Will Jimeno
Trapped during 9/11
Sometimes they yelled for help, but most of the 18 hours being buried alive in the collapse of the South Tower on 9/11, Will and the two fellow officers trapped with him, talked about their kids and families. And for Will he would miss the birth of his baby…a girl. They never received a response to their radio calls, but Will hoped someone would hear that we wanted to let his wife know he wanted to call their baby “Olivia”. As he prepared to die, he shared his memories of his life with his brothers. Listen to Will’s account of what happened that day, how he and his co-worker were located and extricated from the rubble, and his fight to survive.
William J. Jimeno is a Columbian-American author and retired Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department officer who survived the September 11 attacks in 2001. He was buried under the rubble for a total of 18 hours, but survived, along with fellow Port Authority officer John McLoughlin. He has written two books regarding the experience.
John Ferrone
Worker’s Compensation – Strategies & Critical Updates – What every officer needs to know
This training session will outline important strategies for Police Officers entering the worker’s compensation system. The training will also provide critical updates on specific issues including PTSD, the Presumptions, The ADR- Alternative Dispute Resolution Programs, Return to Work, 4850 benefits, the delays, and solutions in getting medical treatment, civil litigation, workers’ comp fraud, and PERS Retirement. The training session is vital for police officers who walk the toughest beat and face the likelihood of experiencing an on-the-job injury.
John A. Ferrone is a partner of Ferrone & Ferrone and has been practicing law for nearly three decades. John specializes in the areas of workers’ compensation, employment litigation, retirement, and internal affairs investigations. His successful track record in these areas has brought a fresh and creative perspective to public safety. John is a skilled negotiator and has represented labor unions at the bargaining table in workers’ compensation matters. John has had extensive litigation experience in administrative hearings and has successfully argued before the Courts of Appeal and the California Supreme Court.
Dr. Stephen Odom – First Responder Wellness
First to Respond, Last to Seek Help!
First Responders become accustomed to exposure to acute trauma that eventually results in physical, mental and emotional exhaustion of the body and mind. In response to the high intensity of the job and the accumulation of traumatic stress injuries, concentration, judgment, sleep, and even relationships are negatively affected. Over time, alcohol or other substances often becomes a means of coping, leaving first responders at risk for developing an alcohol misuse issue along with mental health issues like post-traumatic stress injuries (PTSI), depression, or anxiety. Dr. Stephen Odom presents an in-depth presentation that examines causes, signs and symptoms of post-traumatic stress injuries, how it affects law enforcement and their families. We will explore what can be done to heal, prevent further damage, and create a new “Brain Health” culture in which prevention and resiliency are trained into from the beginning of a career.
Dr. Odom’s focus on First Responder Wellness was born of his family’s career backgrounds with the military, healthcare, and public safety, and was honed as he created and led specialty treatment programs for physicians, nurses, first responders and their families. He founded and leads a First Responder only behavioral health and addiction treatment program in California. He possesses an educational background in organizational behavior, clinical psychology and healthcare administration. This valuable combination allows him to integrate current research knowledge, clinical and administrative practice understanding, and practical, directly relevant experience. Dr. Odom has been coined as a wellness and behavioral health expert with peer-reviewed articles published on Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity and the Electronic Health Record; has appeared on The Today Show; the 2016 documentary film California High, and multiple print, radio, and podcast media channels.
Chris Grollnek
Active Shooter Prevention Expert
Awareness and Understanding are fundamental concepts for future prevention, planning, training, and response. Active Shooters will seek out the weaknesses of their intended targets (people and property). Our vulnerability assessments, preferred solutions, training plans, and community outreach must be able to handle more than what happened over the past 1-2 years or even the past 20 years. We must also “future-proof” our plans for building a resilient community including civilian training, and how law enforcement and dispatch readiness is crucial to prepare for the unexpected by establishing a process that creates greater preparedness.
Chris is an award-winning former police investigator and one of the nation’s highly respected policy experts in the prevention of domestic terrorism. Recognized as a leader of the police and public safety initiatives, Chris has experience advising the highest levels of government and corporate executives. Prior to his current endeavors, Chris spent 12 years as a Marine and Marine Corps Senior Drill Instructor. During his service, he was awarded several commendations and received record-setting accolades, including Drill Instructor of the Quarter and the number one spot on the Meritorious Promotion list to a “Staff Rank” – reserved for the top one percent of Special Duty Marines. Chris served as a Police Corporal, Narcotics Detective, SWAT Operator, and Element Leader, and Police Officer for the city of McKinney, Texas, between 2002-2012, and he indefinitely retains his Master Peace Officer license in the State of Texas. He was selected early on in his career by his peers and supervisors to serve in Board-level leadership positions such as Secretary, Vice President, and President of the McKinney Police Association. While serving on the Board, Chris was instrumental in arbitrating raises and reducing budget constraints over a five-year period. Notably, one of Chris’ most recent significant achievements was being selected to advise the Mackenzie Institute in Canada of the phenomena of active shooters in America and abroad. The Mackenzie Institute is a globally recognized Canadian-based public policy institute for research and comments on issues impacting political and social stability, specifically terrorism, organized violence, and security. Chris is now internationally recognized as one of the leading experts and authorities on the phenomenon of “active shooter” events and Domestic Terrorism Prevention. He has appeared on numerous national television networks, including Fox, CNN, OANN, ABC, CBS, and NBC along with numerous syndicated radio broadcast programs.
Ruben Pola – Alameda Co. Sheriff’s Office
Peer Mentoring
Current hiring trends reflect the stark reality within law enforcement good personnel are hard to find. It has become increasingly challenging for agencies to attract and more importantly retain good people. A formal mentor program is an important component to a successful hiring and retention program, and the positive guidance and attention provided to newly hired personnel is invaluable. A brief understanding of the history of mentoring and the difference between formal and informal mentoring will be discussed. Discover how a formal mentor program can directly benefit an agency’s hiring and retention efforts, and learn how to start a formal mentoring program at your agency.
Ruben is a certified Master Public Information Officer, is bilingual in Spanish and was routinely called on for on-camera interviews for both English and Spanish speaking media outlets. He is the author of an STC certified Spanish class designed to aid in the booking process. He is a prior Tactical Communications Instructor and a Cultural Diversity Facilitator. Sergeant Pola has experience implementing several training programs including formal Patrol Supervisor lineup facilitation, the development of a recruitment video, numerous public service video shorts and the creation of their Mentor Program. In March of 2020, Sgt. Pola authored the article, MENTORING: FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO TODAY’S MODERN LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY, which was featured in the March issues of both PORAC and American Police Beat. Ruben Pola retired as a Police Sergeant with the City of Hayward after 30 years of service. He is currently employed with the Alameda Co Sheriff’s Department assigned to their Crime Prevention Unit where he also continues to provide Mentor training to LE agencies. He can be reached at rpola104@gmail.com.
Robert Navarez – UNLV Police De-escalation Training Coordinator
The Illusion of Success
In this session, Robert sheds light on his journey with anxiety and depression, describing the symptoms and steps he took to overcome his struggles while fully engaged as a California police executive.
Robert Navarez spent 32 years in law enforcement with the Fresno Police Department. During his career, he created the Employee Intervention Program after losing his mentor and former sergeant to suicide in 2000, and facilitated the department’s Peer Support Groups. He has spoken at dozens of law enforcement trainings and wellness seminars assisting our profession with identifying stress symptoms and causes of unhealthy stress, leaving attendees with strategies on how to navigate through the challenges. Robert continued his outreach for wellness as he presented in front of hundreds of psychologists learning to treat first responders. Robert was hired as the Chief of Police for the Delano Police Department in 2018 and continued advocating for the mental health and wellness of those he led. During his time as chief he earned the US Department of Justice “Community Policing in Action” award, among being recognized for his work in community engagement and crime reduction. Before his retirement, he teamed up with a US Senator, creating a podcast ‘Shining a Light on Mental Health’. Robert has continued to serve our law enforcement community by organizing stress Management workshops, and has recently taken the position of Police De-escalation Training Coordinator with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Jeff Martin
Change Blindness during an Officer Involved Moving Vehicle Shooting
The perceptual phenomenon of “change blindness” has been widely acknowledged in the scientific literature. In addition to laboratory-based examples, real-life examples appear in the literature. This case study reviews the fatal shooting by a sheriff’s deputy of a woman who suddenly started backing a car in the general direction of other officers as other deputies were attempting to extract her from the car. The subject deputy initiated his response – which involved trying to holster his TASER – prior to initiating his draw-and-fire response. By the time the officer fired started firing, the woman was driving the car forward and not toward anyone. The shooting was recorded on an in-car-camera (ICC) video and the prosecutor charged the deputy with a single count of voluntary manslaughter. During his interview, the deputy was adamant that he perceived the car to still be backing as he was firing. The facts of this incident are compared to the widely recognized characteristics of change blindness in exploring whether that perceptual phenomenon may have been at play in this case. Additionally, perception-reaction-time issues and the unique forensic-video challenges in this incident are examined, with the criminal trial ultimately yielding a not-guilty verdict.
Jeff Martin currently serves as a consultant, expert witness, and instructor. He is a retired sergeant from the San Jose, California Police Department and a former attorney with the Berry Wilkinson Law Group, where he represented officers in administrative matters. He currently teaches force law and human factors in the California POST Institute for Criminal Investigations course on Officer-involved Shooting Investigations.
Michael Blasi & Guryan Tighe
Science of Fear
By examining the role of individual and systemic fear, peace officers can understand its impact on decision making and choose intentional responses which can better serve a peaceful resolution to the situations they are presented with. Our training has two complimentary tracks that happen in parallel to support our approach: learning and unlearning.
Guryan Tighe is a fear technician and the Founder of FOURAGE. Tighe is an experienced executive coach, workshop leader and communications strategist with a demonstrated history working in a multitude of environments. She’s dedicated to helping people shift their relationship with fears to one of allyship.
Michael Blasi is a co-founder and chief operating officer for Three Trees Enterprises. He had a combined total of 28 years of military and public service when he retired from public safety 2020. He intends to leverage his own real world successes and failures to facilitate positive change and healing opportunities for his students.
Ken Murray
Talk, Fight, Shoot, or Leave
Unrealistic beliefs can take a psychological or emotional toll. For instance, if an officer has the expectation that a suspect will immediately cease his hostile actions when hit by fists, spray, impact weapons, TASER®s, or bullets, he is in for a rude awakening when fighting an opponent who continues to fight well beyond the point that he should have been brought down. Having a false sense of security based on ineffective defensive tactics can also shatter the psyche of an officer who mistakenly believes that this or that “move” will bring about a swift conclusion to an encounter. Such misconceptions can have a chilling effect on an unprepared officer.
Kenneth Murray is the Director of Training for the Armiger Police Training Institute (www.armiger.net) located in the greater Orlando area of Florida. Born in Winnipeg, Canada, he has spent the past twenty years as a police and military trainer, specializing in the field of Reality Based Training. In the late 1980’s, he co-founded SIMUNITION® with David Luxton as an offshoot of the Armiger Corporation in Ottawa, Canada. He subsequently wrote numerous articles and policy papers on the safe conduct of projectile-based simulation training exercises. Ken is an active participant in Police1 forums and invites all members to join him in the Training at the Speed of Life forum.
Jeff Johnsgaard
360 Degree Awareness – Close Quarter Defense
Why train in 360° CQD? Engaging in an armed confrontation poses extreme challenges and being forced to suddenly defend yourself from an ambush attack while seated in your vehicle offers a myriad of complications on top of that. Although lower in frequency, the number of law enforcement officers ambushed while in their vehicle is on the rise. Multiple attackers present the increased challenge of defending on multiple angles simultaneously, all while being confined to a seat. This information augments our opinion that the ability to quickly and effectively rotate and aim a pistol in 360 degrees while confined inside a vehicle is becoming a necessary technique for law enforcement officers. This is a fantastic opportunity for you to come and practice a technique that may save your life.
Jeff Johnsgaard is a Canadian Police Officer in his 19th year, currently assigned as a Detective Sergeant. He is a trainer for his agency and their police academy; Jeff is a Nationally Certified Instructor under IADLEST a Certified Force Science Advanced Specialist and the Canadian Director for the Reality Based Training Association. Jeff has written articles for several LE publications including two articles for ILEETA in 2021 and taught at the ILET and IALEFI conferences. Jeff trains decision making, use of force, the unique 360 degree CQD method for vehicle anti-ambush and courses on “Optimal Learning” internationally with his company Natural Tactical.