The Debrief with Jon Becker

Kevin Cyr is an Inspector with Royal Canadian Mounted Police and is the current commander of the RCMP Emergency Response Team in British Columbia, which is the second largest tactical unit in Canada. Kevin has been with RCMP for 22 years and has been with the team for 7 years. He has a master’s in law from Osgoode Hall Law School and is published internationally in law and criminology journals. He...

My guest today is Jordan Robison. This episode is a follow up to last week’s Critical Incident Review about the August 18, 2021, shooting that occurred when the San Bernardino Police Department’s SWAT Team attempted to arrest a suspect who had ambushed and attempted to murder a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy the day before.  When the team performed a vehicle takedown the suspect immediatel...

On August 18, 2021, the San Bernardino California SWAT Team was assigned to locate and arrest a suspect who had ambushed and attempted to murder a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy the day before. When the team located and attempted a vehicle takedown the suspect immediately opened fire on the team with a 10mm handgun, striking Officer Jordan Robison 8 times and Officer Chris Shipley once. Of...

Description My guest today is Bob Koonce. Bob is the founder of High Reliability Group, which he created after serving 20 years in the United States Navy. Bob's distinguished naval career included serving on five different nuclear fast attack submarines and culminated with him being given command of the USS Key West, a $2 billion nuclear-powered Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine. Follow...

Starting next week The Debrief will be introducing a new series called Battle Proven Leadership (or BPL). In contrast to the long format and wide-ranging interviews of The Debrief, BPL episodes will be shorter and deeply explore a single topic in leadership with a goal of providing specific/actionable information that you can use to improve your leadership skills. My guests will be subject matter...

My guest today is John Mattingly. John is a retired Sgt. from the Louisville Police Department who led the search warrant service at the home of Breonna Taylor on March 13, 2020 and was shot in the leg by her boyfriend Kenneth Walker before returning fire along with another officer resulting in the death of Ms. Taylor. This event, of course, became a huge catalytic event for protests, riots, lawsu...

My guests today are Thor Eells and Don Kester from the National Tactical Officers Association or NTOA which is the largest tactical organization in the United States. Thor is a retired commander from the Colorado Springs Colorado Police Department where he served for 30 years. The majority of which was in tactical response including serving as a swat operator, a swat team leader and a team command...

Description This is a very special joint episode between the CATO Podcast and the Debrief hosted by CATO President Brent Stratton and Jon Becker. Our guest today is Medal of Honor recipient Staff Sergeant Earl D. Plumlee. MSgt Plumlee received the Medal of Honor for his actions on August 28, 2013 in Afghanistan. We were extremely lucky to sit down with MSgt Plumlee after he spoke at the CATO Confe...

My guest today is a legend in the US tactical community Chief Phil Hansen.  Phil recently retired after serving as the Chief of Police for the Santa Maria California Police Department.  But prior to Santa Maria Phil retired as a Captain from the Los Angeles Country Sherriff’s Department where he served for 36 years.  During his tenure at LASD he spent more than 24 years in full time tactical and e...

Description On November 13, 2015, Paris experienced a series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks. These attacks took place over three separate areas of the city and were carried out by multiple teams of attackers. Almost four hours after they began the events ended with a dramatic and successful hostage rescue that will be the topic for today’s discussion. This episode of the debrief will ha...

Description Kevin Cyr is an Inspector with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and is the current commander of the RCMP Emergency Response Team in British Columbia, which is the second largest tactical unit in Canada. Kevin has been with the RCMP for 22 years and has been with the team for 7 years. He has a master’s in law from Osgoode Hall Law School and is published internationally in law and crim...

Description My guest today Is Buddy Brown. Buddy works for the York County Sherriff’s Office in South Carolina. Buddy has worked patrol, narcotics and training and spent more than 18 years on the York County regional SWAT team. On January 16, 2018, York County responded to a domestic violence call that led a suspect on the run in the woods behind a residential area. By the time the night was over...

Description My guest today is Kris Allshouse.  Kris is the Executive Director of The Regional Training Center (formerly LA County Regional Training Center), a nonprofit organization that provides advanced training to Federal, State and Local Law Enforcement and other first responders as well as military units and international agencies.  Kris is a former tactical operator for a large Southern Cali...

Description   My guest today is Dana Vilander.  Dana spent 32 years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department with 26 of those years spent with the elite Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB).  In his time at SEB, Dana worked as a K-9, a SWAT operator, and spent 18 years as a tactical paramedic, diver, crew chief, and hoist operator with the Emergency Services Detail.  Because of his extensive a...

Description My guest today is Chief John Perez.  John recently retired as the Chief of Police for the Pasadena California Police Department. In his nearly 37 years of service to Pasadena, John served at literally all ranks in the department.  During his career, John worked patrol, narcotics, counter-terrorism, and as a SWAT sergeant, lieutenant, and commander, John helped to form the first generat...

Description   My Guests Today are the creators of the California Association of Tactical Officers (CATO) Decision Making Exercise Program (DME), Capt. Toby Darby and Lt. Josh Wofford.  Toby is a 27-year veteran of law enforcement with 20 years spent in tactical units. Toby is a Board Member for the California Association of Tactical Officers and one of the facilitators of the CATO Strategic Leader...

Description My Guest Today is Mike Hillman. Mike is a legend in the tactical community with a list of career accomplishments that would take an entire podcast of their own. But as a brief bio he was one of the original founders of LAPD SWAT, a Deputy Chief at LAPD, the Assistant Sheriff in Orange County California and a Chief of Police for the Los Angeles Port Police. He was one of the founders of...

Description My Guest Today is Mike Hillman. Mike is a legend in the tactical community with a list of career accomplishments that would take an entire podcast of their own. But as a brief bio he was one of the original founders of LAPD SWAT, a Deputy Chief at LAPD, the Assistant Sheriff in Orange County California and a Chief of Police for the Los Angeles Port Police. He was one of the founders of...

Episode Description - My guest today is Ed Hinchey, a retired Sgt. with the Forest Hills Pennsylvania Police Department. Ed is the survivor of a violent police shooting who was saved by his soft body armor. After retirement Ed became the Director of the Safariland Saves Program. In his capacity as Saves Director, Ed’s job is working with officers who have been shot in the line of duty and saved by...

Description My guests today are the hosts of the very successful California Association of Tactical Officers (CATO) Podcast, Brent Stratton, and Marcus Sprague. Brent is the Assistant Chief at a Southern California Police Department and the President of the California Tactical Officers Association (CATO). Marcus is a recently retired Lieutenant at a Northern California PD and the Vice President of...

Episode Description – In this episode, we take a deep dive into LAPD D-Platoon (aka SWAT) with Lee McMillion, one of the two Lieutenants who currently lead the unit.  We discuss the history of SWAT, the current configuration of the team, the specialized cadres within the team, and what happens when the team is activated.  We also discuss how they select the right personnel, leading a team of high...

Episode Description – This is the first of a broad reaching two-part interview with Sid. In this first episode, we discuss Sid’s career history, the evolution of special tactics, the history of LASD SEB, the origins of SWAT, and his research on flashbangs and development of the NTOA Instructors Manual.  We also discuss the origins of non-lethal weapons, police reform and defunding, and the origins...

Episode Description – This is the second of a broad reaching two-part interview with Sid. In this second episode, we discuss the origins of his study and writings on tactical science and take a deeper dive into several concepts in tactical science like initiative and maneuver in time and space. We also dig into Sid’s views on leadership and take an emotional reflection on his responsibilities to t...

The Debrief with Jon Becker launches June 8th. Please enjoy this trailer.  The Debrief is an interview-based podcast that tells the stories of the leaders of some of the world’s top law enforcement and military units – individuals who navigate dangerous situations with their highly effective teams every day.  Jon Becker founded AARDVARK at just seventeen years old. The company started out as a cli...