The Debrief with Jon Becker

Imagine if you could train your brain to give you better situational awareness, see and hear more, and improve your tactical decision-making abilities?  Although this sounds like science fiction, it is quickly becoming a science fact in the emerging field of brain training for tactical operators.  On this episode of The Debrief we will explore the science of brain training for tactical operators with three experts in the Field, Jeff Selleg from the National Tactical Officers Association, Dr. Henry Mahncke from Posit Science the creator of a program called Brain HQ, and Dr. Brittany Loney from Elite Cognition, a performance psychologist who works with elite military and law enforcement units.  

Contact Info 

Brain HQ - Brain Exercises, Brain Training, Brain Health – BrainHQ from Posit Science

Jeff Selleg - NTOA - BrainHQ | NTOA

Dr. Brittany Loney – www.elite-cognition.com

The topic of resilience for first responders has fortunately become a more common discussion.  As the rate of suicides, addiction and burnout rise, discussions of grit or internal fortitude against adversity have become a frequent topic for articles, speeches and conference courses.  My guest today knows a great deal about this topic.   Justin Dodge is a 28-year veteran of the Denver Police Department (DPD) with 19 of those years spent on SWAT as an operator, assistant team leader, and team leader. In June 2023, Justin suffered a catastrophic injury during the Denver Nuggets championship parade, his left leg was pinned under an 80,000-pound fire truck which ultimately resulted in his leg being amputated below the knee. Despite this life-changing injury, Justin has made a full come-back and returned to full operational status on SWAT.  He also created a new business called Heavy Victory, LLC which provides wellness and resiliency training to government and commercial entities.

Contact Info 
Email - [email protected]
IG - @heavy_victory_ 
Web -  https://www.heavyvictory.com  

In this episode, Josh Wofford instructs a DME: Decision Making Exercise to accompany the Parkland episode of The Debrief.

A decision making exercise places you in the position of a leader on scene at a critical incident, and allows you to make decisions as if you were there. The purpose of the decision making exercises is to tap into the collective knowledge of your team.

Instructions: Listen to the DME before listening to the full Parkland Debrief Episode. Pause after each set of questions and allow your team to discuss how they would address the scenario in Part 1. Then repeat the process for the remaining scenarios. Finally, watch the full episode of The Debrief to learn how the scenarios actually played out. 

DME's are a partnership between CATO and The Debrief. 

On February 14, 2018, an active killer attacked the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida killing 17 people and wounding another 17 people.  The shooter then managed to flee the scene by slipping in with other students.  The shooter was apprehended without incident over an hour later.  In the months and years that followed this incident there was a firestorm of media coverage and legal actions directed at responding law enforcement agencies not only criticizing their response to the incident but also their failure to intervene with the shooter despite numerous red flags that preexisted the incident.  Additionally, a Broward County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officer was charged, but acquitted, of child neglect and culpable negligence. There were also more than 50 civil suits filed resulting in millions of dollars in settlements as well as reassignments and resignations in the responding agencies.

My guest today is Chief Clyde Parry.  On the day of this incident Clyde was the interim Chief for the neighboring City of Coral Springs Florida and was responsible for setting up the initial incident command post and assuming incident command for the event. Clyde began his law enforcement career with the Derry Borough Police Department near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1986. In May of 1987 he relocated to Florida and began his career with the Coral Springs Police Department where he worked his way up through the ranks from Patrol Officer to Chief of Police. Clyde was sworn in as the permanent Chief of Coral Springs PD just 19 days after this event.

Books Recommended

Why Meadow Died: The People and Policies That Created The Parkland Shooter and Endanger America's Students -Andrew Pollack (Author), Max Eden (Author) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1642932195

Contact Info 

Clyde Parry - [email protected]

For our final episode of 2024's "Summer Lookback" series, we revisit episode 4 featuring Brent Stratton and Marcus Sprague. 

Brent is the Assistant Chief at a Southern California Police Department and the President of the California Tactical Officers Association (CATO).  Marcus is a recently retired Lieutenant at a Northern California PD and the Vice President of CATO.  Both Brent and Marcus are graduates of the CARO Strategic Leadership Program.

To view the original episode, its follow-up, and recommended reading, please visit: https://thedebrief.live/episodes/?modal-link=https://thedebrief.live/episode-4/

This episode in our summer lookback series features Lt. Lee McMillion.  Lee is currently one of the two Lieutenants leading the Los Angeles Police Departments Metropolitan Division D-Platoon.  Which is also known as LAPD SWAT.  In total, Lee has spent 33 years as a Los Angeles Policeman of which 23 years have been spent at Metro, 21 with D-Platoon.  Lee is one of only three men to have ever served at all possible ranks at D Platoon (Officer, Plus 1, Sgt, and Lt.).   Lee has been an element member, an element leader, a squad leader and is currently a Platoon Leader.  In his career Lee has participated in well over a thousand tactical operations with a wide variety of mission sets.  

To view the original episode, its follow-up, and recommended reading, please visit:https://thedebrief.live/episodes/?modal-link=https://thedebrief.live/episode-3/

The third episode in our 2024 Summer lookback series features Buddy Brown. 

Buddy works for the York County Sherriff’s Office in South Carolina. Buddy has worked patrol, narcotics and training and spent more than 18 years on the York County regional SWAT team. On January 16, 2018, York County responded to a domestic violence call that led a suspect on the run in the woods behind a residential area. By the time the night was over Det. Mike Doty would be murdered by the suspect and three other members of the agency would be shot and seriously wounded, including Buddy. In this Critical Incident Review Buddy will take us through the timeline and events of the night as well as discuss their lessons learned and his recovery from catastrophic injuries.

To view the original episode, its follow-up, and recommended reading, please visit: https://thedebrief.live/episodes/?modal-link=https://thedebrief.live/episode-12

The second episode in our "2024 Summer Flashback" series features a legend in the tactical community with a list of career accomplishments that would take an entire podcast of their own. Mike Hillman was one of the original founders of LAPD SWAT, a Deputy Chief at LAPD, the Assistant Sheriff in Orange County California and a Chief of Police for the Los Angeles Port Police. He was one of the founders of the National Tactical Officers Association, headed security for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and is a nationally recognized expert on leadership, crisis management, critical incident management, special operations and a wide variety of other subjects.

To view the original episode, its follow-up, and recommended reading, please visit: https://thedebrief.live/episode-6/

The first episode in our "2024 Summer Flashback" series features not just the first episode of this podcast, but the man who inspired the project as a whole. Not only was Sid Heale a legend in the special tactics’ community, he was a retired CWO5 in the United States Marine Corps serving numerous combat deployments including the Vietnam War, The Gulf War, and Operation United Shield in Somalia. Sid was also a retired Commander from the LA County Sheriff’s Department, had worked in the Special Enforcement Bureau, the Emergency Operations Bureau, and a wide variety of other assignments. Sid was one of the most prolific authors on tactical topics having authored several books and hundreds of articles. 

To view the original episode, its follow-up, and recommended reading, please visit: https://thedebrief.live/episodes/?modal-link=https://thedebrief.live/episode-1/

Season 3 of The Debrief featured an impressive roster of guests, including: Andy Stumpf of Cleared Hot Podcast, former Delta Force operator Pete Blaber, and Lionel D. of Belgium’s elite Group Dianne (DSU). These guests, and others, provided an extensive body of knowledge and experience surrounding leadership, tactical decision making, and cognitive performance.

With this season now wrapped, and in keeping with our standard policy, we will be taking the summer off from new content. During this time we will be replaying five of my favorite episodes from Season 1 that you may not have heard before. Today, we’ll recap the tremendous progress made so far, and discuss the major changes being made for Season 4.

I also want to personally thank our subscribers and listeners for the nearly half-million views we’ve reached. This show started as a way to discuss important topics that improve operator safety, and has grown into something larger than I ever imagined. Please enjoy your summers, and I look forward to bringing you new, engaging, and insightful content next season.