Wauwatosa And The "Bullet Proof Mind"
Recently, NSM learned of an individual named Dave Grossman who has been traveling the country teaching local law enforcement the art of killing. Grossman is a former Lt. Colonel in the Army where he served as an Army Ranger. Since his retirement in 1998, Grossman has been on the road almost 300 days a year. His overly aggressive style prepares law enforcement officers for a job under siege, where they're front line troops who are "at war" with the streets. Officers need to be prepared to battle the communities they're told to protect, Grossman has said. And ideally in Grossman's eyes, officers need to learn to kill less hesitantly. Preparing police officers to interact with the public they serve by telling them they are "warriors," by insisting that "WE. ARE. AT. WAR.!," and by encouraging them to question any previous training they've undergone," "Grossman routinely puts cops on high alert in his seminars by insisting on a mythical exploding murder rate or decrying 'the systematic ambush, murder, and execution of cops.' Officers routinely hear that 'every single traffic stop could be, might be, the last stop you ever make in your life.' Awakening officers' fear that their work continually puts them in lethal danger, Grossman begins cultivating fear of the public and a readiness to kill." He teaches of presumed mythical threats where the only way to stop it is to "hunt them down and kill them".Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman tells his audience that they shouldn’t go out looking for people to kill, because those who need killing—the “gangbangers,” terrorists, and mass murderers—will come to them. All they need to do is be ready. “Are you prepared to kill somebody?” “If you cannot answer that question, you should not be carrying a gun.”
“We fight violence. What do we fight it with? Superior violence. Righteous violence.” Grossman calls his discipline “killology”—”the scholarly study of the destructive act.” Though he spent years as a soldier, he has never killed anyone in combat. He focuses on a concept he's dubbed "killology," or the study of killing, and uses it to teach officers to kill with less hesitation. https://www.killology.com/
As part of the course, Grossman is paid by local law enforcement departments to train officers in his warrior-based philosophy of "killology," which he describes as "the reactions of healthy people in killing circumstances (such as police and military in combat) and the factors that enable and restrain killing in these situations." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct9DXgYW9-8
If you're prepared to kill, Dave Grossman says, it's "just not that big of a deal."
"I am convinced from a lifetime of study, if you fully prepare yourself, in most cases killing is just not that big of a deal. For a mature warrior who has prepared their self's mind, body and spirit for a lifetime, for a mature warrior whose killing represents a clear and present danger to others, it's just not that big of a deal," Grossman said in 2015, while speaking in front of a group.
Grossman also enticed his audience by noting that killing can lead to great sex. “Cop says, ‘Knock down drag-out fight, cuffed ’em and stuffed ’em. Finally get home at the end of the shift, and?’ Cop says, ‘Gun fight. Bad guy’s down, I’m alive. Finally get home at the end of the incident, and?’ They all say, ‘The best sex I’ve had in months.’ Both partners are very invested in some very intense sex. There’s not a whole lot of perks that come with this job. You find one, relax and enjoy it”.
Grossman talks during one of his seminars where he tells a story of an officer who says "I don't have PTSD, I give it", and Grossman responds, "that's not a bad attitude to have".
Grossman’s Seminars only add to the problem facing the country with inconsistent policies and trainings among law enforcement agencies like we have seen in Wauwatosa Police Department with Chief Barry Weber’s refusal to follow National Fitness For Duty Standards, lack of accountability, and centuries of racial inequality and injustice in the US all contribute to a proportionally larger number of people in the black community to die at the hands of cops. Use of force is a key component in the death of 46-year-old George Floyd, who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes, during which he repeatedly told the officer "I can't breathe." Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey banned warrior-style training in Minneapolis in April 2019, calling it "fear-based." "Fear-based trainings violate the values at the very heart of community policing," Frey said when he banned Bulletproof training from Minneapolis. "When you're conditioned to believe that every person encountered poses a threat to your existence, you simply cannot be expected to build out meaningful relationships with those same people."
After a black man named Philando Castile was shot and killed during a traffic stop outside Minneapolis, it was revealed that two years earlier the officer, Jeronimo Yanez, had attended “The Bulletproof Warrior,” a two-day training taught by Grossman and his colleague Jim Glennon. Shortly after this came out, the sheriff of Santa Clara County, California, which includes San Jose, canceled an upcoming Grossman training, saying her officers were meant to be “peacemakers first and warriors second.” Many police departments have stopped endorsing Grossman's courses in the years since Castile's death. Republicans and Democrats in Congress have also recently come together to shut down a Pentagon program that provides military gear to local law enforcement agencies. The program, and the move to militarize the police, had been championed by Trump.
Facing an outcry, the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police has canceled an upcoming training session in metro Detroit of local police chiefs featuring a controversial speaker. Retired Army Lt. Col. Dave Grossman often talks about how law enforcement can reduce its inhibitions to kill if needed in the line of duty. Robert Stevenson, executive director of the police chiefs association, told the Free Press it made the decision to cancel the event — set for May 26-27 in a Novi evangelical church — after the group and the church had received complaints. Stevenson said the training session was meant to address post-traumatic stress disorder issues that some officers may face after killing someone, such as in the recent case of a Dearborn police officer who took his own life last year after shooting a man to death in 2015.
You can find Grossman’s “Killology” featured on Law Enforcement websites as one of the courses for training such as on the Wisconsin Association of S.W.A.T. Personnel website and police association Facebook pages like the Wisconsin Association of Women Police. Through an open records request with the Wauwatosa Police Department, NSM learned that Grossman held his Seminar on (3) dates where Tosa Officers attended. On May 20th 2014, Grossman held a seminar “Bullet Proof Mind” at the Westbrook Church in Hartland WI, on May 19th 2015, Grossman returned to the Westbrook Church again, and on May 9th 2018, Grossman held the “Bullet Proof Mind” at the Fox River Christian Church in Waukesha WI. All three of the seminars were DOJ funded.
In February, Grossman launched the Blue Life Support website, https://www.thecorneliusproject.com/ also known as the Cornelius Project. There is a specific page on the website describing who Cornelius was. Basically, he was a Roman Centurion Soldier in command over the Italian Regiment. Grossman describes these soldiers as the “law enforcement” of their time. What’s interesting to note regarding Centurion Soldiers is their “vine staff” symbol which at the time the vine staff was a 3’ rod used both as an implement in the direction of drill and maneuvers and to beat wayward or laggard soldiers or sailors under his command. The vine staff was also used to discipline Roman citizens, who were otherwise "legally protected" from corporal punishment by the Porcian Laws which exempted Roman citizens from degrading and shameful forms of punishment. Sounds about right, Grossman would use this symbol which coincides with riot police and their riot batons and violating citizens constitutional rights!!! https://www.thecorneliusproject.com/cornelius
Watch Grossman’s “Bullet Proof Mind” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RDCtMEHFLM
Grossman’s Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/LtColDaveGrossman/
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