Mike Malpass: Tactics Instructor & Retired Police Officer

Are you lucky or good? The more important question is, can you tell the difference?  For this week's guest, officer safety was something not left to chance.  Mike Malpass is not the kind of man you want to tangle with in a dark alley, not in a physical battle, nor a battle of wits.  Now retired, Mike spent his policing career honing his skills as a Patrol Officer with the Phoenix, AZ, Police Department before transitioning to SWAT, then capping his career by teaching defensive tactics in their Academy. 

What do you do with all of that knowledge and skill?  How about writing a book or two?  Mike Malpass is the author of two books.  His first, Taming the Serpent, takes a deep dive into neuroscience and what can be learned to revolutionize modern law enforcement training.  In this book, Mike leans into one of the most vexing issues in policing.  How can we close the gap  between how officers are trained and how the brain processes information under stress?  What we are doing today is insufficient to meet the public's expectations demanding better outcomes.  He provides concrete suggestions, backed by research, about improving training for better decision-making and performance under life-threatening stress and pressure.  

Mike should know.  He was tested in lethal force encounters on the job and spent his time outside of work training as a professional fighter.  

His second and recent book, Fall Seven Rise Eight;  A Kaizen Approach to Law Enforcement and Life, is a fascinating journey of how the brain works and what we can learn from the Kaizen philosophy on preparation.  A take from his book's back cover: The human brain is predictive.  It constantly predicts what is happening in your external world by comparing what is happening inside your body to external data coming through your senses.  These predictions are the brain’s best guess about what is happening, what to do about it, and a probabilistic evaluation of the likelihood of success based on your relevant past experiences.  

I can’t even tell you how much I enjoyed this conversation!  We touched on many relevant law enforcement training topics, from the Use of Force to Implicit Bias, Nature vs. Nurture, and the list goes on and on.   If you are curious about what Hippies can teach us about how the brain works and why slamming Red Bulls before training might not be a good idea, then tune into this week's show and enjoy.  I know I sure did!

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