While a great deal of teaching children about being safe in their homes centers around threats posed by other humans, there are more significant and commonly-seen threats that need to be addressed. Fire, to be certain, is among these threats. Power outages, floods and strong storms are more likely to present a threat to a child than is a prowler or a burglar. Other threats include improperly-functioning furnaces that leech off carbon monoxide and being injured in the home when there’s no one within earshot to lend assistance. Educating children about these hazards, fortunately, can actually be quite fun, despite the severity of the threats.

There are likely few children on Earth who aren’t somewhat curious about how a fire extinguisher works. After all, firefighters are heroes to just about everyone, adults and children alike. Taking one’s child out in the backyard and letting them use a fire extinguisher for themselves is not only fun, it’s a potentially life-saving lesson. Remember to instruct them as to what types of fire extinguishers work on which types of fires and to always aim at the base of the fire. For the best lesson, start a small fire in a safe place and let the child practice putting it out with the extinguisher.

Natural disasters, obviously, cannot be combated but teaching a child how to safely wait-out such events is a necessity for any parent. This, too, can be fun. By teaching a child what a natural disaster really entails, their fear will generally be lessened and by teaching them what they can do to keep safe their fear will be lessened further still. Teach them basic survival skills including calling for help, taking shelter and staying away from windows during strong storms. Make certain they know where emergency supplies are located within the home and what to do if someone is injured. One would be surprised how well a child can function in an emergency when they’re provided with the right skills.

Carbon monoxide kills many people every year. This threat manifests when a home’s heater is burning improperly. The survival skills for these disasters involve recognizing the symptoms of poisoning and emphasizing to the children that they must get out of the house as soon as possible. This lesson carries over to many other gaseous environmental pollutants. Various cleaning fluids, when mixed, can produce substances such as chlorine gas which is positively lethal.

A home alarm system which has sensors that detect fire, freezing and broken windows is part and parcel of making these efforts work. These alarms alert the monitoring agency when such conditions are detected and, if someone is injured, one can contact the alarm operators through the device itself to request assistance. Children need to be instructed in how to use these devices so that they can avail themselves of the safety they provide. Most children, born into a very digital age, will quickly understand the various workings and feel immediately comfortable with these devices.

More How To Become Firefighter Articles

Has someone left an abandoned vehicle on your parking lot? What can you do if someone parks on your property and then dines at a restaurant across the street? Can you tow a vehicle from a handicap parking spot if they just run in for a few minutes? What happens if they show up while their vehicle is being towed?

The laws for towing vehicles from your private property are different than towing a vehicle from a public street. Stiff fines can be imposed if you illegally remove a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent. Much worse, you may have an ugly confrontation.

Sign laws vary slightly from state to state but are generally the same throughout the country. But it is always best to contact the local police authority for the exact rules as our research has found conflicts in the sign requirements from neighboring municipalities.

First, determine if you are subject to signage requirements. A residential homeowner of four units or less is not typically required to post towing notices to have a vehicle removed that is blocking their driveway. Could you imagine what it would look like if every suburban home had a no parking sign in their driveway?

If you are a property manager of an office building, shopping center, apartment complex or condominium community then you will need to conspicuously post parking signs that your area is subject to tow away.

The sign must be prominently placed at each vehicular entrance to the property which can easily be seen by the public. You want the motorist to be informed upfront, usually within 5 feet from the public right-of-way; don’t hide the signs in the back of the parking lot. If your parking lot does not have a curb cut entrance, then a sign must be posted every 25 feet apart along the frontage.

The size of the sign varies but typically it should be not less than 18 inch x 24 inch. The State of New Jersey has just passed a law that requires the sign to be 36 inch x 36 inch in some cases. You will want the sign to be installed at eye level of the motorist. The tow away sign should be installed so that the bottom edge of the sign is no lower than five feet and no higher than eight feet above ground level.

Some states have rules that the sign must be continuously maintained which means the lettering cannot have faded. You will want to use a weather resistant material like sign grade aluminum. It is a .080 inch thick alloy that is long lasting and rust free even in harsh weather extremes.

The sign lettering must be large enough to be readable. Some states go as far as specifying the height of the letters ranging from 1 inch to 4 inch. A 1 inch sign letter is readable from 50 feet away and a 4 inch letter is readable from 200 feet away. Most states specify that the sign lettering must be on a contrasting background.

Your sign should be reflective so it is visible at night or dimly lit environments.

Your Tow Away Sign must state who is entitled to park in the area, for example, Customer Parking Only, Employee Parking Only or Resident Parking Only. The parking sign must state that the area is subject to tow away, this can be done by using the international tow away symbol which is a graphic of a car on a tow truck’s hook. The sign must state that violators will be towed at vehicle owner’s expense and the towing and storage rates. The sign must provide the name and telephone number of the towing company where they can reclaim their vehicle. Reference the State’s Vehicle Code that authorizes you to tow away, for example, CVC 22658.

There are exceptions to tow away sign requirements. Unregistered or abandoned vehicles can be towed away without notice. Cars parked in a designated handicap parking spot can be towed away immediately. Cars parked in a fire lane, blocking the free flow of traffic, or blocking a driveway can be towed without the vehicle owner’s consent. And obviously, you can never tow away police, firefighting, rescue squad, ambulance, or other emergency vehicles.

For more information on tow away signs, visit No Parking Signs.

Introduction – What we are going to do is politically discuss the issues related to gun control.

Does Gun Control Reduce Crime? – Emphatically no. Never once did it ever do that.

Below are several studies that can be researched on the Internet yourself that document the fact that gun control never reduces crime.

New Jersey – In 1996 New Jersey passed what was considered to be the most stringent gun laws in the USA. Two years later their murder rate went up 46% and their robbery rate about doubled.

Hawaii – In 1968 Hawaii passed harsh gun laws. At the time of the legislation their murder rate was 2.4 per 100,000 per year. Nine years later their murder rate had tripled to 7.2 per 100,000.

Washington, D.C. – In 1976 they passed a major gun control law. They even stopped people from owning guns in their homes. Their murder rate went up 134% while the USA rate for murder dropped 2%.

New York City – They have some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the world. All sales of any sort of gun are restricted and tightly controlled. 20% of all armed robberies in the USA are committed in New York City and they do not have anywhere close to 20% of the population. This is what happens when the criminals know a certain population is unlikely to be unable to defend themselves.

Chicago, New York City, Detroit and Washington, D.C.- Each of these cities has accomplished a virtual ban on the private ownership of guns. The Washington D.C laws are being fought out in the appellate courts at present. These four cities have 20% of the homicides in the USA yet they only make up 6% of the USA population. This means that restrictive gun control leads to a tripling of the homicide rate. Some one is going to say wait the population in these areas is why the murder rate is so high. Fine we can look at Arlington, Virginia which is a city right across the Potomac River from Washington D.C with sensible gun control laws so the population base should not be that different. Their murder rate is 10% of Washington D.C. (7.0 murders per 100,000 people versus 77.8 murders per 100,000 people in Washington D.C). We can also look to Virginia Beach, Va. a nearby city of 400,000. They have sensible gun laws allowing for easy access to firearms and their murder rate is 4.1 per 100,000.

Other Effects Non-Restrictive Gun Laws have on Crime – In the USA in a given year law abiding citizens kills 2,000 to 3,000 criminals. They also wound another 9,000 to 17,000 criminals a year. This is a reduction in the load of violent crimes the government must arrest, detain, prosecute and imprison. It also sends a strong signal to the other would be criminals. Criminals worry far more about an encounter with an armed law abiding citizen than a policeman. Police are most likely going to be polite about asking the criminal to drop their weapon and submit. The citizen in fear of protecting himself and his family is going to be much more prone to firing his weapon than a police officer. Criminals’ greatest fear is running into an armed victim when committing a crime. This was based on a study of 1874 felons from 10 states. In this study 38% of these felons said at least one time they had been scared off, shot at or wounded by an armed victim. Only 1% of the time do criminals take a gun away from a victim, yet 10% of the police officers that are shot, are shot with their own guns. Police officers are slow to shoot and the criminals know this and thus are more fearful of an armed citizen. Private citizens kill three times as many criminals as police do. Remember if someone is assaulting you or robbing you or your house the police will likely only be taking a report not encountering the criminals. It is the citizen who needs all the help and assistance of weapons to survive the criminal encounter.

Why Do Governments Seek Gun Control? – Fear! They are afraid of losing control over the population. The prefect state of affairs for a police state is the confiscation of all privately owned firearms. Then the possibility of an overthrow of the government goes down by about 99.9%. They never want partial gun controls like only machine guns or “assault type weapons” to be banned. They want all the privately owned guns gone. The partial gun control is the Salami theory. You keep cutting a slice away until there is nothing left. The only reason for gun control is to make room for a totalitarian government, nothing else. Sometime there are people ignorantly confused who support gun control thinking it will do something to make the world a safer place to live. Play with these people and say when the government disarms then you will. Tell them to chase the government and tell them to have the government give up their guns for police leaving only the military armed. Use the British Bobbies who used to be unarmed as an example. Tell them the Cayman Island and Nassau police are unarmed. Have them call for the disarming of the police. Play with them. Have fun. Every time the police shoot someone accidentally tell them to call for the disarming of the police.

How Would Gun Control Happen – Well Obama showed it to you recently. They were starting to introduce gun control bills again. We do not know how aggressively they will push them this time. Nothing in these bills will do any practical good in terms of reducing crime, not a single thing. They also increase the penalties each time. So if it would happen what would it look like. OK there would be a bill that say banned all assault weapons. The bill would say the attorney General can add any gun to the list he wanted. Over time he would keep adding guns to test the public response. The banned guns would be prohibited from being sold at first. They would leave .22 caliber single shot rifles and single shot shotguns until the end to satisfy the call for hunting guns. Then the banned guns would become illegal to own even if they were grandfathered in, registered whatever. This would be something like turn them in or face 20 years in prison for each gun plus a 0,000 fine for each gun. I am serious on the penalties.

No one would be coming to anyone’s house to collect the guns for a long time. They would wait for someone to get shot with a .22 caliber gun and then say these too need to be banned. They always love to call for new restrictive laws after a shooting crime. Do that back to them. Every time you see the police abuse a person with a taser call for them to be banned and not used by the police. They will soon stop when their own tactics gets turned on them. Now the people have their guns and they can run around quoting Charleston Heston and his out of my cold dead hands slogan. The next stage is anytime the local police get into a house like to respond to a burglary, a domestic abuse call, a noisy party anything and they see the guns then someone gets to go to jail for a long time. The word soon gets out. If you think the people that own guns are going to like get together, carry guns and march on Washington D.C. armed to the teeth to demand gun laws be repealed you need to get some counseling. You will never see this. If anything like this were ever going to happen it would have happened in 1968 with the first serious federal gun control law. This came on the heels of the Kennedy assassination. What did that have to do with gun control laws anyway?

I am going to say some things about how it used to be. If any of you find this too wild to be true verify it. Find old issues of Guns and Ammo magazines and read the ads. You were able to buy guns mail order across state lines before 1968. There were a few states that prohibited this but that was it. You were able to buy machine guns fairly easily. You were able to freely buy what they call destructive devices. Boys ant-tank rifles (Boys was a manufacturers name) were being sold for .00 with bipods and all. The ads used to say for the jackrabbit that got away. This rifle fires a .51 caliber round that is effective on lightly armored tanks. Bazookas were a mail order item as were mortars. Armor piercing ammo was freely available until the late 1970’s or early 1980’s. They had lovely armor piercing fully jacketed .45 auto rounds that would pierce engine blocks, let alone bullet resistant vests. Guns were not registered except for a few states and cities that did this. Those yellow forms came along with the 1968 gun control law. This was when guns were fairly well available and by mail order. An armed society is a polite society. Criminals are not polite.

Response To New Restrictive Gun Control Laws – We will now address how the people will be likely to respond. This is hypothetical and based on speculation only. No one can predict what the people will do with any accuracy including the government. There are many mitigating circumstances that will come to bear on the hearts and minds of those affected.

In this hypothetical scenario the people in our opinion are going to not physically resist new guns laws instead just sort of go with the flow and verbally oppose them only, for the most part. They will bury their guns and ammo in the woods. They will hide them inside the walls, under the floorboards etc. They will say things like well when the time comes etc. Eventually the local police will start arresting people when they discover the guns in vehicles, in houses, informants (the maid, the plumber, the cable TV guy, the alarm company guy) tell them about them and so forth. These people will be arrested and get probably 10 years for each gun plus massive fines like 0,000 for each gun. There will be calls for amnesty asking people to just turn the guns in and walk away free. Many will do this out of fear. There will be no revolutionary forces to join and resist. After a year or two there will be raids on houses. They will use devices to see images behind the sheetrock. They will use metal detectors in the yards and land.

When they find a gun after the owner does not turn it over when they show up they will throw the book at the person. They will take his family as accomplices. All will be in jail for many years. The fines will cause them to lose their homes, cars and assets. They will be destroyed completely. Only thing worse would be to kill them. Those with guns hidden in the woods will be questioned as to where their guns are. They will probably be charged with some crime for not reporting a stolen gun within 72 hours, which is found in HR 45 the latest gun control bill (not law yet). So when they say the guns were lost or stolen they get charged with the crime of not reporting this and get serious jail time for each gun. Gun registration is the prelude to the confiscation, nothing else.

The reporting the lost and stolen guns in 72 hours is the fix against you saying you lost the guns when they come to take them away. Those with unregistered guns will be able to hide them in the woods. There are many ways to do this securely and preserve the firearm. If the weapon is wiped free of prints and any blood like from getting pinched by the slide (think DNA) then this person should be safe if the weapons are found and not traceable to him in any way. What good is it doing them to have the guns buried in the woods? It is just a psychological game they are playing with themselves. Once a man came to Confucius and said I had a jar full of money buried in the woods. I went to dig it up to check on it and the money was gone. What should I do? Confucius said put rocks in the jar, bury it again and make believe the money is still there. It would be very dangerous for these people to even go and check on their weapons and they probably never will. I do not think there will be any rising up of gun owners. They are not going to engage the police in active firefights to keep their guns. The guns will just go away and the police state will be in full swing.

What the Police Are Missing – Police do not see their role in the police state correctly or even close to it. They miss the bigger picture. To them it is a status job, the pay is good and the perks are big. Police and their families get out from traffic tickets. Ask any law enforcement officer you may know well. This includes spouses, children, brothers, sisters, and parents. In many departments they even have little gold and silver courtesy badges they give their relatives. The police and their families get favorable treatment with accident reports, ouch if you are the other driver. They have a lot of favorable treatment letting them get away with things regular people do not get away with. They usually cannot get away with major crimes. Police carry guns all over the USA without a carry permit. They can carry on airplanes if they are Federal Officers. They can carry guns in government buildings, in stadiums, schools etc.

If they are in their own jurisdiction they can get away with anything short of major felonies with victims. Police like this treatment. It gives them status and pride. It teaches them there are only three classes of people. The ruling class to them is not the Federal Reserve Bank; they would not know what that is. It is the senators, congressmen, mayors, supervisors, judges etc. They know these people can exert their power and influence and make their life miserable in many ways. They leave these people alone. Then there are police, which they always leave alone. Then come you the citizen. You pay their salary and they have no respect for you. You do not matter in that you have no power to do anything against them and you cannot retaliate. They are there to control you. The Taser is the latest police state tactic to be adopted. If a person doe not verbally snap to and respond to a verbal command of a police officer like get out of the car, stand here, sit down, move here etc they taser them.

The police do not know they are conditioning the populace to respond to the police blindly without thinking or face painful consequences. I do not really know what they think. I guess they think it is proper to demand such respect and control over those they are supposed to protect. Most people that get tasered are involved in a victimless non-violent crime. This makes it worse. The police are not aware of any of this. They are in their own little world. They do not worry too much about the financial crisis in that they think there will always be work for them. Wait until the layoffs sink in later this year. Their attitude will change for the worse. They will do anything their handlers ask to keep their jobs. The police do not think they are there to protect and serve. They are there to control the populace and protect the ruling class and each other. Can you remember when police had nice government service looking uniforms, revolvers, long wooden sticks and helped people change flat tires. Now they look like storm troopers, wear black uniforms and masks, never help anyone with anything, have high tech weapons and strike fear and terror into the hearts of those that have contact with them. This is not being done by chance it is planned to strike fear into you of the police who used to be there to serve you. The police used to be hard on armed robbers, rapists, burglars, muggers and real criminals. Now most of the people in the prisons are there for crimes that are victimless. A government statue is not a victim.

When the Police State Flourishes What Is It Like For The Police? – Well this is something they do not consider. Let us say gun control has been accomplished and private ownership of guns is historical. So the people are no longer a threat. Who will the paranoid rulers fear next? They are always paranoid because they do not rule by popular support. Ever see the army of bodyguards they have now, this is nothing. You got it, the police and military is what they will fear the most. They have the weapons, the access, the association potential to organize etc. Imagine police leaving their guns in their lockers when going off shift. This is how it will be. No private guns for police anymore. Internal security investigations will become a lifestyle.

There will not be any more lawsuits against the government. The Internal Security Forces will be super cops trained to resent the police, take advantage of them and rule them by fear and harshness. What the police do the population now, is what the internal security forces will do to the police then only worse since there will not be any consequences for their actions. There will be mandatory polygraph exams. Long interrogations. Police homes and cars being searched. Their phones and email being tapped. They will be followed. Other police constantly being questioned about their colleagues. The role model is the SS Hitler had. Remember who tried to kill Hitler, the military on several occasions. The military will also be handled harshly but they are much more easily controlled due to the nature of the military but their internal security forces will constantly be engaged in a war of terror against them.

The internal security forces will have to get results or else they will be considered ineffective so one way or another they will be discovering sedition, spying, attempts to revolt, steal, commit criminal acts etc. The police will be policed very harshly. They will in turn be harsh towards the population. The police do not see any of this coming. The Federal Police are in the same boat as the local police. They will become more and more entrusted to police the police and protect the state as time goes on. There will not be much point in protecting the state from an unarmed populace so guess who they will focus on – the others who can have access to guns – the military and police. The internal security forces the federal police have will rein terror on them as well. They will have to uncover plots to keep their jobs and show they serve a purpose. Doom and gloom.

Will This Scenario Be Likely? – In our opinion no. We ascribe to the breaking up of the USA due to financial collapse similar to the USSR in the 1980’s. It looks like Obama is afraid to push forward with gun control legislation just now. This can be a ruse while they work hard to get it passed quietly without opposition until it is too late but unlikely. Obama has to maintain order in the face of the financial collapse, which is already happened, and getting worse by the day. New opposition from 25 million gun owners is not something him and Billary need right now. The countries in the world do not trust the US and their dollar and they are working fast to replace the dollar as the world reserve currency.

Anything like this will hurt the USA and throw them into hyperinflation. The USA will have to start buying foreign currency to make purchases abroad and the exchange rate will be bad for the USD. Gun control is a slow freight train that takes years to effect even from where they are today. The USA Government is really fighting for its continued existence and hoping to keep its role as a superpower and the world’s policeman. I would say they have two chances – slim and none. They destroyed themselves with their idiotic greedy monetary practices. The descriptive term should be – Dead Country Walking.

Originally published at: http://www.panamalaw.org

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When it comes to the martial arts a knock out is a home run. I don’t care if you study kenpo or pa kau chang or savate, if the end result of your strike, or chokehold, is that the guy does not go unconscious, then you have not hit a home run. In short, you didn’t complete the work.

If you swing and miss with your punch, it is a strike. Enough of these and you’re going to strike out, because the other guy is going to come to the plate and get his chance to hit. And you cannot bet that when he gets to bat he is not going to swing for a home run.

If you swing and hit and do no damage, it is a foul ball. If you hit a foul in this manner, you have wasted time, and he is that much closer to taking his own turn at fisting your face. So foul balls are the wrong thing to do in the martial arts.

If you swing a fist and hit him and hurt him, that is a base hit. If he takes a step back you have strategic advantage, you get to take another swing. You have gotten to first base, and you may, depending on further swings of the fist, make it all the way around to home base and knock him out.

If he staggers or shows weakness in any way, then you are solidly on second base. You have hurt him, and lessened the chances of him hitting a home run. Further, you have an advantage, no matter how temporary, and you need to really rock and roll on the guy.

If you swing a fist and knock him down, you have made it to third base. Now you know he is hurt, you see the look in his eyes, you see the awareness that you might be able to knock him all the way out. Knocking somebody down is awful close to knocking him out, and home base is in sight.

Now, the above being said, getting a base hit is okay in the long run, but they are not the home run, and there is risk of being put out yourself before you make it home. So you have train yourself to knock your opponent all the way out. You have hit him hard, you have to have the hardest punch in the world, and that is the real solution to the real home run.

The truth of the matter is no matter what martial art you are studying, Kenpo or aikido or savate, you have to knock him out. If you don’t, if it goes to a decision, then nothing has really been decided. If there is no knock out then the fighters were only dancing, not really fighting, and neither fighter was able to get the job done, and they better get back to the dojo and study The True Martial Art.

After being in the Police Force for about 2 years, I went to see a Doctor due to not being able to sleep. After blood tests and a few different Medical examinations, the Doctor told me that I needed more sleep.

“Thanks for that” I thought sarcastically.

After a few more years of lying in bed for 2-8 hours EVERY night (or day depending on the shifts), before being able to sleep, I realised that this was not normal. Ok, maybe it took me a few years to realise the obvious, but severe lack of sleep can muddle your senses somewhat.

It took me another couple of years to actually try and do something about it. So I went to see the Police Psychologist. She was almost a cliche. She talked in whispers and was full of empathy. It was annoying. I ignored everything that she whispered, mainly because I only heard ever fourth or fifth word.

I then went to see another Doctor.  This Doctor, who seemed half competent, told me I was suffering PTSD.

PTSD? What the? I don’t have PTSD! I haven’t been in combat! I’m not weak! PTSD is for weak people or really old soldiers! There’s nothing wrong with me, I just need some sleeping pills!

That was my immediate reaction. I didn’t want my colleagues or subordinates to think I was weak. I thought PTSD was a sign of weakness. That night, whilst lying in my bed unable to sleep, all I could think about was “PTSD”.

So I did some research. What I found was that there wasn’t really much information out there about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, especially as it relates to Policing.

Very recently I found some material that helped explain stress and PTSD as it relates to Policing.  The most important thing I learned was that nearly anything can cause stress. Even Police Management can cause stress with their treatment of their subordinates.

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman is a Psychology Professor who has extensively studied Psychology as it relates to Law Enforcement and the Military. A direct quote from pages 3-4 of On Combat states,

“The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the ‘Bible’ of psychiatry and psychology, specifically states that any time the causal factor of a stressor is human in nature, the degree of trauma is usually more severe and long lasting. Conversely, the DSM says that posttraumatic stress disorder is comparably rare and mild in response to natural disasters and traffic accidents. In other words, when it is another human being who causes our fear, pain and suffering, it shatters, destroys and devastates us.

Unchecked, extreme stress is an emotional and physical carnivore. It chews hungrily on so many of our law enforcement officers with its razor-sharp fangs, and does so quietly, silently in every corner of their lives. It affects their job performance, their relationships and ultimately their health.”

I think it would be safe to say that 99.99 (recurring) % of incidents attended to by Police involve stressors caused by other humans. It has been said many times that when danger occurs, the majority of sane persons run away, but it is the Police who run towards that same danger. That does not mean Police are not sane. Far from it. What it means is that Police are more frequently exposed to stressors that the vast majority of the general public do not have to face. Although Firefighters, Ambulance crews, and even the Media may also run towards the danger, it is the Police, and the Police alone who will have to face the human entity that is the cause of that danger. That alone makes Police more susceptible to stress than most, if not all, other occupations.

But the one positive aspect about facing human aggression “on the street”, is that you are, hopefully, trained, equipped, and prepared to deal with it. This is important.

Now relate that to facing negative criticism and damaging gossip by your colleagues and Managers. There is no training available to Police to face that. There is no tool available to protect yourself from it. It is an insidious “enemy” that our Police are not able to deal with. It is this human-caused stressor that can eat away at our Police.

“I spent over 9 years as a Police Officer in Australia. I still have the physical scars from the battles I fought. I still remember with sadness the children I pulled, dead, from backyard pools and Vehicle Accidents. I still remember the friends killed on-duty. But they do not cause my nightmares.

I now work in a war-zone, where I wake up to the sound of explosions, and have lost count how many times I have had poorly-trained men point rifles and RPG’s at me. I have lost mates here as well. That does not cause my nightmares.  

My nightmares, hell, my day-time thoughts are invaded by, the memories of petty and cruel attitudes and actions by my Police Management. Even 3 years later, a day does not go by where my stomach doesn’t cramp up at the thought of the unwarranted stress caused by uncaring and selfish Police bosses.” – Anonymous, 2008.  

I admit that stress, for me, was caused by poor Management. But that is not the only stressor for our Police.

Stress can be short-lived, and occur during incidents of risk. Stress can slowly develop over a period of time, and one tiny incident can be the cause of your world turning inside out. Recognising what stress is; what it can do to you and how you can deal with it, is the focus of this article.

According to Grossman, there is a phobia that affects approximately 98% of the human population. This is based on a number of studies conducted by numerous people over approximately a 200 year time period.

No, it’s not snakes, though that is listed as #2.

Grossman describes the Universal Human Phobia as “interpersonal human aggression”. Note he doesn’t say violence, but simply aggression.

“Just the distant possibility of interpersonal confrontation influences our behaviour more than the statistical certainty of a slow, horrible, death from cancer. Statistically speaking, this is not rational”, (Grossman, p6).

When talking about Police and the Universal Human Phobia, Grossman states, “They are the ones who face down the Universal Human Phobia, the most toxic, corrosive, destructive element that can impact our society.”

So what does this mean for our Police? Firstly, it is normal to be afraid, anxious, concerned or stressed at the prospect of facing aggression from another person. Second, for those Officers working at busy stations, who face human aggression every shift, they must take steps to ensure their physical and mental welfare is protected.

What else is normal? Let’s look at what you may experience during periods of extreme stress.

Another natural human response, which is rarely, if ever, discussed during Police training, is that if your lower intestines are not empty before a highly stressful survival situation, then your body will “let go”. You may wet or “mess” yourself.

And if that happens during a fight for your life? You KEEP fighting. Remember, it’s normal. Your body is focusing all its available energy on survival.

This is not to say that you should expect to wet or “mess” yourself when you get into a serious fight, but rather to point out that your body will do things you don’t necessarily want it to. This probably the least discussed issue though.

Once the danger is over, your body will experience what Grossman describes as a Parasympathetic Backlash. Very basically, this is the result of having all that adrenaline dumped during a critical incident, and not being able to burn that adrenaline off.

To quote Lt Col Grossman again,

“When the average Law Enforcement Officer gets into a gunfight, he often has trouble sleeping that night. He still has adrenaline surging through his body.

Have you ever sat on the edge of your bed at night with your mind spinning, your heart pounding & your body raring to go? That is what residual adrenaline does to you. To burn it off you need to conduct calisthenics, go for a long run or lift weights. Afterwards, take a shower & go to bed. Often that is all you need to fall fast asleep.”

I sincerely wish I had this advice available to me when I went through my years of sleep deprivation. I made the mistake of resorting to alcohol to try to help. The result? Not only would I wake up tired, but I would also be hungover!

And let’s talk about sleep for a moment. You will die faster from lack of sleep than you will from lack of food. Lack of sleep has been linked to the following:

Mental Health problems;

Cancer;

Common Colds;

Depression;

Diabetes;

Obesity;

Strokes.

That’s just health issues. In relation to your performance at work, lack of sleep will impair your reaction time, judgement, vision, information processing, short-term memory, performance, motivation, vigilance, and patience. “A person deprived of sleep for 24 hours is virtually the physiological and psychological equivalent of being legally drunk,” (Grossman, pg 25).

So, to counter the effect of adrenalin, you should exercise. To stay healthy, you should also sleep.

But what else can happen during stressful survival incidents?

Most Police are usually taught, or at least aware of, that you can lose fine-motor skills during times of stress. This is associated with adrenaline and an extreme increase in your heart rate. But what is not normally taught is you can also lose your “near vision”. By “near” I mean roughly an arm’s length away.

Why is this important to know? Because that is the distance of the sights on your pistol, (or revolver for you SAPol and VicPol readers).

But there is a solution for both the loss of fine motor-skills and near-vision.

Breathe. Slow deep breaths are good, but the “Tactical Breathing” outlined by Grossman in his book On Combat is even better, (sorry, you’ll have to read the book to find out what it is).

In Deadly force encounters: what cops need to know to mentally and physically prepare for and survive a gunfight, (1997), Dr. Alexis Artwohl & Loren Christensen outline what perceptual distortions can occur during “combat”. Although I know a lot of Australian Police will balk at the thought of being in “combat”, please just accept it as a term used to describe a serious  fight on the streets.

Dr. Artwohl & Christensen surveyed 141 Police survivors of deadly force incidents to ascertain what perceptual distortions they experienced. The results were:

Diminished Sounds (auditory exclusion)                                                           85%

Intensified Sounds                                                                                                        16%

Tunnel Vision                                                                                                                   80%

Automatic Pilot (“Scared speechless”)                                                             74%

Heightened Visual Clarity                                                                                         72%

Slow Motion Time                                                                                                          65%

Temporary Paralysis                                                                                                      7%

Memory Loss for Parts of the Event                                                                      51%

Memory Loss for Some of Your Actions (“Perseveration”)                       47%

Dissociation (detachment)                                                                                       40%

Intrusive Distracting Thoughts                                                                               26%

Memory Distortions (“Perceptual Set?”)                                                           22%

Fast Motion Time                                                                                                           16%

(Into The Kill Zone by Dr. David Klinger is highly recommended for further information regarding perceptual distortions in combat.)          

What is of interest here is that this clearly shows that Officers will more than likely experience more than one perceptual distortion. This should be taken into consideration by persons investigating Police Use of Force, and by the Officers themselves.

But that is what occurs during stressful incidents. The stress doesn’t stop there.

Let’s talk about afterwards.

Experiencing “stress” after a critical incident is normal. Recently I was contacted by a friend whom I supported and advised when they applied to join the Police. He told me about a fight he had on-duty recently, after which he was experiencing sleeplessness, dwelling thoughts, and worrying about everything he did during the incident.

The most important advice I gave him was that what he was experiencing was normal. It was fortunate that I had only a few days before read about this very subject, as I could explain to him what he could expect to happen, and how to deal with it.

But what is normal, and what is not?

Grossman quotes the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) which states that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) occurs when:

1)        You feel “fear, helplessness or horror” in a life and death situation, AND

2)        You “persistently re-experience” the event, AND

3)        You persistently avoid “stimuli associated with the trauma” including, “Efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the trauma,” &/or “Efforts to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of the trauma,” AND

4)        The disturbance lasts for “at least one month,” and it “causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.”

Does this sound like you? If so, then please, see a Doctor. It is not weakness to admit you are stressed. If anything, it takes strength to admit it. Don’t just do it for yourself, but for your loved ones. Seek help. I was once told, directly, by a Senior Sergeant that I was “weak” for taking sick leave for being stressed. I now realise that the person who said that to me had no care or concerns for the welfare of his staff, but was only trying to make life easier for himself. There’s a lot more I want to say on that subject, but it involves a lot of swearing, so let’s move on.

I need to make one thing clear here. When recognised early enough, PTSD does not have to be permanent. PTSD can easily be overcome if you take steps to address it. See a Doctor. Take time off work. Get help.

I recall one incident in which I chased an assault suspect along a rocky shoreline one night. (Speaking of perceptual distortion, I still to this day remember it happening in daylight!) Anyway, to cut a very long story short, the suspect ended up evading us by going into the ocean, near some dense mangroves, and we lost him. 24 hours later he washed back into the shore, and we were tasked to attend the “incident”. As soon as I saw the body I started shaking. I don’t smoke, but I had to borrow a cigarette from my partner.

You see, I immediately knew that this incident was going to become an Aboriginal Death in Custody Investigation. A nightmare for any Police Officer. My colleagues came up to speak to me, and I swore at them until they left me alone. I swore at Commissioned Officers and people who were unknown to me, accusing them of trying to pin the death on me. I don’t remember how, but the next thing I know I’m back at my station, with a very experienced Detective sitting beside me. He had closed the door to the interview room, and he said to me, “I know what our Orders say, but I’m not going to interview you. You’re going to go home and try to get some rest. My main concern is make sure that you’re ok.”

I could literally feel a weight lifting off me.

Although “minor” in comparison to what other Officers have gone through, I recall that event specifically due to what the Detective did. He knew I was stressed, and he went out of his way to do the right thing by me. Grossman makes the point that the right thing to say, or express to a “survivor” is not some macho expression, or to just leave them alone. The right thing to say, the right thing to do, is to just let them know that you are glad that they are ok. That does not mean slapping them on the back and loudly saying, “I’m glad you got the bastard.”

It is merely saying, “I’m glad you’re ok.” Even if they made mistakes, do NOT criticise. You can examine the incident later. The initial response should be to let the Officer know that it is their welfare that is important to you.

Now, for those of you in positions of Police Management, take heed of the following section. For those of you on the frontline, copy this and nail it to your boss’s door. This section is important.

Critical Incident Debriefing can significantly reduce the chances of Officers suffering from PTSD. One of the ideas behind debriefing is, “Pain Shared = Pain Divided, Joy Shared  = Joy Multiplied.”

In Deadly Force Encounters, Artwohl and Christensen tell us:

A debriefing is any discussion after an event that helps the participant come to terms with it, and learn from it. Hopefully, it helps to gain closure so that even will not continue to cause emotional distress. An informal debriefing can simply be a discussion that arises spontaneously after an event, while a formal debriefing takes the discussion one step further because it’s organized and facilitated to ensure it helps everyone.

Lt Col Grossman makes mention of Dr Greg Belenky, a US Army Colonel and psychiatrist working at the Walter Reed Institute of Research. Dr Belenky is one of the US Army’s leading experts and pioneers in PTSD treatment and critical incident debriefings. Dr Belenky teaches that there are two primary functions of critical incident debriefings, and I will paraphrase Grossman here.

1)        A critical incident debriefing is needed to reconstruct the incident from start to finish. This is to realise what was done wrong, what was done right, and to assist in amending SOP’s and / or training.

2)        Remember how stressful incidents create perceptual distortions? The debriefing is a method of bringing everyone back together and allaying irrational feelings of guilt, plus any other concerns or emotions that prevent people from dealing with the incident. It helps morale. It can make lives healthier and may even save lives.

But, you need EVERYONE to turn up. Every person involved, whether it be the first Officer on the scene, to the Comms Operator, to the Operations Commander, all need to attend. Even if they do not want to attend. “I’m too busy,” or “I’m fine, I don’t need to go to a hug-fest.”

You can order them to attend, which may make them resentful, or you can explain that by attending, they can help their colleagues who may be suffering. That perceptual distortion may make one Officer feel deep guilt because he thought he didn’t act, whereby another Officer who was at the scene may speak up and say, “Whoa there. You did act. You took the guy down with a baton strike. You saved my life!”

A debriefing isn’t just for you, it’s also for your mates.

The main points you should take away from this article are:

-          Exercise, not alcohol, will help you sleep.

-          Feeling stressed from human aggression is normal.

-          Sleep is important to a healthy life.

-          Perceptual distortion will likely occur during critical incidents.

-          PTSD is when certain emotions occur for at least a month.

-          PTSD is not weakness.

-          PTSD does not have to be permanent.

-          Let “survivors” know that you are glad they are ok.

-          Debriefing is an important tactic to prevent / reduce stress.

-          Attend debriefings to help your mates.

If you wish to find out more about Lt Col Dave Grossman’s book On Combat, it is listed at

http://www.responseaustralia.net/recommendations. 

If you have any questions, concerns, or just want to discuss similar incidents that you have experienced, feel free to contact me. I also have further reading available on this subject if required.

Stay safe

Doug Nicholson

Grossman, Dave. 2007. On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace. PPCT Research Publications, USA.

Artwohl, Alexis & Christensen, Loren. 1997. Deadly force encounters: what cops need to know to mentally and physically prepare for and survive a gunfight. Paladin Press, USA.

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Young millionaires don’t achieve warp speed riches by accident. In fact, even before I created my own company, Marc Hrisko International, or had written my book, Kangaroo Millionaire: 7 Counterintuitive Secrets to Springing Ahead in Life and Wealth, I had hit millionaire status by the age of 30.   You’re probably asking the same question that I always get asked after my speeches, and that is: “How?!” People want to know: what’s the entrepreneurial secret and how did you find it so fast and at such a young age?”

Well, for starters, I, along with my high school teachers, can assure you that wealth building is not a function of pure intelligence. After all, I graduated high school (narrowly) and never even went to college. Furthermore, if raw intelligence were the secret to millionaire riches then every MENSA member would be sitting in a fat mansion. But that’s clearly not the case. It also had nothing to do with being born into an entrepreneurial family. I never saw small business ownership or investment up close. So that wasn’t it either. No, the reason I made millions by age 30 boils down to one single word: action! I took action, pure and simple. When I saw my opportunity to expand my entrepreneurial education through real estate investing I took it and didn’t look back.   I had become so fed up with my current lot in life that I decided to take massive action. And let me tell you, the risks I took were huge and, some would say, crazy. To be specific, I paid ,000.00 to get trained in real estate investing. Now, that wouldn’t be so bad if I had had that money, but I didn’t. In fact, at the time, I was making a measly ,000 a year as a firefighter/medic.   That means I spent more than half my annual income to get trained in the world of real estate investing. And do you know what? That was the best darn investment I ever made.   On virtually ever deal I make I make that tiny ,000 investment back over and over and over and over again.  Don’t get me wrong. At the time, I thought I that was a huge amount of money to spend to learn wealth producing strategies. But today, I realize that what I was really doing was training myself to take action and to never look back. That’s my advice to you. Take action and don’t let anyone or anything stand in your way. You can do this. If I can do it, you can too. Believe in the power of now and take action.  Want more millionaire advice from America’s Millionaire Coach? Well, I thought you might. So go grab my free gift to you, The 7 Fatal Flaws that Wannabe Millionaires Make.   After you take action and read it, drop me an email and let me know what you think.  Now go take action. Remember, that’s the secret to springing ahead in life and wealth!

Planning down to the last mile

The Last Mile Problem, in case you are wondering what the phrase refers to is really a problem that plagues many of us. We set out to do a job and begin with great gusto and see it through often with sufficient energy but very often towards the end taper of somewhere between almost done and completely well done! Very often it is not a case of energy but finances where we spend more on acquisition of a ‘product’ and focus to a lesser extent on peripherals that are required to keep it in healthy working order. Most often we face various kinds of problems with our pc then one should go for home computer repair as soon as possible to resolve the problem.

Lets’ look at what happens very often when we buy a house; we focus on the location, the design and amenities it provides and put in all our resources in that pot. We often stretch to afford a better ‘product’ than our finances actually allow us. Once the ‘product’ is actually ours, the cost cutting starts; the extra railing, the double security doors, the ‘will do the job’ alarm system…the list is really endless.

The first mile: identify your needs

Buying a computer for the home is no different from buying a house or a car or similar ‘product’. It will have multiple users, with varying degree of expertise in usage and most importantly with varying needs. We will oft be tempted to buy the best and latest in the market regardless of our budget. I would recommend that the very first thing you should do is to draw up a checklist of all possible requirements; be it hardware, software, computer training, computer support or computer security. Once that is done, put down a cost to everything. This will ensure that you see everything in perspective and make an informed decision.

The next mile: an informed purchase plan

You are now ready to make an informed and thought through purchase. It’s important that you focus on the full set of requirements that accompany the installation of a computer in a home rather than a lopsided approach which can really land you in a very frustrating set of problems. Once you have thought about online computer maintenance, computer support, computer peripherals and very importantly computer security before you actually buy a system, you are aware that while your new system is designed to work seamlessly and should be error free you are ready financially and mentally for all the extra expenses and issues that will definitely come your way.

For example, there is plenty of anti-virus software that is available free of cost on the Internet and you may choose to use that for your computer security needs; zero cost.  A word of caution here, as this is going to be your only means of keeping your computer secure, you may be better off using a well known brand of full service anti-virus software as it will be your only hope against virus attacks that can crash your system completely. Unlike a computer in the office, a home computer is particularly vulnerable.

The next mile: be aware of what help already exists

Today’s hardware come pre-loaded with Microsoft Help and has tutorials that can walk you through various features of your new system. There is plenty of Microsoft help available at www.microsoft.com in the form of Q& A’s, online chat rooms, Toll Free numbers etc. Alternatively, good quality Microsoft tech help is available with several vendors that you could potentially look to for tech support. However, before you scream for help, play around with your system, get a real feel for it and try and understand and enjoy all its features and firefight a trouble shoot to the best of your ability. Treat it like your own home; where you sometimes get under the sink to fix that leaking tap and not like a rented apartment where you either ignore it and or let it fester till the owner shows up.

The last mile: a time to smile

The last mile is really the time to enjoy your purchase. Specially, since you have already planned for it. You know potentially about the possible virus removal requirement, the need for tech support, installing good computer security, the training needs of some of the users, the added cost of hardware and software in general, the list is really endless. Having planned for the last mile you are in a good position; aware, informed and therefore secure.

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