‘Left Of Bang’ Leadership
Law enforcement leadership is the most difficult leadership position in the world. While that may sound outrageous and self-serving, anyone actually leading in any capacity in the profession understands completely the difficulties not only inside the job but outside....
Lowering Standards Is Not A Recruiting Tip
For the last three decades, what the Department of Justice has done, in the form of consent decrees, to local agencies is disgusting but that pales in comparison to our own leaders agreeing to play along with this scam. It’s hard to debate the rise in violent crime...
Stop Chasing Shiny Objects
If there was one thing that I can confirm is true without a doubt in law enforcement, it is our obsession with cool toys. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for the newest and brightest flashlight or the gadgets on a gun and even the “tacti-cool” videos but when it comes to...
50 Years of Tragedy
For the last two decades, I have studied line of duty deaths very closely and typically pull a decade of tragedy from each individual state prior to teaching there. The Officer Down Memorial Page has, unfortunately been my second devotional of the day. Through that...
Spine Removal Surgery
After 30 years of law enforcement experience including 26 in supervision and management, I’ve seen both the good and the bad this great profession has to offer. I’ve worked with some of the greatest human beings that God placed on this planet while at the same time...
Saying The Quiet Part ‘Out Loud’
Those seeking to destroy the law enforcement profession have finally said the quiet part out loud. It’s not that it was a secret, but law enforcement leaders were either complicit on what was happening right in front of them or completely and utterly incompetent. In...
Lies Police Leaders Tell
I have spoken and written numerous times about the stupidity of law enforcement leaders and organizations that moved the vascular neck restraint (VNR) to deadly force or ban it in the wake of the death of George Floyd. After all, George Floyd did not die from any type...
The Dangers of Consent Decrees
This week, the Department of Justice announced that they are imposing a consent decree on the Louisville (KY) Police Department after they determined that the agency engaged “in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law.” You...
Courageous Leadership In Action
I was told a few months ago by Paula over at For The Blue, that Madison Police Chief Mike Koval (ret.) was someone that I should meet. I had no reason to doubt what Paula told me but the reality is that Courageous Leaders are like Unicorns. They are very rare but if...
Courageous Leaders Will Be Uncomfortable
Several years ago I agreed to participate in a fundraising event. The idea sounded fun but there was no joy when I jumped in a cold lake wearing my full police uniform. Law enforcement across the country does the “Polar Plunge” every year to benefit Special Olympics...
Law Enforcement Recruiting: We Must Embrace Change
The law enforcement profession is dying a slow death. While I have made it my life mission to help encourage leaders to develop great law enforcement agencies, if we fail to recruit, that potential will waste away slowly and painfully. While many failed to heed the...
Leadership In The Aftermath of Memphis
Below is the text from the "Courageous Leadership" Podcast featuring Travis Yates. You can listen to this episode here. By now you have no doubt heard about the horrific death of Tyre Nichols and you have likely watched the video of the incident. In light of...
The Thin Blue Line
Law enforcement has suffered another case of a police chief forsaking officers, giving in to public opinion (aka “outrage”), and failing to lead courageously. It could have been a moment to educate the public and correct misperceptions. However, the chief of the Los...
How ‘Community Trust’ Is Being Used To Destroy Policing
A day doesn’t go by where I don’t see a police chief in America talking about their priority in “community trust.” I doubt anyone can even get that job without telling their political boss that “trust” is the most important aspect of policing and a quick google search...
Do Hard Things
I've never been a fan of New Year's resolutions but I understand the mentality of them. If you go to a public gym, you are well aware that within a few weeks the new crowd will disappear along with the vast majority of every resolution embarked on. You may be in the...
How To Fix Law Enforcement
(LawOfficer.com) - Unless you’ve been frozen in a block of ice for a decade, you understand that the law enforcement profession is facing some very difficult circumstances. Crime is up, retention is low, and recruiting is all but gone. While some believe that the...
What Leaders Can Learn From ‘Coach Prime’
I couldn’t stand Deion Sanders when he played professional football and baseball. I certainly marveled at his athletic ability that would rightfully earn him the induction into the Pro and College Football Hall of Fame, but it was everything else that he did that made...
Be Thankful
Over the last decade, I have found myself in almost every state and a few countries teaching and consulting with law enforcement professionals. To say we are different is an understatement but for the most part, that difference is what makes the profession, and those...
The Modern Day ‘Love Me’ Wall
In the weeks that followed the 2020 election and the ensuing chaos, my wife turned to me and asked why I seemed so relaxed. After bringing me up to speed on all the hysteria online, I told her that the only thing that changed was that my Facebook phone app quit...
Travis Yates Provides ‘Free’ Training For Recruitment
Travis Yates has been warning the law enforcement profession about the recruiting and retention crisis for years. He sounded this alarm in his 2019 book, "The Courageous Police Leader," and told several media outlets including "Tucker Carlson" in 2020. Not many...
Course Review: ‘Courageous Leadership’ is more than a class, it’s a call to action
There is a reason why “Courageous Leadership” is a five star course. It’s because the content covered in class by Major Travis Yates is way beyond the nuts and bolts of supervising others, it covers the real-world problems of leading people through the quagmire and...
Weak Police Chiefs: A Top Enemy of Law Enforcement
Police chiefs influence everything from officer performance and morale, to public perception of, and confidence in the departments they lead. Based on feedback I’ve received over the past few years, weak police leadership is a widespread issue that’s having...
What We Do In Life Echoes In Eternity
I believe that baseball is the greatest sport ever invented and that is not a biased opinion…it’s just the truth. Think about it. What sport gives the defense the ball and the greatest players that ever lived failed seven times out of ten. If you play in the major...
Leadership Is Everything
I believe strongly in the saying that "leaders read" and while I try to practice that mantra, I've been more of a collector of books in recent years. I can't seem to catch up with the books I have and that collection has grown far beyond a few book shelves. My recent...
What Leaders Can Learn From The Disney Disaster
The recent stock plunge and the loss of over 20 billion dollars in shareholder value of Disney is a stark lesson in what happens when leadership fails. In 2020, Bob Chapek became just the 7th CEO of The Walt Disney Company. The entertainment giant houses some of the...
Are You A ‘Token’ Leader?
There is nothing more insulting than when I hear someone is in a position simply because they are a "token." Just in case you aren't familiar with the term, the free dictionary defines it as "a person who is considered as representative of a social group, such as a...
Great Leaders Sweep
We often think of great leadership as doing the big things and frankly, that is simply not true. Sure, we may see leaders such as General Patton, Abraham Lincoln or Dr. Martin Luther King and hold their tremendous accomplishments up as what a leader should be but we...
Testimonial: This Training Saved My Life
Our team gets testimonials from our students on a regular basis and we are grateful for the feedback. This student took a course and relayed information that is provided in our Seconds To Survival & Mindset 360 Course. We have removed some specifics including the...
Why We Should Never Look As Politicians As Leaders
“It is said that power corrupts, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible.” David Brin I probably don’t have to tell you that politicians serve as some of the poorest examples of leadership but that doesn’t stop most of them from touting their...
Interview With Travis Yates
Note: Dr. Jay Chaix, an expert in Strategic Media, recently sat down with Travis and discussed various issues including the development of his website (TravisYates.org). Here is the text of that interview. Dr. Chaix: Thanks for being with me Travis and I know it’s...
I Am No Expert
It may sound strange to tell you that if you are looking for an expert in leadership that you came to the wrong place. Please don’t take that the wrong way. I hope you stay, and I would love to get to know you and even help you but when it comes to the label of...
Get The Book
In this groundbreaking book, “The Courageous Police Leader: A Survival Guide for Combating Cowards, Chaos & Lies,” Major Travis Yates tears down the walls separating law enforcement and the community and exposes the dirt that keeps law enforcement from excelling to greatness and that continues to give the criminal element the winning hand. With almost three decades of leadership experience in a major law enforcement agency and a current Commander, Yates dissects the ills within and outside the profession in a way you have never heard.