Lon
11-01-2014, 12:14 PM
Mods, if you want to move this to the AAR section, feel free. Since this is mostly LE oriented, I put it here.
This week I had the privilege of completing the Force Science Institute's 40 hour Force Science Certification Course in Columbus, Ohio. We had 47 students in the class from across the country and Canada. A bunch were from Ohio, but I know there were 2 Canadians, one guy from LAPD and some from NY, IN and KY. It was quite a week. It was a whirlwind of learning from some of the best minds in the business. Just about everyone had a PhD or MD or some other -D after their name. Instructors included Dr. Alexis Artwohl, Dr. Lewinski, Attorney Laura Scarry and numerous others. Each had a specialty, but all were conversant with all of the principles taught in the class because they themselves have taken the whole class. What I found interesting was just about all of the instructors stated that although their research was done primarily to help police officers in general, the principles talked about applied to the regular citizen who was involved in a deadly force encounter as well.
Monday started with a general introduction and then we jumped into the first topic: how the brain works and how memories are formed and how stress can affect that process. I was never a science or biology guy in school, preferring to spend my time with history and geography. This course definitely forces you to put your science and biology thinking caps on if you are like me. This portion of the course really helped me understand things I already knew, it just clarified the WHY.
After that we started moving into the "biomechanics surrounding high-stress, rapidly evolving deadly force encounters". Part of this was taught by Dr Azar-Dickens. He was quite a character, he began researching this stuff and got so intrigued with police work that he put himself through the Academy and is now a part time Officer down South.
Tuesday we started the day talking about vision and how your eyes interact with your brain and how they impact human performance under stress. After vision we talked about decision making and motor performance and appropriate training and how it can affect reaction time.
Wednesday, Dr. Lewinski started off the day. He popped in and out throughout the week teaching his topics and explaining some of the studies they have done and how they have impacted cases across the country and across the sea. Later that day we had sessions with Dr. Christine Hall (expert in excited delirium) and Dr. Alexis Artwohl. If you have never read Dr. Artwohl's book Deadly Force Encounters, I encourage you to do so. I actually need to get another copy, since I gave mine to a buddy involved in an OIS last year. Great book about the psychological aftermath of an OIS.
Thursday we started off with Dr. Geiselman. He introduced us to the Cognitive Interview. An excellent session on the best way to "mine" as much information from a victim/witness's memory.
After that, we took the written test. There was ALOT of information covered those first 3.5 days so the test was not your typical LE course written test. After the test and after lunch, we spent several hours listening to Laura Scarry. Laura is a former cop turned attorney who specializes in representing police officers involved in UoF incidents. Very knowledgeable and fun to listen to. There were ALOT of questions in this session. I'll be honest, listening to some of the people in the class I was happy to work where I do. Some of the departments represented treat their officers like crap after an OIS. Kinda sad and scary.
After Laura we spent more time with Dr. Lewinski Thursday afternoon and Friday reviewing some of the cases and research FSI has been involved in. We wrapped up about lunchtime on Friday. One thing I didn't mention was the fact that after every day's session, their was a "Socratic" style learning/discussion session about a case we were given on Monday and told to review that night. I rarely got outta class before 1730-1745.
All in all, it was a great class and I encourage anyone that can attend the course to do so. My agency sent me, but I planned on paying for my own tuition and taking vacation if they wouldn't. Money well spent. My only real complaint (which I put on my evaluation) was that they cram so much info into the course we sometimes didn't have as much time to spend on a topic as we would have liked to. As much as I valued what Laura had to say, I kinda think that the time we spent talking legal stuff woulda been better spent on some of the other topics.
This week I had the privilege of completing the Force Science Institute's 40 hour Force Science Certification Course in Columbus, Ohio. We had 47 students in the class from across the country and Canada. A bunch were from Ohio, but I know there were 2 Canadians, one guy from LAPD and some from NY, IN and KY. It was quite a week. It was a whirlwind of learning from some of the best minds in the business. Just about everyone had a PhD or MD or some other -D after their name. Instructors included Dr. Alexis Artwohl, Dr. Lewinski, Attorney Laura Scarry and numerous others. Each had a specialty, but all were conversant with all of the principles taught in the class because they themselves have taken the whole class. What I found interesting was just about all of the instructors stated that although their research was done primarily to help police officers in general, the principles talked about applied to the regular citizen who was involved in a deadly force encounter as well.
Monday started with a general introduction and then we jumped into the first topic: how the brain works and how memories are formed and how stress can affect that process. I was never a science or biology guy in school, preferring to spend my time with history and geography. This course definitely forces you to put your science and biology thinking caps on if you are like me. This portion of the course really helped me understand things I already knew, it just clarified the WHY.
After that we started moving into the "biomechanics surrounding high-stress, rapidly evolving deadly force encounters". Part of this was taught by Dr Azar-Dickens. He was quite a character, he began researching this stuff and got so intrigued with police work that he put himself through the Academy and is now a part time Officer down South.
Tuesday we started the day talking about vision and how your eyes interact with your brain and how they impact human performance under stress. After vision we talked about decision making and motor performance and appropriate training and how it can affect reaction time.
Wednesday, Dr. Lewinski started off the day. He popped in and out throughout the week teaching his topics and explaining some of the studies they have done and how they have impacted cases across the country and across the sea. Later that day we had sessions with Dr. Christine Hall (expert in excited delirium) and Dr. Alexis Artwohl. If you have never read Dr. Artwohl's book Deadly Force Encounters, I encourage you to do so. I actually need to get another copy, since I gave mine to a buddy involved in an OIS last year. Great book about the psychological aftermath of an OIS.
Thursday we started off with Dr. Geiselman. He introduced us to the Cognitive Interview. An excellent session on the best way to "mine" as much information from a victim/witness's memory.
After that, we took the written test. There was ALOT of information covered those first 3.5 days so the test was not your typical LE course written test. After the test and after lunch, we spent several hours listening to Laura Scarry. Laura is a former cop turned attorney who specializes in representing police officers involved in UoF incidents. Very knowledgeable and fun to listen to. There were ALOT of questions in this session. I'll be honest, listening to some of the people in the class I was happy to work where I do. Some of the departments represented treat their officers like crap after an OIS. Kinda sad and scary.
After Laura we spent more time with Dr. Lewinski Thursday afternoon and Friday reviewing some of the cases and research FSI has been involved in. We wrapped up about lunchtime on Friday. One thing I didn't mention was the fact that after every day's session, their was a "Socratic" style learning/discussion session about a case we were given on Monday and told to review that night. I rarely got outta class before 1730-1745.
All in all, it was a great class and I encourage anyone that can attend the course to do so. My agency sent me, but I planned on paying for my own tuition and taking vacation if they wouldn't. Money well spent. My only real complaint (which I put on my evaluation) was that they cram so much info into the course we sometimes didn't have as much time to spend on a topic as we would have liked to. As much as I valued what Laura had to say, I kinda think that the time we spent talking legal stuff woulda been better spent on some of the other topics.