Currently active practitioners of the art, from operational types all the way to those who’ve returned to the ‘empty nest’ and live in mom’s basement, have embraced video for information gathering. As I tried to explain once to a police administrator, I don’t care what the state officials say in terms of in-service: watching TV is not training. You could call it a “little yellow school bus,” but it doesn’t make it one.
That said, video can be a good way to acquire information. The user still needs to act on that information and do the work, but video – and a little known concept, “reading books,” is also helpful.
Streaming video service over the internet has basically made the ‘television’ mode of information transmission explode. Online video services, from the generalized corporate (read: anti-gun) type to those that are enthusiast oriented, have really moved the needle in this regard.
I’ve been happy to know some of the greatest firearms and DT trainers in history during my long and checkered career. Some you will never know because we weren’t successful in getting them to render their skills in written form by authoring a book.
Fast forward to an age where people no longer read books. Now it’s all video. Some of the worst stuff on planet Earth is on internet-enabled video. Likewise some of the best information available is also on internet-enabled video.
Panteao Productions has been involved in video training for some time. They even provided material we used in our lamented Ready for Anything Wire service – and it was well-received.
Putting it together, my friends at Panteao Productions induced one of the great police trainers – Mike Boyle – to do a couple of training videos for them. These are in areas in which he is sought out to provide training to current members of service: low-light pistol and combative shotgun.
Who is Mike Boyle? Imagine Rodney Dangerfield doing police training, then dwell it back a bit to make it serious and professional while keeping the irreverent, snappy delivery and you just about have it.
His experience includes firearms and use of force instruction to law enforcement assets for the last 37 years. A Captain with New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife - Bureau of Law Enforcement, he was the primary trainer for the agency for 22 years and is a certified instructor in multiple firearms, chemical agent, impact weapon and empty hand disciplines.
He’s been an assistant police academy director and an adviser to the Police Training Commission on firearms training issues. He maintains his certification as a police academy rangemaster and firearms instructor, he provides basic training as well as instructor level courses and he was a member of the board of the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors.
I’ve previewed both of these videos. The first that I saw was the Low Light Threat Management video. As he notes, it seems that criminal types prefer hours of decreased visibility – the dark of night – to conduct operations. Defense against these predations means you’ll have to work well in that environment. Mike notes that using portable light sources helps you acquire information – it’s information you need to make legal, ethical and moral force decisions.
In Low Light Threat Management, Mike’s topics include the importance of training in low light, human performance in low light, gear, hand-held and weapon mounted lights, lasers, night sights, conditions of readiness with a flashlight, shooting drills, and more.
The next film I previewed was his take on Combative Shotgun. While many agencies have moved away from general issue of the ‘venerable fowling piece’ ™, the ancient technology has some advantages in versatility not available in any other handheld weapon system.
Mike points out the history of the shotgun in lethal combat – military and police – as well as its versatility across the spectrum of ammunition available. The 12 gauge has, in its own way, been developed as much as service pistol ammunition. He covers safety, administrative handling (not relying on vision for loading/unloading tasks, as it may be dark), modifications and additions, types of shotguns, conditions of readiness, “injured officer” drills, stoppages, storage and transportation issues. He demonstrates a number of drills as well.
According to Panteao, “The videos can be watched online via a PC or Mac, on a smartphone or tablet using the Panteao Make Ready Android and iTunes apps, or on television with the Panteao Make Ready channel on Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV. For more information on how to stream the Panteao videos, visit: http://panteao.com/streaming-video-ways-to-watch/.”
The videos are available at the links below. Check them out. I’m betting Boyle will soon be one of your favorite trainers too.
Combative Shotgun: https://panteao.com/product/mike-boyle-combative-shotgun/
Low Light Threat Management: https://panteao.com/product/mike-boyle-low-light/
For more information about Panteao, visit http://panteao.com/about-us
- - Rich Grassi