Classes:
Thug Whisperers
Communication Channels/Information Management
Cross Cultural Communications
Debriefing: Effective After Action Debriefs
Intuition and Articulation
Jailhouse Translation/Snitch Grooming
Long Term Management of Inmate Dynamics
Working With Translators
Wrangling Knuckle-draggers
A corrections officer can see more convicted
felons in five minutes than the average police
officer will see in a year. Unlike law enforcement
officers, as sworn and correctional officers,
everyone you deal with is a 'bad guy.' And you're
often required to do this while outnumbered and
unarmed.
Sworn officers are often required to function under different
circumstances and with different resources than law enforcement.
For example Parole Officers often are required to go into
unknown circumstances without the benefit of back up
|
I can make it sound more official, but in
the
end, I was paid to go into a volatile
situation -- usually
alone and outnumbered by sixty or more to one -- and
prevent inmates from preying on each other or
attacking my
fellow officers. RM |
Thug Whispering
The Thug Whisperer program was developed under conditions where
failing to prevent and de-escalate meant you were going
to bleed. Thug Whispering is for when you are within arm's reach
of dangerous and violent individuals ... and you're telling them
'no.'
Under these circumstances, it's easy to get tense and nervous.
BUT, before we can deescalate someone else, we must first deescalate
ourselves. That' a problem when a violent person
is screaming in your face and threatening you.
Drawing on over
fifty years combined experience interacting with criminals and violent
offenders in both correctional environment and on the streets,
Conflict Communications developed the Thug Whisperer course.
This course teaches officers such useful concepts as primate
conflict behaviors, conflict scripts, recognizing when someone
is in their monkey brain (and when you're slipping into it too),
strategies that will prevent violence and those that will
provoke violence, de-escalation and establishing a win/win
situation as an alternative to conflict. Not everything can be
talked down, but this program -- designed for correctional
officers and their special needs -- will fill in the gaps of
other training. Thereby preventing as many use of force
incidents as possible.
Communication Channels/Information Management
Information flows through any organization. The quality of
the information dictates the effectiveness of each and every
decision made. This program will, first, explore how information
moves through your organization. Where information comes from,
the integrity of the various sources, how and why information is
passed on or dropped critically affect the quality of the end
product and also the morale of the entire agency. The second
part teaches how to gather, transmit, collate and disseminate
information to best benefit the end-user. Information must be
used, or it is worthless.
Cross cultural communications
Many cross-cultural communications classes are just lists of
cultural taboos to be memorized or attempts to browbeat the students
into acknowledging the vast diversity of the world or even the local
community. At Conflict Communications, we teach a different
approach, working from the common ground. Respect is universal, and
so are certain ways of showing it. Sincerity is always respected.
By learning what to watch for, what and how to ask questions and
how to gauge your reception, our Cross Cultural Communications
program can help you not only deal with known cultural differences,
but interact with cultures that you are unfamiliar with. The
concepts even apply to crisis communications with the mentally ill
or emotionally disturbed.
Debriefing:
Conducting Useful After-Action Debriefing
After an incident, conducting an effective after-action
debriefing (AAD) is critical. What went wrong, what went right,
how do you do better next time, etc., etc.. Unfortunately,
managing an AAD is like logistics: it sounds easy until you try
to run one yourself. There are two programs we offer through
Conflict Communications. First is we show your administrative
staff how to conduct beneficial AADs. The second option is after
an incident we'll come in and conduct one. This not only shows
your staff how to run an effective AAD, but we'll supply you
with the findings.
Intuition and articulation
How did you know the person was going to do what he or she did?
And know it before the person committed the act? Was it because
of some psychic ability? Or was it because you unconsciously
noticed certain behaviors, factors and 'tells' that indicated
the person's intent? Unfortunately, no matter how obvious what
the person was up to at the moment, on the witness stand the
opposing attorney is make it sound like you overreacted.
That is unless you can articulate the facts, actions and signals
that lead you to a reasonable conclusion that you based your
actions on. The ability to observe and articulate these
unconscious and subtle signs is critical for your personal
safety. It is also extremely important for indemnification
of yourself and your organization. Internally, this allows you
to articulate to management that you were following policy.
Jailhouse translators/grooming snitches
Fundamentally guards and inmates want the same thing for the
cell block. They all want it clean, quiet and safe. Both
prisoners and guards however, have to work within the
confines and requirements of their 'culture.' This often
results in inmate attempting to communicate with the guards
in 'code.' This seminar teaches guards and administrators
how to translate warnings and vital information that the
inmates are trying to pass on to keep thing clean, quiet and
safe.
Long term management of inmate dynamics
A direct-supervision, open dorm setting is a laboratory for
managing behavior. Corrections officers work in an environment
unlike any other -- enforcement officers deal with suspects for
minutes or hours and usually as individuals. Corrections
officers deal with inmates in large groups and sometimes for
years. Learn skills to monitor and manage communities of
inmates over the long term.
Working With A Translator
Whether for interrogation, interviews or daily contacts, this short
class will offer tricks and tips on how to maximize your ability
to work when you don’t know the language. From what you need in
a translator (skill with the involved languages is NOT the most
important trait) to planning an interview, using the translator
as a cultural filter, handling emotion and checking documents,
this course covers things you need to get the job done.
Wrangling Knuckledraggers
Law Enforcement and Corrections officers are a special breed.
For the most part professional, polite and intelligent, they
are paid to maintain control of volatile situations and people.
It can also make them difficult to supervise, especially from
an office. Knuckle-dragger wrangling is one of the aspects of
the CC's Bridge Program, specialized to help senior management
to understand and communicate with line staff.
Line officers live
in an environment that creates a specific and extremely
functional culture... but it is a culture very different from
that of most managers. Dealing with line staff in the end, is a
matter of cultural diversity, the special culture of
correctional officers.
Wrangling Knuckledraggers, in the end, is a class on how to
understand and be understood. It may be the same uniform, but
it is a different world.
Your de-escalation training has failed.
