“The Scarecrow, by virtue of his highly superior brains, shall rule in my stead…”
So said the “Wizard” in The Wizard of Oz movie. But in real life appointing an expert is kinda like those commercials “…no, but I slept at Holiday Inn Express last night…”
True expertise takes time and diligence and agencies would do well to remember this with those they put forth as “experts.” This is simply not a position that is “appointed” “anointed” or “assigned.” Whether in the area of use of: non-deadly or deadly force, police firearms training, tactics, emergency response or pursuit driving, on and on, these are specific skills and knowledge areas that an agency would do well to cultivate experts over time. This versus the notion of “hey, let’s assign Bubba to firearms training, he’s a good shot,” or, “Jeff golfs with the chief and always agrees with the captain so let’s put him in charge of our driving program.”
On Being Certified as an Expert
Having been involved in police training for 27 years, I freely admit (as my former driving lead instructor will readily attest) that although I have fulfilled all the requirements to be certified by my state as a driving instructor…I’m not good at it… That said, I was very good at suspect control, tactics, use-of-force and firearms training.
I mean, considering all the core critical tasks that police officers perform, “assigning” instructors to cover everything is a fool’s errand and just because you send an officer or trainer to one course doesn’t mean they can competently instruct. Even worse would be to put forth that “one school wonder” as an agency expert in court. As an example, I don’t even change my own oil in my car so my ability to testify or instruct about vehicle dynamics at high speed or the mechanics and operation of ABS – Anti Lock Braking systems is non-existent. But I’ve written a best-selling book on police use of force investigations and have been court certified in U.S. District Court as an expert in use of force.
True expertise takes laser focus and time. Consider my direct examination by the prosecutor to establish by “expert” witness status on a recent murder trial. “This is my 30th year with my agency. Prior to that I spent 8 years as a deputy. I have attended thousands of hours of advanced firearms training. I have attended several training programs on the use of digital video evidence by police investigators.” *At my own expense by the way. All of this was put forth in my CV (which is 17 pages long and records expert witness work in multiple states and Canada). Though my tenure and experience are not necessary to establish expertise it’s substantially better than, “I’ve been to one course at the state academy.”
Recently Mas Ayoob chaired the ILEETA – International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association “Deadly Force Panel of Experts” of which I was a member. The combined experience of the panel was several hundred years. Now, no one that panel, and certainly me, would attest to “knowing it all” but we are active students of our craft and attend conferences like ILEETA to stay current with the best law enforcement trainers in the world. Those of us who have taught at ILEETA over the years like to say that, “ILEETA is an organization of peers.” Though some may have more notoriety and/or been instructing longer, we are all peers and all of us have our own struggles.
Funny thing is, you can attend this awesome conference just like the rest of us.
Attack on Expertise
I count as friends some of the best trainers in the world. Yet many of these talented friends, such as Brian Willis, John Bostain, Chris Cerino, Todd Fletcher, and the Brian Hill have been blackballed by their own agencies at one time or another. Sadly, expertise and excellence are frequently attacked by some who, rather than study and excel on their own, would rather attack experts in police training. As an example, a former chief of mine, who pled guilty to a criminal violation while in office by the way after agreeing to resign, actively denigrated, disparaged and pushed out senior members of the training staff while bragging incessantly about his own non-existent expertise.
Seems rather absurd that folks who state they are all about police training, officer safety and reducing agency liability would rather reduce quality training and increase the potential liability of the city and agency by minimizing the expertise of others. *But what passes as “inside politics” mystifies me and comes across as rewards to sycophants and yes men versus rewarding excellence, the good of the agency and good of the order.
Unfortunately many agencies put forth handpicked fair-haired boys as agency experts. L.E. agencies just don’t want to believe that it takes time to develop expertise. Reminds me of a story:
My late uncle was a machinist. He worked at a large company which manufactured aircraft landing gear. He relayed the story of a master machinist who, when no one else could save gear that had been improperly machined could, with the use of special dies he had invented and made himself, save the work. Facing retirement he went to the shop foreman and said that if he was given an apprentice, he would train that machinist in how he did, what he did and give him the dies when he retired. The company rejected the notion as too expensive and not in keeping with policy. So, on the day the master machinist retired, he smashed the dies with a ballpeen hammer and walked out.
So short sighted and cognizant of “the bottom line” the company lost an invaluable employee and his expertise all in one day. I guess the morale of the story is something like it’s the people that make your organization stupid…” attend to them wisely.
Truth is that I didn’t one day make myself “an expert,” and neither did anyone else make me. During the 27 years I have actively trained cops, I have been approached by a former assistant law director and asked to testify at civil suit depositions defending my agency and its officers, and then do the same on criminal cases. I went through “Daubert Hearings” to establish my “bona fides.” Ever cognizant of the need to gain and maintain my expertise I read, study and train vociferously and continuously. Want to become an expert and maintain that for years? Work your ass off and be prepared to spend a considerable sum of your income on training (last year I attended four conferences and multiple other training programs on my own dime, bought an untold number of books and spent countless hours off-duty studying police use of force and related L.E. topics). Want your agency to fund all this? Good luck on that...
Wrap-Up
Yeah, the Wizard anointed the Scarecrow but let us not forget that the Wiz was a charlatan who blew in to Oz on a bag of hot air.
You can, and should develop expertise in a police topic. Learn and study about firearms training, use of force, search and seizure, traffic enforcement or a variety of other topics. But no one can make you expert. You got to do the work…
