suspects you know to be compliant than it is to be prepared for the worst on every call and contact.
On the one hand, maintaining a tactical edge is hard work while on the other hand, being constantly complacent is true bliss…until it’s not!
“Street Survival II Tactics for Deadly Force Encounters” was written not only to offer a variety of defensible survival tactics to help you survive your career, but it was also written to inoculate the reader against the deadly cop killer known as complacency. This book can save your life and here is how to use it.
As an Officer
1. Buy the book
Don’t borrow the book, buy your own copy. Read it cover to cover. As you read it, highlight the tactics, points of view and lessons learned that you feel are important for your own personal, physical, legal and emotional survival. Internalize those key points and tactics and put them into action on the street. After you read the book, keep it in your locker so it is accessible to you.
2. Return to the book after tactical application
After reading the book and applying something successfully, return to the book and write a note on that page to re-enforce the good tactics you applied that kept you safe and helped you succeed.
3. Review the book every five years
You don’t have to re-read the entire book, but you should scan it to read all the sections you highlighted as important for your survival. Determine whether or not you are still doing now on the street what you said would always be important for you to do to ensure your survival. Review the follow-up notes you made over the years to remind yourself of your tactical successes. Consciously re-inoculate yourself against complacency to ensure both your survival and that of your fellow officers.
4. Give the book as a gift to those you care about
The current generation of young people is potentially as good as any generation of officers that have come down the pike. However, many of them have not been encouraged to buy and read books like previous generations. This is a book that every officer, both young and old, street level or administrator, should own and read. So, if there is a person who is truly special to you who is entering law enforcement, give this book as a gift. By purchasing the book for them you may someday save their life. This is not an overstatement.
As a Police Trainer
This book has been written by experienced police trainers not just for patrol officers, but for the police instructors who prepare those officers for the street because:
- It is an interesting, even exciting, read for you first and then your trainees.
- It is a defensible textbook for use by any academy, technical college, bachelor’s or master’s degree program.
- There is a detailed instructor’s guide available through Calibre Press to assist instructors when the book is made a part of a curriculum.
- There is a detailed PowerPoint also available through Calibre Press if the book is made a part of a curriculum.
Conclusion
I have been committed for 45 years now to officer survival as a street officer, field training officer, police trainer and police writer. I have strived to help my fellow officers physically, legally and emotionally survive. It has never been my goal to help officers survive not just a shift, but their entire careers.
While the days where I could climb into a squad car and share my accumulated knowledge, experience and tactics as a field training officer are over, you can still take me along with you on every shift, on a virtual ride-along, to share tactics with you, as well as help you inoculate yourself against complacency. All you have to do is please, for your fellow officer’s sake, your family’s sake and your sake…read the book!
Order “Street Survival II” here and save 25% off the list price for a limited period.
