Methods Of Attack
April 28th, 2009
I am a big advocate of continuing education on job specific areas throughout your career. The type of information I attempt to give my students is what they can use that night or their next shift. When we talk about methods of attack I mean how, or the most probable way that an inmate or criminal will attack you. I talked about the red light green light indicator theory in my article on verbal and non-verbal indicators to assault. In this article I will attempt to give you the specific ways that you will be attacked or the best way for you to physically respond so that you can anticipate and react properly.
So you want to be a corrections officer; it’ something that you have wanted to do ever since you were bullied on the schoolyard. “Whoa; wait a minute Mr. Barnhart; are you saying that some corrections and law enforcement officers are vindictive?” No I’m not making that generalization to all, but, some; well let me say it like this… “Everyone needs a job; but not everyone needs this job.”
cadet going through the academy. At that time everything we did in training was because of officer survival and obtaining the street survival mindset so that we would not become a statistic on a wall plaque somewhere. We were constantly drilled on how to act and to do things a certain way, how to become proficient with our weapon systems and how to, at all costs, go home at the end of our shifts. I have since changed careers into corrections and the same outlook on officer survival and the survival mindset has not been grasped by our administrators or officers. I believe the total outlook of corrections administrators as it pertains to officer survival training I believe is one of “sink or swim” or “It’s not that serious.”
I have seen a consensus all across the country about institutional contraband and the desire to stop it.
I have written many training articles and trained many individuals who I hope never need the tactics and strategies that I have shown. I often wonder while pondering and reminiscing of old times hoping that I told each student everything that I knew or have shown them the details of the tactics necessary to subdue the resisting individual. However, I always return to the same thought, “what makes a warrior?” In a very real sense, corrections employees serve more time in prison than many inmates, they just serve it in eight-hour installments! The famous criminologist, James B. Jacobs noted, “A career correctional officer in effect commits himself to a life sentence in prison.”