A Nationally Accredited Law Enforcement Training Academy

This class exposes officers to a career’s worth of critical incidents and hostage events in an 8-hour
classroom training session. It takes a deep dive into the longtime law enforcement “priorities of life”
principle. The priorities of life: 1. Hostages, 2. Citizens/Bystanders, 3. Police, 4. Suspect, can be
applied to all critical incidents in which officers respond. Too often, officers assume unnecessary
risk and are injured or killed because they did not honor the priorities of life. Conversely, there are
times where officers need to take aggressive action in the face of extreme danger to save a hostage
or citizen/bystander. This course will provide attendees with a simple and effective method to quickly
determine the appropriate course of action. While this is not a tactics class, students will be given
strategies and examples that have been proven to enhance success during emergency hostage
rescues. Real world bodycam incidents will be discussed in detail and applied to the presented
decision-making model. When responding to critical incidents and barricades, officers should form
a reaction team ready to act at a moment’s notice. Do they have the proper breaching tools? Which
door will they use? Do they have enough officers? Did they discuss a hasty plan? This class will
discuss the responsibilities of the reaction team and apply them to real world tabletop and/or training
scenarios. Use of force articulation is as important as the use of force itself. Proper use of force
articulation protects the officer and agency from negative exposure. Students will be presented with
a roadmap of how to properly articulate their use of force actions. This class is designed to improve
critical incident decision making for all ranks and levels of officer experience.