Tactical Police Leadership (TPL)

It has been my privilege to review Tactical Police Leadership (TPL) Training Manual written by Eric Aguiar. I would like to thank Aguiar for his contribution to our profession and commend him for his willingness to allow me the opportunity to review his training manual. As trainers and as creators of training material, it can be difficult to allow others the opportunity to review our work. I heard about Aguiar’s training manual via social media. This is not intended to be a summary or complete overview of all the contents within Aguiar’s work.

Leadership and tactics related to field operations and also in the training environment have always been topics holding my interest. As a student of tactics, a field operator, and as a trainer, the book, “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu has been a foundational piece of literature for me. It immediately caught my attention when Aguiar noted he had drawn inspiration from “The Art of War” and adapted it to be specifically and practically applicable to policing in todays trying times. I have seen Sun Tzu’s work included as references and support towards topics of discussions, but I haven’t seen a program built around his work. I must admit, I have always wanted to build such a program myself, but Aguiar has beaten me to it. Aguiar highlighted several of the tactical philosophies from Tzu’s work and applied them successfully to modern policing. I am lucky Sun Tzu’s work is extensive and Aguiar has left some great material for the rest of us to work with as well. 

Overall, I found the manual to be well organized and well built. To use a description all law enforcement officers are familiar with, I would describe the manual as clear, concise, and correct. Aguiar related solid proven historically proven tactics to obstacles and goals present in modern policing. Aguiar has created a manual useful at all levels of police careers. New officers, experienced officers, supervisors, and operational leaders can all benefit from this manual and the ideas presented. The manual applies an overall view of policing. It teaches and demonstrates an attitude or philosophy of policing.

I would like to provide a brief description of Aguiar’s manual to provide other police and law enforcement professionals partial exposure to his program. This review does not contain all the content present within the manual but only selected references to give a representation of its contents and the ideas driving the training. Aguiar has broken down selected tactics, explained their relevance to modern policing, and provided extended learning tools after each chapter and lesson. Having the manual include primary text as well as critical thinking questions following each lesson makes it ideal for an instructor to review and teach the material. The manual is designed in such a way that it can be taught as a one-day class or separated over a period of time in “roll-call training”. This manual is also set up to be an effective and convenient tool for field training officers to use with recruits in training. It is not a stand-alone Field Training Program, but it is a tool Trainers could use to educate new officers and present both attitude and tactical mindset material. The manual also provides a nice reminder for officers and department leadership about resources, strategy, asset deployment, and community interaction.

As officers, we need to remember each of us is a leader within our department and our community. We may be formal leaders with rank or informal leaders among our peers and the community. Aguiar identifies and defines several types of action plans and patrol styles. He discusses perception, the important roll community plays in effective and successful crime prevention, patrol deployment, and response plans. 

I want to share a quote from Aguiar, “If you don’t explain why, you do what you do, you will always have to explain why you did what you did.” Recent events have demonstrated the truth behind this quote. The author stresses the importance of continually educating officers and the public as a way to unite the two, form trusting relationships, and address or prevent criminal actions. It is vital for officers and departments to set the proper tone to define their role and importance to the community. Proactive investigations and monitoring the public is an essential function for police in society, but to do so effectively, police departments and communities must work together and trust one another. Certain sections of the law-abiding public are offended by being monitored or witnessing any proactive policing efforts. Aguiar points out ways departments can develop tactics to increase cooperation and trust from the public. Applying these tactics could improve the reputation or perception of the police departments struggling within their communities. Our communities need to be reassured their police are only being cautious and observant, using reasonable, and fair techniques to guide decisions and actions. 

Following my previous paragraph, it may seem odd that I now mention that a certain level of deceit is appropriate at certain times. Misleading tactics are appropriate on occasions but the decision to use such tactics should be made carefully and with the expectation that those tactics will be questioned. We must also be ready and willing to explain why it was necessary to use those tactics. Deception can be appropriately used to gather intelligence, as a crime prevention method, and on occasions to remedy dangerous situations. Deception should never be used with malicious intent to abuse a person, circumvent the rights of an individual, or create the appearance of guilt in the absence of the required levels of proof for specific offenses.

Aguiar sited one of the greatest tactics in “The Art of War”, and it is a perfect tactic to be used by public safety professionals. “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” When this tactic is used successfully, it gets attention from the community. It rarely gets media or wide-spread attention because it doesn’t fit into a news generating agenda. Despite that, the community appreciates the methodology and the result. Successfully applying this tactic builds trust, shows creative thinking, and demonstrates great concern for the safety of the community. This tactic also decreases use of force in general, so when force is unavoidable your department has established a positive and reasonable reputation within the community. 

The manual contains a blunt but necessary message regarding pandering to special or single interest groups at the cost of the well-being of the community as a whole. There are appropriate ways to meet the needs of select sections of the community and individuals in a respectful way to the community as a whole, interdependent entity.

Aguiar devotes a specific section of the training manual to the importance of initial and continuing education of officers and the community. Aguiar states, “A well-trained police force serving an uneducated public is just as problematic as a public being served by a poorly trained police force.” Aguiar supports this statement throughout the training manual. The importance of the symbiotic relationship between public safety professionals and the community they serve is a repetitive theme and rightfully so. Our country has endured several situations recently and throughout history where officers and subjects have overreacted, made fatal mistakes, and escalated situations far beyond what was required. Aguiar talks about hidden intent, unknown identity, and the motivation of those around us. The public struggles with understanding these concepts and officers often have equal difficulty determining and articulating them. Aguiar points out the benefit of a community and agency being able to work together to become familiar with the community and those creating obstacles to safety and order. When the law-abiding public is a part of identifying risky behavior and individuals and police have reports and complaints to reference and justify monitoring certain people and areas, it makes police interaction and intervention appear more reasonable and necessary to the public. 

As would be expected, Aguiar addresses developing tactical leaders, building trust, developing training and having a strong mentoring program in place. All these are critical components of a strong leadership program and an overall philosophy of police management. When a community feels their protectors are subject to strong and righteous leaders who build a subordinate structure in their image and with strict standards, a relationship of trust can begin to form. Aguiar makes three statements that seem like common sense, but they are not commonplace in law enforcement. Most of the public has the impression the following statements are already in effect and police officer’s possess super skills and abilities that make them capable of perfection even in the most sudden, dynamic, and stressful conditions. Aguiar states, “minimum training requirements in law enforcement are not enough. Specialized training should not be a privilege.” Aguiar also points out, “The badge on a police officer’s chest is not the source, rather a symbol, of their police powers that include certain procedural duties and the authority to channel perpetrators of unlawful activities into the court system.” 

His third and final statement applies to officers and to those subjected to police authority. “The time to argue is in court and not in the street.” This philosophy has strong influence on how an officer conducts their business and limits time and opportunity for opposition from a citizen contact. Make contact, give your reason, take your action, release the citizen, and move to another physical location. As long as your business is actually unobstructed and you have received the level of compliance to complete your reason for contact, terminate the detainment. Remove yourself from the situation. Your job has been completed. Don't be a victim of ego and get baited into a larger unnecessary problem. The more officers apply this and the more the public takes this approach, the safer the community is and the quicker and more effectively bad apples within the police force are identified and dealt with appropriately. 

Actions taken between calls are essential to a well-trained mind and body. Time between calls is important preparation time, study time, and training time if officers are taught to use it properly. These times allow officers to interact on a more personable even human level within the community. Trust, relationships, bonds, and networks are formed in these times.

This has been a short description of “Tactical Police Leadership (TPL) Training Manual” written by Eric A. Aguiar. I highly recommend officers at all levels review the manual as either a refresher of past training or new and modern applications of proven tactical techniques. Developing tactical police leaders will continue to be a priority within the public safety profession. Aguiar’s summarizes his philosophy with the simple yet critical idea, “Every call for service is a call for leadership.”