Defensive Tactics can be summed up in two complimentary strategies: avoidance and initiation. I believe these two concepts comprise one single mindset that will give a police officer a distinct advantage in any situation where they might have to practice the use of force, deadly or otherwise.

The first half of this mindset is avoidance. In the context of defensive tactics, the word “avoidance” does not mean running away. It does not mean being passive and waiting for someone to bring the fight to you. What it means is, as a police officer, you make sure that you have taken every step available to you Levitra to stop a use of force situation before it begins.

Avoidance means making effective choices in your actions when you face a situation that may result in conflict. These choices should leave you in a position of control, and in a position where you are unlikely to be injured or thrown off physical or mental balance. Effective avoidance choices put a police officer in the best position to win.

Choices that flow from the avoidance aspect of defensive tactics can be made in many different ways. For example, you might be pro-active in handcuffing a subject prior to an arrest situation. Someone with their hands behind their back may not be entirely harmless, but the cuffs certainly push the odds your way. In my opinion, if an individual makes an officer uncomfortable for any reason, that officer should not hesitate to restrain them. The cuffs can come off when the situation is resolved either way, but in the mean time the proverbial deck will be stacked in your favor.

Another Kamagra Soft avoidance choice is ensuring that the cops have a bigger team. Numbers count every time. For example, I do not hesitate to call for backup on a stop, or to take a few other officers along when picking up a suspect.

You shouldn’t either. Sometimes, all a potential fighter needs to see is that there is more than one opponent, and there won’t be a fight at all.

Finally, one big aspect of avoidance is for an officer to trust their instincts. It may seem like a cliche, but an officer’s gut should not be ignored. In my experience, if a situation doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. All of us can rationalize away other people’s behavior, or over think a situation sometimes, but when the human subconscious is screaming that something is wrong, we are all better served by listening. Even if you can’t articulate why you are uncomfortable, take a second to look around, to reconsider your approach to a motor vehicle, or to look at where a subject’s hands are. Trusting your instincts may make all the difference in stopping an altercation or avoiding injury well in advance.

Sometimes the avoidance side of the defensive tactics mindset may only take an officer so far. Despite making the best choices available, you may still find yourself in a situation propecia persistence program where you must use force. When this happens, what comes into play is the second aspect of the defensive tactics mindset: initiation.

Just as an officer decides where a subject stands or where they place their hands while exercising the avoidance mindset, in the initiation mindset they must decide when a confrontation results in a use of force. What initiation boils down to is to place oneself in the position to strike first, to strike hardest, and to effectively end a confrontation on your own terms through the violence of your own actions. Initiating the use of force gives you the advantage, as you are then responsible for the form and the severity of the altercation from the outset.

This mindset mitigates the potential damage an attacker might do to you if you are forced to react to a well-aimed punch or kick. These are often very difficult to avoid, or to block, especially in a heightened situation. By placing yourself in the situation of having dictated when and how a confrontation takes place you will continue to be in the best position to win the by avoiding an initial injury.

An officer who approaches a situation in this way has also set themselves up to escalate or conclude a confrontation as they see fit. If your initial attack is sufficient to disable or subdue an attacker, then you may cease the fight, cuff up the assailant, and call for medical aid or arrange for the subject’s transport to lock up. If your initial attack is unsuccessful, you are in a better position than your opponent will be to judge how best to follow up with another attack, how to keep the fight’s momentum, and how to bring the confrontation to a close. By thinking in terms of initiation, you maintain control of all aspects of the fight by acting first.

By thinking in terms of both avoidance and initiation I believe a police officer will always find themselves with an edge in their daily work, as well as in a use of force situation specifically. We’re the good guys. We owe it to ourselves, our peers, and to those we protect to be pro-active, to keep that edge, and never to find ourselves in a position to lose. The stakes are far too high. By thinking in terms of the avoidance and initiation aspects of defensive tactics, I hope you will continue to win.

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