News : Winning Edge: Officers learn tactical safety during session in Vinton

Nearly 100 officers from all over Iowa learned tactical safety during class in Vinton Wednesday.

Retired officer Brian McKenna shows a photo of a crime scene where a young officer was killed.

Brian McKenna’s journey to Vinton began at a funeral for a fellow officer.

McKenna, a retired police officer, author, and owner of Winning Edge Training, was in Vinton on Wednesday to teach officers the best ways to confront armed suspects.

The training included some graphic videos showing the shooting of officers who did not survive such attacks. One of those officers is Kyle Dinkheller of the Laurens County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office. Dinkheller radioed to dispatchers that he was stopping a vehicle for speeding. Five minutes later, he was dead, shot several times by a mentally disturbed man who described himself as a “Vietnam combat veteran.”

Dinkheller left behind a pregnant wife and a 22-month-old daughter. The video camera on his squad car captured the confrontation and the shootout. In the horrifying video, Dinkheller can be heard as he tried to peacefully resolve the situation. The video continues until the killer drives away. The officer is not seen being shot, but can be clearly heard in his dying moments.

The slain officer’s family gave McKenna permission to share that video during his training sessions because they want to help prevent that from happening to other officers, McKenna told the group.

Prevention through training

While attending a funeral for another Missouri law enforcement officer – who was shot to death while responding to a domestic dispute – McKenna realized his next job should be to teach officers ways to stay alive in dangerous situation.

McKenna watched as the officer’s family filed out of the church at the end of the service.

“The guy’s son was about 5,” McKenna recalls. “He was holding onto the coattail of the man in front of him and crying. I saw him and realized that his life had been changed forever. I decided to do what I can to try to keep this from happening to other people.”

While he said that many in society misunderstand the use of “excessive force,” McKenna told his audience that at times, officers afraid of being accused of using excessive force end up using insufficient force, which can make a situation more dangerous.

“We owe it to ourselves and to society to use sufficient force,” he said. “Know what you can do and can’t do.”

McKenna said he does not believe that people fear “excessive force,” but that they just do not understand when and how officers are to use force.

Most people, he said, get the idea from TV cop shows that all police officers are sufficiently trained for every situation, and that if an officer makes a mistake, it’s because of malice. But in reality, he said, officers are “flying by the seat of their pants 95 percent of the time” in those situations. His classes are designed to offer training for those situations that is not otherwise available.

McKenna gave tactical advice on how to handle situations when the officer is alone, the proper way to call for and use back-up, and other advice designed to give an officer a tactical advantage over someone seeking to harm others.

“Trust your instincts,” he said. “Remember that proper fear can be a useful tool.”

In a brief interview during a break, McKenna said he never had to fire his weapon in the line of duty, although there were some situations when he came close to it.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time, this is the easiest job in the world,” he said. “But it’s that other 1 percent…”

The courage that police officers show in these crises, said McKenna, begins with a commitment – a love for others that makes officers willing to lay down their lives. But he also said that at times, officers fail to pay enough attention to their own personal safety.

McKenna retired after 30 years with the Hazlewood, Mo., Police Department. He later wrote a series of columns called “Officer Down” for Law Officer Magazine. He recently published a book containing many of those columns. For more information, visit www.winningedgetraining.com

Nearly 100 officers from throughout Iowa attended the event, which was sponsored by the Vinton Police Department and organized by Vinton Police Officer Eric Dickinson.

Vinton Police Chief Jeff Tilson said that unlike last year’s session on the school hostage situation in Russia, this one did not have grant funding. The VPD charged a fee for this session. Any money left over after expenses will go toward future sessions, Tilson said.