Student of the Game

It was always amazing to me and admittedly frustrating when instructing my basic law class to police academies and in-service training, the seemingly lack of interest. I would clearly explain that being an officer of the law and the power of arrest is awesome and never to be taken lightly. Explain that as an officer you DO NOT have authority over all persons all the time and the drooling and droopy eyes, begins.

I would find students with their eyes glazing over and yawning even though I would be using all of my tricks as an instructor to 'entertain' and keep them involved in the class.

Tell the recruits that today we are going shooting and they become excited. Tell the recruits that today we will be going over arrest control and self defense and they perk right up.

Tell the recruits that today we are going to be on the track driving police vehicle (fast) and perfecting the P.I.T. maneuver and they are all dialed in.

Tell the recruits that today we will be discussing the legal side of applying force or response to resistance and they turn into zombies. Starts to potentially explain the misconduct and Constitutional violations we see.

I found it frustrating that officers would come to me with BIG news about how they found some authority that they didn't know they had due to some case law they just read.

I would constantly explain to them and ask them, is this case law from their district (is it binding to them)? Did they read the case law in it's entirety? Do/ did they understand that each case law is ruled on by very specific facts and factors for that specific case?

Based on my written comments above, I bet you can guess the answers with a high probability of success.

Anyway, I'm still out here trying to make a difference, fighting the good fight.