An interview with PoliceTrainingFilms.com publisher Paul Winters

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Category: Interviews

Published on Monday, 28 March 2011 07:15

On the eve of the launch of PoliceTrainingFilms.com, how do you feel?

Pretty good. I think the site is coming along. It needs a lot of work still, but, this will be an ongoing process.

Why did you start PoliceTrainingFilms.com?

Well, I’m a firm believer in training. I’m kind of fanatical about it, actually. I guess, because I know that training works. I’ve always been involved in activities that had potential dangers. I recognized that and trained accordingly. And along the way I saw the positive results.

What kind of activities?

Motorcycles, for one. I love riding motorcycles. And that’s a dangerous activity. I know a lot of motorcycle riders who died while riding. And in many different ways and under varied circumstances. I actually see a correlation between motorcycle rider safety training and police training.

Really?

Yes. You take someone who rides a motorcycle. As soon as he puts his or her leg over the bike and takes off, there is danger involved. And it can come from varied angles. Same with police work. You suit up, head out in your squad car and there is danger involved. Things can come at you from all different angles. And some of those things can kill you. So, there is a degree of training that is necessary in both. And the training is on going in both activities, or, it should be if you are serious about staying alive. But, the parallels are there. You have the fact that while riding your bike, you are going to be faced, daily, with problems where you are reacting to a situation that just kind of presents itself. I don’t want to say “a situation that you didn’t see coming,” because that would defeat the whole idea of training. It’s the same in police work. Do you really want to walk into a situation you didn’t see coming? No. At least I don’t. Training, to me, is preparing yourself for battle. In police work, it is warrior training. I never really understood people who don’t train. What are they thinking? It won’t happen to me?

You talked earlier about your seeing positive results of training. What did you mean?

Well, I started riding motorcycles when I was very young. Before I even had a license. Back then, there was no motorcycle training. So, I started training myself. I analyzed situations that might occur while riding my motorcycle on the street. I started to look at intersections and bike placement. I would practice hard braking. Back then, most of the riders I knew were still using the rear brake for most of their stopping. I realized that the front brake did the job better and I began to practice braking and cornering and all of the things that make you a good rider. So, I saw the results in my own experiences on the road. There were times when something I had practiced actually saved my life. So, those were real results to me, personally. Had I not trained and thought about my riding, I would not be here talking with you right now. And later, after I produced the Street Smarts Video series, I started to receive letters from riders who had purchased the safety riding tapes and they told me of exact teachings in the video that had actually saved their lives while riding. That’s when I got that video training really worked. Those letters were the proof. I had saved lives.

My goal is the same here at PoliceTrainingFilms.com. I want to save lives. As we sit here, it’s March 27, 2011. So far, this year, fifty cops have been killed. If I can help cut down on the number in the future, I will feel fulfilled.

Do you think you will?

Absolutely. Like I said, I know that video and film training really works. Well, it works if what you are teaching makes sense. And our stuff makes sense. There’s nothing on this site that is not designed to be beneficial to an officer’s safety. That’s all I care about here – keeping cops safe.

Getting back to your statement about reacting to situations. We all know that a lot of police work is reactive by nature. That’s the disadvantage cops face daily.

Absolutely. A patrol officer is reactionary. You answer radio calls, and respond to situations you see that present themselves. I remember way back in the Academy, the instructor told us that most of our job would be answering radio calls. He was right. And what do you hear? Many of the calls come in as one thing and turn into another. It’s always fluid. An officer usually has no idea when a situation will go bad. One minute you could be talking to a polite citizen, the next instant the polite citizen pulls a gun or a knife and you better have thought that situation through and trained for it accordingly.

It’s not enough then that you think the situation through, you have to train also?

Exactly. People don’t get to the Olympics by not training. Police work is the same way. It is comprised of lots of physical activity. It’s not an IT job or a video game. Getting back to the motorcycle training similarity with police work. When I first did the Street Smarts Video series, I received some heat from some established motorcycle rider training outfits. I won’t say their names, but they were a powerful group. They wrote me and wanted to debate and tear down some of the techniques that I was putting out there. I guess, to them, I had a very aggressive style. And they were right. I think they were also interested in protecting the brand that motorcycle riding was really safe. I was saying, listen folks, learn to use your front brake or you might end up in the front of a car’s grill. I spoke frankly about the dangers and I gave specific techniques to counter the dangers a rider will face. And some of it went counter to what they had always taught. Their courses were a bit too timid for me. They taught at slow speeds with a kind of political correctness that kind of drove me nuts. “You meet the nicest people on a Honda” kind of thing. I’m dating myself with that old slogan that Honda used in their ads back in the day, but you know what I mean. And I see the same political correctness in police training.  Some Departments are worried about getting sued and their training is designed to lesson their liability. Well, who pays for the lesser liability? Their street cops pay, that’s who.

What do you mean? Give me an example?

Well, take defensive tactics. That’s another subject I am well versed in. Motorcycles and martial arts, those are my passions.

Well, you did say you liked dangerous past times.

That’s right. I skipped golf and tennis and baseball and football and basketball. Anyway, I have been training in the martial arts for as long as I can remember. Many departments are still teaching out dated Defensive Tactics to their cadets. Their courses are designed to be politically correct. The techniques are such that they are kind of timid. They are not using what works.

Like what?

Gracie jiu-jitsu for one. All departments should be embracing the techniques taught in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Royce Gracie showed the world that the techniques of their family worked in real situations. Even the U.S. Army is now using Gracie jiu-jitsu in their training. Police departments should also. A lot of academies are still teaching a combination of stand up fighting and some come along control techniques that just don’t work on the streets. That kind of teaching will get people killed. I think a lot of the hesitancy on the part of the brass is from lawyers in the City Managers office. Rick Management guys are calling the shots on what is taught. They don’t want the training to look too severe. They want cops to look and act politically correct. They don’t want it to appear that their departments are training bad ass warriors. How would that look in court? So, to me, it’s the same as motorcycles…there is a collective…let’s make all of this look less dangerous.

And it’s not less dangerous?

I don’t think so. Like I said, as we sit here, in 2011, fifty cops have been killed this year so far. And it’s only March. We’re just getting started. Let me make this clear, cop work is dangerous. Very dangerous. But, the danger can be mitigated by training. Training in a wide variety of subjects, tactics, and techniques.

Do you think some of the powers that be in the police world will get their feathers ruffled by what you are saying?

I hope so. I’d like to make some waves. I’d like the people who are in charge of training cops take a look at where law enforcement training is right now. But, don’t get me wrong, there are many, many trainers and academies that are doing terrific jobs with their programs. I don’t want it to seem otherwise. One of the problems is that some of the current trainers were handed the curriculum by the trainers before them. They don’t ask, “Why are we teaching it this way?” because it has ALWAYS been taught that way. That simple wrist lock is what they have been teaching since 1950. I’m sure many DT instructors would tell you, off the record, that the techniques were lacking some teeth.

Are you paranoid?

That’s an interesting question. I’m not paranoid, but I’m afraid of what might happen if I don’t train. One of my heroes is Rickson Gracie. He fought in countless vale tudo battles and in the no holds barred MMA ring before the rise of the current UFC rules. He was never defeated and he dominated every man he ever fought. He was asked once if he was ever afraid. He said, he was afraid of everything. He said that to be afraid was to be intelligent. That’s what I believe also. And he wasn’t talking about “fear”. He was talking about recognizing the dangers of his profession. And he went on to say that if you were going to be a fighter and step into the ring, you had better train every part of your being for that challenge.

I have so much respect for cops. A man or a woman who steps up and says, “I will protect and serve my community,” has my admiration and love forever. But, if you are going to put on that badge and that uniform and that gun, you had better train your ass off and be ready, because unlike the UFC, you can’t tap out and there is no referee and there are guns and knives and all kinds of other stuff allowed in the mix. Police work is the true no holds barred profession.

Thank you for talking with us and good luck with PoliceTrainingFilms.com.

Thank you.