The online resource Police Magazine is an excellent resource for a myriad of law enforcement related information. In todays broadcast, there was an article regarding the use of “scenarios” to analyze force options. In this case, scenarios did not mean putting on a bunch of gear and putting people in simulated conflict. Scenarios in this instance meant presenting a situation (which usually is extremely lacking in detail, much is what happens when the Twitter-verse puts out a reactive broadcast about a law enforcement incident) and everyone jumps to preliminary conclusions. Dr. Michael Schlosser writes a thought provoking article on how to lead discussions by presenting different officer/subject/circumstances wrinkles to variations of the same basic scenario to stimulate discussion on whether or not force options used are reasonable or not.
While it is obvious that such a methodology can be taken to an extreme by people who don’t have the talent or experience to lead effective Socratic dialogues to assist participants in developing their thinking around a subject, those who are adept at this style of training can use it very effectively to assist new and seasoned officers through various thought processes that help to prime the mind for expanding situational awareness prior to dynamic simulations or actual encounters on the street.
The full article can be read by clicking this link.
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