MA – LEADS and Use of Force Coaching for FTO’s

L.E.A.D.S. Law Enforcement Active De-escalation Strategies and Use of Force Coaching for F.T.O’s
Massachusetts Municipal Police Academy Training
Aug 11 – 12, 2022

It was a pleasure and honor to be able to present our professional development program – L.E.A.D.S. Law Enforcement Active De-escalation Strategies and Use of Force Coaching for Field Training Officers to the attending officers at the MPTC – Southbridge MA Academy on August 11 – 12, 2022.  The training was extremely well received, and all the officers participated actively during the entire presentation. They displayed high levels of enthusiasm, dedication, and professionalism throughout the two-day program. A review of the course evaluations revealed an overwhelming high satisfaction rating from the attending students of the course.

This is what the attending students had to say:

Please rate the overall presentation. 22 out of 24 students of the evaluations collected rated this course presentation at the highest level – Excellent, two rated the course as very good.

• Outstanding quality
• Very engaging instructor that is full of knowledge and passion. Awesome at holding attention.
• Excellent presentation, engaging
• Very engaging and easy to understand.
• Very animated enjoyed -videos
• Very good information and presented in a way to help remember
• Could be a three-day course. Great opportunity to reflect on the way I teach.
• Very good presentation a lot of examples and information to take in
• Very good. Instructor keeps attention and presents well. top-notch training!
• High-quality and in-depth
• Good quality overall
• Great and eye-opening
• Excellent class, very valuable information

Was this program relevant to your work assignment? 22 out of 24 students of the evaluations collected rated the course presentation at the highest level – Excellent, two rated the course as very good.

• Very relevant
• Yes as both a trainer and FTO
• Yes, it will change how I address my FTO recruits
• Yes, understood better techniques to speak to people, teach new recruits
• Yes, I’m on the frontline of law enforcement
• Extremely relevant, PowerPoint was simple and easy to understand
• Shocked after breaking down the brain, how true the actions are of trainees
• Yes everyday assignment
• I am taking home a lot highlights to apply to my training /career
• Absolutely
• Yes as an FTO and Taser instructor
• Yes, not only helps me decision making, but how to teach it to trainees
• Extremely relevant considering the current climate in law enforcement

Please comment on the instruction of this program. (Training aids, multimedia etc.) 22 out of 24 students of the evaluations collected rated the course presentation at the highest level – Excellent, one rated the course as very good!

• Training aids were very helpful. Videos were relevant
• Excellent use of videos to illustrate training points
• Great material and venue
• Good mix of PowerPoint, video, and hand out
• Lots of great visual, auditory and stories that I was able to relate. Good videos were used for training
• Easy to understand, liked to see different aspects of learning through handout, videos, PowerPoint and stories
• Great breakdown with videos, flipchart and PowerPoint
• Examples and slides were very helpful and instructors energy was great
• Well-constructed. Good review of known and new material learned
• Training age and lectures were very well put together
• The use of paper flipcharts and PowerPoint assisted in learning
• Very good at delivering material to maximize retention

 Would you recommend this training to other officers? 100% recommended this course to their peers. 23 out of 24 students of the evaluations collected rated the course presentation at the highest level – Excellent, two rated the course as very good.

• Absolutely. Every officer, not just FTO’s should attend this training
• All officers not only FTO’s
• I wish my administration would attend this training. From the Chief down.
• Yes – new officers and some supervisors as well
• Yes. I think that all officers need this training,  I found that understanding the why is huge.
• 100%, excited to attend the Overcoming Size Difference or Female Officers coming up in October, wish this class was longer
• I believe my entire department could use this course. From breaking down the brain to report riding this course is useful
• Absolutely
• All FTO’s should attend this presentation
• 100%
• Yes, I would like further in follow-up classes to expand this type of training.
• All should attend every five years

 Please assess the instructors of this program. Instructor – Lt. Kevin Dillon (ret) 100 % of attending student rated this category at the highest level – Excellent.

• KD is unbelievable. He kept me engaged the entire time. PS KD has a perfect gig line.
• KD is very knowledgeable and has confidence in the subject.
• Very impressive, incomparable to any other instructor. World-class
• Kevin was excellent and had a wealth of knowledge. Was interested in his background and the stories he shared with the class.
• KD is a wealth of knowledge. I learned something new about the brain and how to get oxygen back into my head too gain my composure
• Knowledgeable, excited to teach, animated, positive attitude inexperienced
• Excellent instructor. Keeps the class very interesting
• KD was great. Very helpful and knowledgeable. Does a great job given examples to help us understand
• KD is the best
• Awesome. Will take another class
• Very engaging with relevant real life experience
• Very detailed and informative training
• Lt is very good and knows the information like no other
• Lt. Dillon was fantastic
• Lt. was excellent
• Entertaining, engaging and passionate
• Great. Keeps your attention and presents great material
• K.D is a master of his craft. His delivery and presentation is both engaging and informative

Please explain how this training will enable you to change or improve your present assignment. 

• Will help me improve my personal reports, become a better leader and help police culture improve
• This training will improve my ability to train new recruits.
• I will look at things in a much different way
• Being able to speak with the public, improve customer service when applicable. pass on these skills to new officers
• I now know how to deescalate with using some distraction questions and giving subjects water to get them to Get oxygen and calm down.
• Breathing techniques along with many new concepts to bring back to the department
• Recognizing behavior and using redirection techniques
• Add more knowledge to our fto program
• Slowing down calls and after action reports will help us know the why? Keeping a log for myself and help Build my case for non use of force incidents
• Better mindset training for new officers, improve report writing, slow things down, more aware of surrounding that may be helpful in the event when an incident occurs
• Tough to have everyone on the same page(admin) but at least the fto on patrol are all coming from the same place now
• Motivation and demonstrated training to take back to FTO program and in administration
• more in-depth with D.O.R.’s and basic training
• Assist me in training my new employees
• More knowledge about how the human brain works
• Learn to breathe more, and better during stressful situations. need to be more descriptive in report writing and focus on redirecting the thought process of agitated individuals.
• Assist new hires with slowing down in looking at the bigger picture.
• Every time I attend a lockup training, I return to work and implement new and better practices based on the information obtained.