Every May, we participate in National Police Week ceremonies around the country. Whenever possible, I spend this week in Washington, D.C. This year I’ll be spending the bulk of my time at the National Memorial wall, where I’ll hear the incredible stories from the survivors of our fallen heroes.
I’m always struck by the impact that the loss of a single law officer has, particularly when you consider there are more than 19,000 names on the Memorial. Each of them lost their life while wearing a badge. Year after year, the images that burn into my mind are those of children who reach out and touch the name of their mom or dad, the parent who will never again share in their lives …
This year’s already been full of tragedy. LODDs are up about 18% compared to last year. The big jump is in deaths related to gunfire: up about 65%. Particularly troubling about the spike in LODDs is that last year was a bad year. This year is looking worse. The only positive news is that traffic deaths have dropped by more than one-third.
I’ve had the opportunity to interview several officers who’ve been involved in deadly force situations and body armor saves. Time and again, I hear the phrase, “My training kicked in.” This underscores the absolute necessity that officers have the skills to not only survive but to win. This is a large part of why Law Officer began the Trainer of the Year award in conjunction with the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA).
This year I had the honor and privilege of presenting the award to Brian Willis, the epitome of a professional trainer. Willis has been involved with law enforcement for 25 years, serving mostly with the Calgary Police Service, and he’s the first non-American to win the award. In addition to serving as the deputy executive director of ILEETA, he runs Warrior Spirit Books (www.warriorspiritbooks.com) and has written several books on law enforcement, concentrating on the concept of Win—What’s important now? One of his books, If I Knew Then: Life Lessons from Cops on the Street, is serialized on LawOfficer.com and he just released a follow-up to that book, If I Knew Then, Part 2.
Brian Willis is known as a mentor and one who continually strives to improve our profession. He’s donated much of the proceeds of book sales to ILEETA and is always quick to give credit to others. When he accepted the award, he told those in attendance: “Go back and thank the trainers who’ve helped you.” That’s just what this award is all about, and we all thank Brian for his service in improving law enforcement.
ILEETA was also the site of our first train-the-trainer effort for Below 100. Training lasted for four hours and was attended by more than 70 committed trainers. This is truly a game changer for officer safety. (Check out LawOfficer.com/Below100). Although I presented some of the material, the real credit for making it a success goes to the other three presenters: Travis Yates, Jeff Chudwin and, fittingly, Brian Willis.
Talk about a stellar crew, Yates was the Trainer of the Year for 2008 and Chudwin won the award for 2009. What an incredible honor to share the floor with these three men who have done so much to further law enforcement training and have now joined together to launch the Below 100 training program. In case you missed it, take a look at the October 2010 issue, in which Yates, Chudwin and Willis all authored specific pieces in their areas of expertise relevant to Below 100.
So what comes next for Below 100? We’re developing a dedicated website just to support the program and we’re working hard to develop a road show to train more Below 100 trainers to take this program across the country.
Bottom line: Law enforcement is a tough and sometimes dangerous job. There will be lives lost because that’s the nature of what we do. But cops don’t have to die in the terrible numbers that we continue to see. This month, while remembering those who have fallen, let’s recommit ourselves to bringing down the number of LODDs. We must turn this around. Please remember the basics of Below100: Wear your belt. Wear your vest. Watch your speed. WIN—What’s important now? Remember: Complacency Kills! —Dale Stockton, Editor in chief
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