Mindset Force Management LLC

Class Listings

Law Enforcement Classes

As our name eludes, Mindset Force Management, LLC provides more than innovative and researched skills, tactics and techniques training. We offer a model and process that allows officers to make quick decisions with confidence under threat and have the skills to execute. We provide use of force instructors with comprehensive advanced training and research on how to assess the "root causes" of use of force success as well as mistakes. We found it surprising there was little to no training for Professional Standards/Internal Affairs, supervisors, and managers on how to assess, supervise, and manage use of force with a systematic process that is defensible as best practices.

Risk cannot be removed from use of force; it only can be minimized and managed. There are Four Elements of Reasonable Force: knowledge, skills, decision-making, and documentation. All four must be at a minimum level of proficiency in order for risk to be minimized. Weakness in just one element greatly increases the risk use of force can't be justified in court or public opinion. Although these elements apply to every position in an agency, how they are trained, supervised and put into policy affect risk. Using force in the field is a different skill set than instructing it. Assessing and supervising use of force is different than using it; as well as managing use of force needs different skills than supervising. De-escalation and whether or not it was reasonably used or attempted has always been a risk factor in use of force. How de-escalation is trained, supervised, and where in the decision-making process it is placed affects risk. In order for use of force risk to be minimized, accurate identification of risk is needed before management of risk can begin. All reasonable use of force should be a result of training, policy, and supervision. Just as important, use of force failures should not be a result of a lack of training, poor policy, and/or supervision.

Risk Management Series

All courses are designed to be complementary and comprehensive for whole agency use of force risk assessment and management. Our training provides advanced understanding and application of the Four Elements of Reasonable Force specific to a given position (officer, instructor, supervisor, etc.). For risk to be minimized, there also must be an ethical component. It is not enough to be legally justified. Everything legal is not always ethical. Just because a good policy or best practice says one can, doesn't mean one should. How officers make decisions, especially under rapidly evolving circumstances and varying levels of threat it critical. What process does your agency use? Most don't have one. Most basic law enforcement training only provides decision-making models and stress the need to make good decisions, but do not provide a practical process to use in tense and rapidly evolving situations requiring quick decisions. Many specialized instructor courses do not provide one. Where does de-escalation attempts belong in the process? Not first, believe it or not. How do supervisors or investigators assess decision-making? How does command staff assess this element accurately and improve risk? We provide this training at all levels.

Courses

Below are descriptions of some of our courses. Class dates are listed at the bottom of the course description. Click the course button at the bottom of the course description or go to the Registration tab at the top of the page to register for a given course. If you would like to host a course or have us design a targeted training contact us and we will send you hosting requirements (click contact tab above).

Use of Force Assessment and Risk Management for Supervisors (Managing Risks in Use of Force Encounters Supervisor) - 1 day

Who should attend: Field Training Officers, Instructors, Professional Standards/Internal Affairs, Sergeants, Lieutenants, or managers who assess use of force

This course focuses on individual use of force assessment by instructors and supervisors. Understanding and applying the four elements of reasonable force (Knowledge, Skills, Decision Making, Documentation) are given. "Root Cause" analysis skills are developed to differentiate between symptoms and causes. This course breaks down decision making and documentation into processes that can be evaluated objectively. Understanding how to request additional clarity and detail from officers/deputies without corrupting the process is an important skill to understand and practice. This assessment process can be applied to evaluate performance in all use of force training (BLET, in-service, remedial) as well. The design of this course also improves instructor and supervisor risk management for failing to train and/or supervise in both the training and field environment. De-escalation is a part of the use of force assessment. This course provides an assessment process for de-escalation knowledge, skills, decision-making, and documentation. This course provides the basis for evaluating force incident risk in the following areas: Criminal/Civil, employment, decision making, and stress management. Accurate force risk assessment of incidents and training allow for better management and predictability of future incidents as well as managing on-going incidents. This allows instructors/supervisors to be proactive in their duties and provide command staff a more accurate understanding of not just individual force risk, but agency force risk management.

Upcoming Classes:

February 24, 2022 Carthage, NC (reserved for Moore County Law Enforcement Officer Association)

Use of Force Risk Management for Officers (Managing Risks in Use of Force Encounters for Officers) - 1 day

This course is part of the Use of Force Risk Management series and is designed for the frontline officer. Use of Force Risk Management requires an understanding of many factors. Training for officers in Use of Force Risk Management is not provided in Basic Law Enforcement Training. This course provides a clear understanding individual of use of force risk. With the use of force, risk cannot be eliminated. It can only be minimized and managed. Understanding and applying the four elements of reasonable force (Knowledge, Skills, Decision Making, Documentation) are given in this course. This allows officers to assess their current risk and know how to improve it. Skills in overcoming resistance from non-compliant persons and when to safely attempt, continue, or stop de-escalation skills are provided. Reasonable force knowledge and skills are not enough to minimize risk. Officers must be proficient in decision-making under threat. This course breaks down decision-making into a process that can be done quickly in rapidly evolving circumstances and does not need to be changed depending upon the level of threat. A duty to intervene to stop potential excessive force must also be trained and not merely a statement in policy. Force documentation continues to be a high-risk area for officers. This course provides a process for officers to assess their narratives and ensure it contains all relevant information and be able to confidently testify years later.

Upcoming Classes:

TBA

Advanced Conducted Electrical Weapons Instructor Risk Management Course (1 day)

Who should attend: Conducted Electrical Weapon Instructors/Master Instructors

Conducted Electrical Weapons (CEW) can be an effective tool for dealing with Active Resisters. When used reasonably CEWs have prevented or reduced injuries to both officers and actively resisting subjects. Unfortunately, large jury awards, settlements, and officers being charged and convicted criminally have been increasing every year. This course is designed to be supplemental to manufacturers' Instructor and Master Instructor courses and greatly improve attendee assessment and risk management of their agency's training, policy, and supervision.

The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) 2011 Electronic Control Device Guideline states "Agencies should not rely solely on training curriculum provided by an ECW (Electronic Control Weapon) manufacturer." (Full PERF Publication)

This advanced instructor course provides technical, medical, legal, and training risk management of conducted electrical weapons not provided by any manufacturers' instructor courses. This course is the result of over 15 years of research on CEWs and over twenty years of law enforcement use of force training experience. Training considerations specific to Conducted Electrical Weapons (CEW) and their liability are provided. Detailed Circuit Court of Appeals cases are reviewed well beyond the manufacturer's curriculum as well as medical research, and selected cases of misuse and abuse of CEWs highlight current risks. Training research that affects the instruction of CEWs and policy/training risk management are covered.

Have you upgraded to the TASER X26P, X2 or TASER 7 models? There is a difference in the pain and incapacitation ratings compared to the TASER X26. Weapon retention, weapons confusion, curriculum design and in-service training are part of this course.

Exposure training is not included in this course. It is recommended that attendees have completed voluntary exposure training to improve comprehension of information provided in this course. This course is detailed and technical and requires a strong knowledge of CEWs and the reasonable use of force. Manufacturer's instructor or master instructor certification are recommended.

Upcoming Classes:

TBA

Use of Force Risk Management for Managers (1 day)

Use of Force Risk Management requires an understanding of many factors. Training for managers in the skill of assessing and evaluating use of force risk management is often not provided in management training because this is a profession specific function. With the use of force, risk cannot be eliminated. It can only be minimized and managed. Defending an officer's/deputy’s actions goes beyond the facts of the incident. Also, an officer/deputy at some point will make a mistake in the use of force. Is you agency prepared at all levels to manage this risk?

There are four elements that must be performed at a minimum level for an officer/deputy to have a reasonable use of force with low risk management. These are force knowledge, force skills, force decision making, and force documentation. Weak ability in any one of these increases risk management greatly. Supervision, assessment, and management of these four elements requires additional skills than simply being able to perform them as an officer/deputy in the field. How does your training, policy, and supervision integrate de-escalation and duty to intervene with use of force? Assessing and managing use of force risk across all units and divisions must have a comprehensive process that identifies key root causes of success and errors and is predictive of future use of force risk. Proactive risk management of elected officials (city council, county commissioners, district attorney, etc.), police-community relationship, and labor-management relationship are important and should have a process. An officer/deputy can use force reasonably by legal standards but still have high risk management because of other controllable factors not performed well. This course provides the skills to assess current risk in your agency's use of force management process.

Upcoming Classes:

TBA

Use of Force: Knowledge, Skills, Decision Making, and Evaluation (Instructor) - 2 day

Who should attend: Use of Force Instructors for the following: firearms, defensive tactics, subject control, conducted electrical weapons, pepper spray, reality-based training, subject matter experts

There are four elements that must be present at a minimum level in order to have a use of force to be reasonable. This course provides instructor level knowledge in all four. Selected Supreme Court and Circuit Courts of Appeals cases are covered to provide a comprehensive understanding of use of force assessment and risk management. Applied use of force concepts reduce the likelihood of the "silo" effect between use of force areas (firearms, defensive tactics, communication, etc.). Understanding and being able to assess common physical skills used in law enforcement improves practical effectiveness and prevents training scars.

Knowledge and Physical skills are not enough for officers to have the ability to use force reasonably. Research indicates our brains want to make decisions differently under stress than without it. All law enforcement decision-making models do not address this key factor. Also, current models are too broad and are not brought down to the process level. In other words, they are not practical for field use and fail under rapidly evolving circumstances. We have designed "Branched Force Decision Making" specifically for law enforcement. This is a binary decision-making process that works with the stress response. It improves decision-making speed while managing stress. It gives officers the ability to act reasonably, assess, and critically think in the moment. It is simple and does not need to be changed for different levels of threat. This process integrates de-escalation skills without compromising safety or the need to act immediately. It allows for improved recall of critical thinking and decision making for documentation. Since this is a process it can be objectively evaluated and assessed.

The final element skill that must be present is documentation and evaluation of force. For this element we have created the 5-Step Clarity/Detail Loop. This documentation process organizes the "who, what, where, when, why, and how" of a use of force in a logical, simple process. It provides a platform that prevents leading or corrupting questions by managers and subject matter experts. These "loops" provide easy locating points for ease of recall and testimony. This process is universal for officers, supervisors, Professional Standards, instructors, and Command Staff.

This course provides instructors the basis to evaluate training, curriculum, force policies, and procedures in order to identify instructor risks in use of force training and how to manage it.

Prerequisite: Firearms Instructor, Defensive Tactics Instructor, Subject Control Instructor, Internal Affairs/Professional Standards, or in a position that requires the assessment/evaluation of force.

Upcoming Classes:

TBA