Summary: All human responses are the result of the interplay of aperson’s thinking, emoting and behavior. In this episode of the Trainer's Bullpen, host Chris Butler interviews Dr. John Azar-Dickens, a licensed clinical psychologist and police officer, about the important aspects ofoperationalizing realistic and effective deescalation tactics. They discuss the development and application of the TEB model, which focuses on assessing thought, emotion, and behavior in crisis situations, and how it ...
Jul 04, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 49
Summary: In this episode of Trainer's Bullpen, host Chris Butler speaks with Dr. Geoffrey Desmoulin about the critical research on prone restraint techniques in law enforcement.They discuss the conflicting views on the safety of these techniques, the physiological risks involved, and the implications of the Bronstein case, which serves as a cautionary tale for law enforcement practices. The conversation emphasizes the importance of understanding the biomechanics and physiology behind restraint t...
Jun 17, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Season 3Ep. 48
Summary In this conversation, Chris Butler and Lon Bartel discuss the critical intersection of human performance research and law enforcement training. They explore the importance of understanding the time it takes for officers to stop shooting in high-stress situations. The conversation includes the critical human factors involved in the stop-shooting process. Bartel shares insights from his research, highlighting the need for training methodologies and analysis of officer involved use of force...
May 13, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 47
Summary In this episode of the Trainers Bullpen, Chris Butler interviews Brian Moon, a leading expert in naturalistic decision making (NDM). They discuss the importance of NDM in law enforcement, the role of experience and intuition in decision making, and the challenges experts face in articulating their decisions. Brian shares insights from his journey in the field, emphasizing the need for cognitive task analysis to bridge the gap between implicit knowledge and explicit articulation, ultimate...
Mar 29, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Season 2Ep. 46
Summary: In this episode of the Trainers Bullpen, host Chris Butler welcomes Professor Mark Williams, a leading expert in perceptual cognitive expertise and performance. They discuss the intersection of academic research and law enforcement training, focusing on the most pervasive ‘myths’ surrounding learning and performance. Key topics include the debunking of the 10,000 hour rule, the importance of deliberate practice, the transferability of skills, and the nuanced relationship between pressur...
Mar 02, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 2Ep. 45
Summary In this episode of the Trainer's Bullpen, host Chris Butler speaks with Dr. Glenn Landry, a sleep expert with over 25 years of experience in circadian rhythms and sleep health. They discuss the critical importance of sleep for law enforcement officers, particularly those who work shifts. Dr. Landry shares his personal journey into sleep science, the impact of sleep on cognitive health, and how sleep deprivation can affect decision-making and emotional regulation. He emphasizes the need f...
Feb 01, 2025•1 hr 7 min
Summary: In this episode of the Trainer's Bullpen, host Chris Butler interviews Dr. Jeremy Butler, a kinesiology instructor and martial arts expert, about the intersection of martial arts training and law enforcement. They discuss Dr. Butler's background, the impact of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu on police officer confidence and performance, and the findings of his research study on the perceptions of officers who train in BJJ. The conversation highlights the importance of martial arts in enhancing offi...
Jan 11, 2025•1 hr 5 min
Summary: In this episode of the Trainer's Bullpen, host Chris Butler engages with Scott Sievewright, a leading figure in the field of skill acquisition and coaching in martial arts. They discuss the ecological dynamics approach to training, contrasting it with traditional information processing methods. Scott shares his journey from a conventional coaching background to embracing a technique-less, principles-based training philosophy. The conversation delves into the importance of guiding athlet...
Dec 14, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 42
Summary: In this conversation, Chris Butler and Dr. Nick Winkelman, author of 'The Language of Coaching: The Art and Science of Teaching Movement', explore the intersection of coaching language and motor learning, particularly in the context of law enforcement training. They discuss the importance of effective communication in coaching, the impact of language on performance, and the balance between internal and external cues. Winkelman shares his journey in coaching and the development of the Co...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Season 2Ep. 41
Summary In this episode of the Trainers Bullpen, host Chris Butler interviews Dr. William Bozeman, a leading expert in law enforcement use of force and injury epidemiology. They discuss the findings of Dr. Bozeman's research on police use of force, particularly focusing on Taser use and Vascular Neck Restraint (VNR). The conversation highlights the importance of understanding the actual rates of injury associated with various use of force modalities, the methodology behind the research, and the ...
Nov 10, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Dr. Hunter Martaindale is the Director of Research at the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State University and an Associate Research Professor within the School of Criminal Justice and Criminology. In this role, he oversees all research activities for ALERRT, including analyzing active shooter events, conducting active shooter training program evaluations through experimental design, and testing methods/interventions to improve law enforcement decision-m...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 39
Summary Bryce Jenkins, a PhD student in the Department of Psychology at Carleton University, discusses his research on the deployment of SWAT or tactical teams and the associated risks. He challenges the notion of the militarization of police and the belief that the deployment of tactical teams increases the risk to the public. Bryce's research focuses on understanding the context and nature of calls that tactical officers respond to, and he found that the primary response of tactical officers i...
Sep 22, 2024•58 min
Episode Summary Dr. Pete Blair is the Executive Director of the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center and a Professor of Criminal Justice at Texas State University. Dr. Blair discusses the need to reform police training in order to address the current crisis in policing. He emphasizes the importance of an evidence-informed approach and highlights the work of ALERRT in providing critical incident response training. Blair identifies the shortcomings of the traditional mo...
Sep 07, 2024•1 hr 1 min
Professor Chris Cushion discusses the transformation of police personal safety training using scenario-based training, emphasizing the need for a pedagogical shift and the integration of decision-making and skill acquisition within tactical contexts. He addresses the challenges of implementing change and the disparity between traditional training models and the gold standard of scenario-based training. The conversation delves into the importance of implicit learning, the flaws of front-loading s...
Aug 19, 2024•1 hr 11 min
Welcome to Episode #35 of the Trainers Bullpen, the final edition in our ‘’How We Learn to Move” series with Dr. Rob Gray Rob Gray is a psychology professor and research psychologist with a focus on perceptual-motor control in driving, aviation, and sports. He also hosts the Perception & Action Podcast, is the author of two bestselling books on the acquisition of movement skills ‘How We Learn To Move’ and ‘Learning to Optimize Movement’, and he serves as the Skill Acquisition Specialist for ...
Aug 12, 2024•49 min
Rob Gray is a psychology professor and research psychologist with a focus on perceptual-motor control in driving, aviation, and sports. He also hosts the Perception & Action Podcast, is the author of two bestselling books on the acquisition of movement skills ‘How We Learn To Move’ and ‘Learning to Optimize Movement’, and he serves as the Skill Acquisition Specialist for the Boston Red Sox. In this interview, Dr. Gray discusses the key aspects from chapters 5 and 6 of How We Learn to Move. R...
Jul 18, 2024•1 hr 11 min
Welcome to Episode # 33 of the Trainers Bullpen, the ‘’How We Learn to Move series– Part 2" Rob Gray is a psychology professor and research psychologist with a focus on perceptual-motor control in driving, aviation, and sports. He also hosts the Perception & Action Podcast, is the author of two books, including two bestsellers on the acquisition of movement skills ‘How We Learn To Move’ and ‘Learning to Optimize Movement’, and he serves as the Skill Acquisition Specialist for the Boston Red ...
Jun 09, 2024•55 min
Rob Gray is a psychology professor and research psychologist with a focus on perceptual-motor control in driving, aviation, and sports. He also hosts the Perception & Action Podcast, is the author of two books, including a bestseller on learning movement skills, and serves as the Skill Acquisition Specialist for the Boston Red Sox. In this interview, Rob Gray discusses key aspects from chapters 1 and 2 of his best-selling book: ‘How We Learn to Move’. Dr. Gray provides valuable insights for ...
May 21, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Welcome to Episode 31 of the Trainer’s Bullpen, ‘Motor Learning Feedback’ with Dr. Tim Lee. The type of feedback that a trainer or coach gives their students and the manner in which that feedback is provided is of critical importance to the effective of how well motor skills are acquired, retained and transferred. The most common type of feedback that is often applied in the law enforcement motor skill learning environment is described as ‘quick and corrective’. That is, the trainer views mistak...
May 20, 2024•1 hr 8 min
In this episode, we welcome back to the show, Dr. Paul Taylor. Paul is a Professor at University of Colorado Denver where he studies decision-making, human factors, and system safety in the context of police interactions with the public. He has over ten years of practical law enforcement experience including time as a department training manager, patrol sergeant, and use-of-force instructor. Paul is the founder of the Association of Force Investigators and has delivered law enforcement related i...
Apr 13, 2024•1 hr 1 min
Law enforcement trainers frequently stress the importance of Situational Awareness or 'SA'. But what even is it? If you ask a room full of trainers, you will get as many varied answers as there are people in the room! And yet, situational awareness in other domains has been found to be the hallmark of expert performance. Experts have developed ways of rapidly assessing an unfolding, often ambiguous event, and knowing what to anticipate, where to scan, how to understand what they are seeing, and ...
Mar 28, 2024•1 hr 19 min
According to a national survey of police mental health, a staggering 90% of police officers affected by stress reported stigma as a barrier to seeking mental health support. In this very important interview, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Manchester Metropolitan University, Dr. Mariana Kaiseler, discusses the research that she and colleagues have published specifically pertaining to the stress of police work and the many training, policy and leadership implications...
Mar 15, 2024•1 hr
In this episode, we speak with Dr Logan Markwell, human factors scientist and motor behaviour expert to discuss the Challenge Point Framework and why coaches and trainers should understand and apply this framework in the design and delivery of motor skills training. In this interview you will learn about nominal vs functional task difficulties, the role of variability and contextual interference in motor learning, how to appropriately balance performer capability with task difficulty, the differ...
Feb 29, 2024•1 hr 12 min
In this interview Dr. Craig Bennell from Carleton University in Ontario Canada discusses the research he and his colleagues conducted into the core Knowledge, Skills and Abilities that law enforcement officers must possess in order to effectively manage potentially violent police public interactions. This important conversation evolves from a study that was published in Frontiers in Psychology in March 2022. In this interview Dr. Bennell outlines the critical findings of the paper that identifie...
Feb 10, 2024•1 hr 18 min
Welcome to episode 25 of the Trainer’s Bullpen. Training Under Pressure with Dr. Tim Lee. If you are interested in how to train officers for the best decision making and motor performance on the street, this interview is for you as Dr. Lee blows several training myths out of the water. In this episode, we welcome back to the bullpen, Dr. Tim Lee, professor emeritus of motor learning from McMaster University to discuss the relationship between pressure, training under pressure, and officer perfor...
Jan 26, 2024•1 hr 7 min
Welcome to Episode 24 of the Trainer’s Bullpen, ‘Relationships Between Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Occupational Performance, and Fitness for Tactical Personnel’ with Colin Tomes. For years law enforcement trainers have sought to understand the relationship between heart rate and officer performance and have frequently, and incorrectly, applied a linear application from heart rate to performance decrements under conditions of high stress. If you are interested in refining your understanding of ...
Jan 08, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 24
Welcome to Episode 23 of the Trainer’s Bullpen, ‘Offsetting the Negative Consequences of Pressure on Marksmanship’ with Daniel Cooper. In this interview Dan discusses the relationship between stress arousal and officer performance with firearms in combat conditions. Importantly, Daniel discusses the very important systematic review and meta-analysis that he and colleagues conducted that reinforced the fact that officer performance under threat conditions can be significantly improved by ensuring...
Nov 24, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Welcome to Episode 22 of Trainers Bullpen, the ‘Evaluation of Tactical Movement and Firearm Draw Performance During Charging Knife Attacks’ with Dr. Michael Kantor Assistant Professor of Exercise Physiology at Ohio Northern University. It is of course no surprise to law enforcement officers and trainers that edged weapons can pose a lethal threat to officers. Many of the critical blood bearing vessels lie very close to the surface of the skin and even a small blade or an improvised edges weapon ...
Nov 09, 2023•1 hr 14 min
Effective law enforcement trainers know the critical importance of conducting force-on-force high-fidelity training. The ability to develop highly adaptable and resilient officers, capable of making excellent decisions during complex and rapidly unfolding events rests squarely on the effectiveness and ‘reality-based’ nature of their training. However, over the past year there has , yet again, been several incidents of training incidents in North America where functional and loaded firearms have ...
Oct 28, 2023•1 hr 11 min
With thousands of policing agencies scrambling in recent years to change use of force policies and provide 'deescalation' training to their officers and millions if not billions of dollars being spent to provide this training, do we know if it is even making a difference to impact officer performance on the street? Interestingly, despite widespread promotion and proliferation of deescalation training, no research has empirically demonstrated that this training is reducing use of force frequency ...
Oct 12, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 20
