USAF Academy Invites Sheriff’s Office to Lead Coalition of Instructors Presenting
Tactical Social Interaction (TSI) Train-the-Trainer Course
Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich is honored to announce the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office received an invitation from the United States Air Force Academy to deliver the 40-hour Tactical Social Interaction (TSI) Train-the-Trainer Course.
You may be asking, “What is TSI Training?”
In plain terms, Tactical Social Interaction Training is teaching research-based ways for the students to effectively adapt, communicate and work in, and with, culturally diverse communities and people, while maintaining good tactics and awareness essential for their safety.
During the week of November 6 - 10, 2017, the Sheriff’s Office will lead a talented team of instructors from Fairchild AFB and the United Stated Air Force Academy to facilitate the TSI course for the first time.
Background of the TSI content and Development of the Training Course
The groundwork and research for the TSI content was developed through Washington State University (WSU), led by Dr. Bryan Vila. Dr. Vila secured funding under a Defense Department project, known as Strategic Social Interaction Modules (SSIM), to produce strategic interaction training. The goal of this program was to design unique methods to train personnel how to strategically interact with and adapt to people and places different to them, regardless of specific culture or type of engagement. In short, how to make personnel into “good strangers” who can appropriately assess and adapt in order to socially engage in any scenario.
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Instruction Systems Designer, Mr. Anthony Anderman was a co-author, lead designer and lead facilitator of the Tactical Social Interaction course. Anderman worked closely with Dr. Vila’s team, designing the course to be student centered, highly facilitative, and allowing for the understanding and identification of personal biases to act as a foundational component of accurate and effective pre-planning and observation/assessment of the self and others prior to engaging in an encounter.
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office has been providing the TSI competencies to new Deputies since 2016. The Sheriff’s Office has recognized the transfer of learning requires self-evaluation of cultural and emotional intelligence, observation of behavior of self and others during stranger encounters. It also values active listening, appropriate modes of adapting to stranger behaviors and conflicts, meeting stranger needs within an interaction (social or situational), and successful disengagement to lead to positive future encounters and build long-term rapport.
The Spokane county Sheriff’s Office has received positive feedback from the community, supporting the research-based approach to improving communication within our community.