COIN training

[Bill Moore]

Jedburgh thanks for your detailed and valuable response. I hate to admit it, but I have watched a couple of episodes of Cops with my son, and their actions in front of the camera are frequently counter productive, so I can imagine what they're like when they don't think they're being watched. This may very well explain why sophisticated gangs (or even simple gangs) are able to run circles around our layers of law enforcement. From a national security stand point I would hope that the U.S. government would intervene at some level (not sure where they can legally) and attempt to transform our police culture. I think we're engaged in our own multi-front COIN within the States against various hate groups, criminal enterprises (drugs, guns, human smuggling), and anarchists among others, so as you may have intended to allude to, law enforcement could definitely take some lessons from our books and experiences.

On a side note, I wonder if their focus on force protection/safety is excessive and has changed the way they conduct operations to the point that policy drives overwhelming force whenever they go to arrest a suspect? I'm making reference to your point where they alienate the family when they do the hard knock and throw everyone on the floor. This is the same problem that plagued the U.S. Army for so many years under the Clinton Era, and it still plagues some units. While the safety intent may have been noble, the unintended consequences of these actions are setting us back considerably in many ways and perhaps creating more danger for those the police are supposed to protecting in the long run. Of course what supervisor is prepared to take the heat for an accident because he or she assumed risk? Always a Catch 22.