Law Enforcement - Red White & Blue Fitness

Theories and Philosophies of Law Enforcement Physical Preparation

Primary Objectives

1. Psychological Prepardeness

2. Individual Tactics

3. Maximal Strength

4. Speed

Secondary Objectives

1. Agility

2. Large Functional Arms

Psychological Prepardeness

Any member of law enforcement needs to constantly be alert and analyzing situations throughout an entire shift. This takes both mental endurance and the ability to raise the level of alertness in a split second. The abiltiy to see a future threat and react with appropriate response in a timely and safe fashion. Those of you who may have been instructed by Tony Blauer and the SPEAR system, can probably figure out what what we're trying to get at here. For those of you unfamiliar with Tony and his system, or maybe didn't get the in-depth psychological training, check out his site www.tonyblauer.com Also be sure to check out Mike Mahler's article on Mental Toughness. This closely ties into our next subject....

Individual Tactics

You can't disarm a situation safely if you don't know how! Most of you will have your general tactics under your belt. But is it enough? Is it safe and effective? Never stay with any one thing or system. This relates to most things in training. Find the best out there, combine what fits with your philosophies and situation and use it! Don't relie on your department to bring you up to date with everything. Everything is based off funds, if they can't afford it, you won't get it. Don't sit by and hope that 'what if' scenerio doesn't happen. It will eventually, just a matter of when. Another outstanding resource is Tim Larkin and his Target Focused Training. Some of the best stuff out there, check out the site here www.tftgroup.com

Maximal Strength

As was outlined in the military and firefighter matrixes, maximal strength is the foundation of all other aspects of a physical nature. Taking down somebody on narcotics can be quite a challenge, especially if they feel no pain. Really this should be right next to individual tactics, due to you can't employ your tactics if it needs strength! Moving on.

Speed

Speed is relevant both on neurological reaction time and physical movement time. We've all seen the naked guy slip past an officer on COPS, usually this could have been prevented by forseeing the action and reacting to it before Mr. Tailer trash gets a chance to get away. Although it does make for good ratings, it's probably not what you want your 15 min of fame to be. The other component of this is the ability to sprint at high levels through alleys and woods to catch that silly driver that was just featured on "Worlds Best Police Chases".

Secondary Objectives

Agility

The reason for this being in the matrix should be quite obvious. The need to run change directions, jump fences, avoiding the family dog that weighs 200 pounds, then grappeling a dust head at the end and holding him till your partner get the cuffs on.

Big Functional Arms

This may seem kinda out of place on a site that promotes functionality over looks. Well the key here is to make the upper arms large while still remaining functional. The reasoning behind this apparent madness is simple. Big guns are intimidating! Most sober subjects will either become submissive or will soon give up, much sooner than with an officer with normal size pipes. This does NOT apply to any special response teams, undercover(unless eviroment dictates) and any other officers that wear long sleeves on a regular basis. Too add to sleeves, if it is a cold time of year, wear short sleeves and see how people react! Be cautious with this technique if you really can't handle the cold.

To sum up this training philosophy, basically we want to cross-train as a grappeling 400 meter sprinter. Following these above objectives will improve effectiveness, officer safety and health, reducing sick time and injuries. As you can see psychological aspects are a big portion of this type of training. This is not meant to be an end all, be all of training, just a guidline. And as such it may be changed or updated as needed, so come back often!