The most dangerous weapon in law enforcement | Brian Willis | TEDxNaperville

There is a growing perception of distrust between law enforcement officers and the communities in which they work. Part of this distrust stems directly from the dangerous words police executives use when communicating with their communities. In extreme instances, these words can even incite mass disturbances and rioting. Can simply choosing better words be the solution to building relationships between law enforcement officers and those within their communities or will it require an entirely new system of development?

Brian Willis is a 25 year law enforcement veteran and a consultant with The Virtus Group, a leadership development firm committed to enhancing the law enforcement profession through growing a culture of courage. Brian is a thought leader, training innovation specialist, and a catalyst for change in the law enforcement profession. Brian’s company Winning Mind Training is committed to leading the fight against mediocrity in the law enforcement field and helping law enforcement officers, trainers, and leaders create a legacy of excellence.



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[douglasmcintyre]

I have to admit that when he started I thought he would be just another self-serving advocate for law enforcement. But after listening to his entire presentation, I realize there is a lot more to what we see and hear on the news than I originally thought. This was, to say the leas, t an eye-opening and thought provoking presentation.

[jeromedragon]

When a bad police officer is found out, he should be dealt with, not coddled, not retired with benefits. Respect cannot be expected while the code of silence is maintained.

[NaviYah]

This guy ABSOLUTELY took the words RIGHT out of my mouth! The only thing that I would add is what I've been saying for years which is...EDUCATE THE PUBLIC about ALL police decisions and actions! If skilled and experienced police officers with statistical information and facts will not educate citizens, then citizens WILL make up their own "facts."

[vinnyvdalidemonet]

Communication with the truth is a good step.

[grieffz]

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:

03:09 🚫 "No comment" can erode trust between law enforcement and the community when used after officer-involved shootings. It can be perceived as a cover-up.
06:05 🔫 Police use of force, especially shootings, is statistically rare, accounting for less than 1% of interactions between law enforcement and the public.
09:05 🚶‍♂️ Unarmed individuals can pose a deadly threat to law enforcement officers, emphasizing the importance of understanding action, reaction time, and the element of surprise.
15:34 📹 Body-worn cameras have limitations in capturing the full three-dimensional reality of a situation, and they don't convey the officer's emotional experience or perception.
17:08 💬 Growing courage within law enforcement to provide factual information and building relationships with communities through open communication and education is essential in addressing public concerns about use-of-force incidents.

Made with HARPA AI

[metalfusion]

My dad, an officer of 20ish years said “no comment” is the worst thing you can say. High level LE officials have to be less like politicians and more like, well, cops

[Asha]

Part of the problem, is that the public cannot trust the police to also submit to the law and professional standards.  When a police officer kills unjustly, when a police officer lies about the law, when a police officer goes beyond their remit and attacks civil liberties, when a police officer escalate violence... this breeds distrust of the officer involved.  
But when these same actions are not punished, this breeds distrust of the policing systems ability to hold themselves to account.

[pilsung]

The officer in these cases is a potential defendant. As such he/she should not speak to law enforcement without a lawyer. It’s a lesson we as citizens should learn from them “DON’T TALK TO LAW ENFORCEMENT”.

Where I agree 100% is that police departments shouldn’t have a different standard in communication for their officers that’s different from the public.

[theduder]

WOW. I had an entire book of a response posted here. Until the video ended.
I was forced to delete the comment in full. lol
I am sharing this. We have issues between police and civilians where I live.
Many of us civilians NEED to listen to what this man is saying.

[ilsavonleden]

As a law enforcement officer I can tell you everything Brian said is true. He tried to give you an understanding of some of what we experience and the reality of confrontations. The number of people killed by cops is extremely small compared to the number of people killed by non law enforcement people, and almost infinitesimal compared to the number of incidents in which cops were attacked by other people and engaged in a life or death struggle. Most of us receive good training, many of us send ourselves to extra training. But we are, after all, only people ourselves. Due to shrinking budgets, most of us work without a partner, and in most of the U.S. outside of big cities, most officers work without back-up close enough to respond in time to help in the time it takes for a life or death struggle to be over. In the rural U.S., many cops are the only person on duty in their area. Our attackers know this. We face multiple assailants, stronger assailants, people better armed than we are, mentally unbalanced people - but not enough to be institutionalized, on medication -but choosing not to take it, in the familiar circumstances of their homes or neighborhoods, with the element of surprise on their side, action being faster than reaction. How often does this happen? Unfortunately, it happens very frequently. The average person never hears about all these incidents in which officers prevailed against all odds, because this does not make sensational news coverage - you only hear about the very, very few incidents in which we had to use deadly force. Between sensational news coverage and the unreality of tv and movies (even 'Cops' takes days of shooting in multiple cities and condenses it down to the most sensational minutes) - people are led to believe we are thugs who enjoy and seek out opportunities to kill our citizens. You don't like profiling? Then please do not profile law enforcement officers! We are supposed to be friendly and non-threatening, yet be able to react and prevail against our assailants, and the remarkable thing is that we can and do - against all odds - almost all of the time, because the average officer is a person of integrity and courage who takes their responsibility of protecting our citizens and assisting them very seriously and who lives with specter of constant 360' vigilance on and off duty. That takes it's toll on us, and we are all changed people for working this job, but I wish you knew us like I do - cops are the nicest people, who really want to help people - often that means taking people off your streets who will hurt you, and most do not go quietly, but we do not desire to take another person's life. The punishment for being a "bad " officer is severe - every complaint is investigated thoroughly and we do not receive the 'innocent until proven guilty" presumption you receive - we are under suspicion from the moment the complaint comes in with the burden on us to prove ourselves innocent, and face loss of our job with the inability to ever work in this field again. We are held to a higher standard - our personal lives as well as our working lives are under scrutiny.     

[bridgetterodriguez]

Thank you for this. Too many people in our society go on their feelings to form their opinion without knowing and experiencing what they are giving their opinion on.  This video brings education to those who truly want it and are open minded enough to accept it.. 

[dirkdejong]

Very insightful and relevant. Great video, Mr. Willis.

[ilsavonleden]

Pamela - Stats do not tell the whole story - not by a long shot. You may think our jobs are "not that dangerous", but the statistics do not include all the times bad guys attempt to attack or kill officers but are unsuccessful. This information is not collected - or at least not accurately. It is just part of our daily work at most departments.
But I assure you, being physically attacked by a strong motivated attacker, or someone trying to stab you with a knife or holding a gun on you - is definitely dangerous. We are not bulletproof - our vests cover only a small area of our bodies - not our heads and necks or lower torso or arms and legs, and are only "bullet resistant" at best.
People who are armed but their weapons hidden rarely admit it. I have personally disarmed many more"unarmed"assailants than those who admitted they were armed.
The distance you must stand from a person to prevent a knife attack is not a distance you can conduct conversation or normal business at.
Rules and regulations, and public outcry without an understanding of what we experience, cause most officers to wait too long rather than be eager to pull the trigger, and it is often just luck - the bad guy decides not to utilize their position of advantage that time - that prevents most officers from being badly injured or killed.
Most officers are not trigger happy, and pride ourselves on our mental and verbal skills. But cops contact a staggering amount of people in our careers, and despite all the successes with verbal persuasion, after we have guns and knives, axes and hammers wielded, gasoline or chemicals thrown on, and are lied to on a regular basis, we learn caution - we are not required to suffer agonizing injuries or die.
Despite the image of the donut munching cop, most officers work hard to stay in good physical condition, but more officers are retired involuntarily on disability from work related injuries than retire like other people. Officers are permitted to retire earlier than other people because it is recognized that the physical demands of this job - fighting with people, faster reaction times, etc. eventually overtake the advantages of experience.
Until you have walked in my shoes, please do not believe youv know what my job involves, or how I should do my job, based on reading articles or statistics .

[nkpv]

This man did an excellent job showing people what I could never describe with words about my life as a police officer. It’s so hard to even get my own family to understand these things about my work.

[conniej]

Excellent, relevant video.  Thank you for posting this.

[emmeyatolo]

so when a 8 officers shoot a man 60 times yet another group of officers encounter a man who has killed 7 people and is still armed, giving him time to take out his gun and lay on the ground; what is at play then?

[ElmiraH]

Great speaker, he knows what is needed is communication between law enforcement and the community. Bravo the police are supposed to be working with the community, not against the community I believe a lot of problems could be solved with both with the use of communication.

[StevenQueen]

1. If the deadly engagements with law enforcement are so low, why do we have so many where the LEO is at fault?
2. The answer is not for us to understand what / why LEO is doing something against our constitutional rights. England doesn't have the problem we have with LEO. Neither does Canada.
3. His experiments are faulted. He gave the full scenario before the action taken. A LEO will not have someone to "set up" the situation for them. Therefore his experiment is not close to being realistic.
4. The Supreme Court ruled LEO's job is not to protect citizens. The "Protect and Serve" is no longer true. It is our own responsibility to make sure we are safe and protected.

[ClickToPreview]

Look, when dealing with criminals, you should ALWAYS side with law enforcement. You may not like the LAW, but it is there to keep the fabric of society knit together. Is it really so hard to act in a way that doesn't bring law enforcement into your life? If it is, then you DESERVE IT. I have had my own dealings with the law. I have been taken off the streets when I was intoxicated and driving a vehicle. Do I hate the law? NO, I DESERVED to be arrested by my callous, selfish, and dangerous actions. And so DO YOU.

[ParanormalEncyclopedia]

There's another example he left out when he talked about the inert gun. Some criminals ahve actually built guns into toys. Dig around online and you can find super soakers and other clear toys someone built pistols and even shot guns into. If a cop tells you to drop your weapon put it down its really that simple.