All Around Tactical

04/27/2023

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we've had to cancel this scheduled course. We apologize for the inconvenience and will have more scheduled in the future.

EMS, Fire, and Law Enforcement leaders!

Join us in Wetaskiwin from May 10-11 as we facilitate our 2-Day High-Performance Leadership for First Responders certification course.

You will learn how to become a better leader for your agency, community, and family, focusing on the habits and attributes necessary to succeed in all of your endeavors.

This course is a variation of our popular series provided for the private sector. It is customized to address the unique risks and challenges faced by those who defend, protect, and save lives in our communities: EMS, Fire, and Law Enforcement.

02/24/2022

First and foremost, our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine and those who have loved ones affected by the tragedy that is occurring.

Combined with the ongoing operational and societal challenges that have been occurring recently, it can cause an increase in stress in our members.

Take time to care of yourselves and your families, and remember that the public has your back, despite the loud minority that would try and convince you otherwise!

01/24/2022

There are few things more stressful to an employee than telling them you want to increase accountability.

That's because historically, increasing accountability often meant blaming people for problems and adding more procedures to keep people in check.

We want to shift how people look at accountability by adopting a "No-Fault Responsibility" mindset. With this approach, we are less concerned about placing blame, and more interested in taking responsibility for finding a solution.

This approach preserves the dignity of your employees and allows them to have some control and ownership over the outcome.
Remember, most problems are not caused by malicious intent. Most people want to do a good job and be successful.

01/16/2022

Join us for a free webinar on January 19th at 1:00 PM MST as we take a deep dive into how to use After Action Reviews to Combat Complacency.

Sponsored by All Around Consulting and in partnership with Alberta Defensive Tactics Training Inc., this webinar is open to all Law Enforcement Officers.

Visit www.allaroundconsulting.ca/webinar to register!

12/20/2021

Performance Accountability refers to the capacity of High Performance Teams to be held accountable for their performance outside of the disciplinary process.

In Law Enforcement, how do we measure success at a call? No officers hurt? No members of the public hurt? No complaints?

Regardless of whether we felt the call was successful or not, we need to be open to assess our actions and determine how we could have handled the call better.

Mediocrity is unacceptable in this profession, and failure to seek improvement can result in someone being hurt. Don't be "that person" who refuses to learn from mistakes and improve.

12/16/2021

Here's an interesting video demonstrating the risk of secondary injuries when deploying less lethal options. The suspect pulled out a knife at close range, and the officer used his CEW. Unfortunately the suspect stabbed himself after a successful deployment. The suspect survived his injuries.

While we could argue the officer might have been better served pulling out his pistol instead of a CEW, it appears the incident caught him completely off guard and he didn't have a lot of time to react. That's where visualization and training can be critical in preparing our response to a subject pulling out a weapon.

With that being said, as soon as the CEW was deployed the officer immediately recognized what was about to happen and tried to stop it.

A Glendale police officer used a Taser on a man holding a knife to himself, causing the man to fall and stab himself in the neck on Nov. 23, 2021. ...

12/10/2021

When we are constrained by time, our ability to make decisions is greatly impacted, often resulting in an increase in risk to ourselves, the suspect, and the public.

In a risky situation, one of the most valuable things we can do is buy ourselves time.

More time can allow us to call for additional resources, develop a plan, allow the suspect the opportunity to potentially calm down a bit, establish containment, evacuate bystanders, and so on.

We can purchase time by creating distance, getting behind cover, disengaging, and allowing ourselves the opportunity to slow down.

Obviously this doesn't apply when a member of the public or an officer is in imminent danger, however, if we have the chance to buy time, do your best to take it.

12/02/2021

In this video the officers use a CEW on a subject armed with a sword.

They experienced a positive outcome, and the suspect was taken into custody with minimal injuries.

HOWEVER... You'll notice that the officer deployed the CEW without any lethal cover. If the suspect had charged the officer, and the CEW failed (which happens quite often), the officer could have been killed.

Barring exigent circumstances, Less Lethal options should only be deployed from behind lethal cover.

* (Disclaimer: This video content is intended for educational and informational purposes only) *Los Angeles, California — On October 12, 2021, at around 3:00...

12/01/2021

Here is an unfortunate incident to use as a case study in a table top exercise.

The officers were dealing with a shoplifter in a motorised wheel chair who was armed with a knife. As the suspect wheeled into the nearby store, one of the officers shot the suspect from the side-rear multiple times.

That officer has since been fired. The video looks bad, and is graphic.

It's not immediately apparent if the officers had less lethal options available, and the suspect was not contained.

This appears to be a case where it was necessary to stop the suspect from being a threat to the bystanders, but the manner in which the suspect was stopped was not acceptable.

Something to consider... If this happened to you, what might you do to resolve it differently?

* (Disclaimer: This video content is intended for educational and informational purposes only) *Tucson, Arizona — A Tucson police officer has been fired afte...

12/01/2021

High Performance Skill: Being Coachable.

By demonstrating you are able to receive constructive criticism, you establish your credibility as an effective team player.

These are our tips for how to receive feedback:

1) Put your ego aside. The feedback is about your behaviour, not a personal attack on your character.

2) Listen without interrupting. Let the sender convey what they need to say. You should have a chance for questions at the end.

3) Seek to fully understand. Is the message straightforward, or is there an underlying issue that brought this up? Understand the concern from the sender's perspective.

4) Plan for success. What does success look like, and how can you achieve it?

As leaders, we need to demonstrate and encourage the behaviours we expect from our followers.

11/24/2021

In the Law Enforcement environment, there's often competition between teams.

This is natural, but becomes a problem when other teams performing similar work are viewed as "lazy" because they "don't do as much work as us."

To help increase cohesion, consider incorporating job shadowing, secondments, or other strategies which reduce the "us vs. them" mentality.

While some competition is fine, we need to ensure the line isn't crossed where it becomes counter productive and starts to affect cohesion.