The Critical Gap for Law Enforcement

"An evidence-based course teaching life-saving techniques and strategies for providing the best of trauma care"

Note: "The RCMP is prohibited from engaging in or being portrayed in any way that could give the impression that we are advertising or endorsing a private individual or business. "

Traditionally, the medical role of sworn officers has been to stabilize or neutralize a crisis injury scene so it’s safe enough for EMS to enter. Recent tragedies have caused a growing shift in community expectations as police officers are usually the first and only responders to security incidents. Simply based upon the nature of their duties, a significant percentage of officers’ medical-related encounters involve potentially life-threatening trauma, such as severe accident injuries or gunshot wounds to the head, torso, and/or extremities. More often than not, the casualty happens be a colleague or the officers themselves.

Since police officers arrive ahead of EMS some 70% of the time when both are dispatched, the public now expects officers to “do something” immediately to help injured or wounded parties until professional medical aid is on scene.

These officers may not be quite sure what that “something” should be, but reliable statics state that at least 100 times a day police in the US find themselves in such a position.

“By legal precedent, as well as by a “code of conduct,” if you employ deadly force and it is 100% justified, you still have an obligation to render aid to the injured perpetrator when it is safe to do so.”

Law enforcement agencies known difficulties

Training: The vast majority of officers recognizes their lack of medical skills and desires specific training in tactical medicine that's been adapted to today’s threats. However, costs and time constraints are restricting training opportunities. Qualified instructors with relevant experience are few and widely scattered, and officers need to be sent to costly training facilities taking them away from duty for days.

Commonly, officers not affiliated with tactical teams are only trained in CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) and basic bleeding control, making them legally prepared, but that doesn’t mean it’s an acceptable ethical standard. Some even question the utility of CPR given the number of police responses to trauma incidents versus cardiac arrest.

Equipment: Quite often law enforcement officers are issued relatively adequate first aid gear (IFAK) but aren't given proper instruction on its use, making them exposed to serious legal and ethical consequences, nullifying the benefit of the equipment as they are reluctant to use it.

Answer: To address these issues there's now a relevant, adapted, mobile, fast and affordable training course provided as the response from Rhodes Solutions with the proven and acclaimed “The Critical Gap.”

What is “The Critical Gap”?

“The Critical Gap” is a first aid course based on the TCCC principles (Tactical Care of the Combat Casualty) and aimed at filling “the critical gap.”

What's the critical gap? It's the typical time first responders spend on an injury scene before EMS personnel roll up to render medical care. The Critical Gap is designed to be a complement to any first aid training and is geared toward self-aid, critical incidents, gunshot wounds and managing multiple casualties with multi-system trauma in non-permissive environments

Why “The Critical Gap”?

Studies have shown 25% of all critical incident deaths are preventable. Almost 95% of victims will die before reaching a medical facility making police officers, bystanders and witnesses a decisive part of upping the survival rates.

First responders will save one quarter of all critical incident casualties with the proper mindset and training (“The Critical Gap” ™) and the appropriate equipment (IFAK).

“It can take as little as 40 seconds to die from a gunshot wound but it takes 20 seconds to self-apply a tourniquet and be back in action.”

Furthermore, law enforcement agencies, public officials, and anybody who must deal with the general public have a duty of care. The public and media assume these people have a certain level of training and preparation, and expect them to be ready and able to save lives, including their own, when paramedics are minutes away.

As the recent events have shown, public transportation, schools, concerts venues, sport events, can all become a battlefield filled with combat related casualties. Our first of the first responders must be ready to face these types of scenarios.

Who uses Tactical first aid course?

US Special Forces units were the first to implement Tactical first aid courses. After outstanding results (25% reduction of KIA), all modern military forces developed their program based on the TCCC committee principles. All United Nations personnel deployed in non-permissive areas must take a tactical medical course. With the influx of combat veterans in the US law enforcement agencies, TCCC is now a mandatory training in most departments. In Canada, RCMP ERT members are usually qualified TCCC and a very basic trauma course (BTEC) is being rolled out for regular members. We expect some kind of similar training and equipment will be made mandatory in the next future to all public facilities (Hartford Consensus & “Stop the Bleed” foundation).

Why not a full TCCC course for police officers?

Having trained hundreds of soldiers in Tactical Care of Combat Casualties we simply don’t believe it is the best investment for police officers. TCCC courses are typically developed for soldiers in combat zone, in contact, under enemy fire. TCCC is based around three phases: care under fire, tactical field care and tactical evacuation care. Care under fire involves mostly small unit tactics and fire superiority while tactical evacuation care is about long term care and evacuation. What really matter to a police officer are the couple minutes between the incident and the arrival of an ambulance, the tactical field care, the “Critical Gap”. In The Critical Gap course, we concentrate on the field care but we include important notions like scene safety, triage process and reporting making that course completely relevant to law enforcement applications.

What are you learning in “The Critical Gap”?

Critical life-saving skills to keep critically injured casualties alive until the next level of care
Composition and use of an Improved First Aid Kit including self-care
Patient Approach Protocol
Triage process
Stopping massive bleeding using realistic bleeding simulators
Airways, breathing, circulation, evacuation

What are the different versions of “The Critical Gap”?

Military, Protection Security Details, Security contractors, ERT and SWAT also called Battlefield Medicine, with emphasis on the tactical aspect.
Law enforcement and first responders options: GD, OPS-K9 (includes OpsK9 first aid), EOD (includes “Blast injuries” module), Sheriff, Corrections, Conservation officers, paramedics and firefighters.
General public: from teenagers to seniors, when tactical considerations aren’t an issue.

How do we teach The Critical Gap?

The Critical Gap is an 8 hours classroom course, complete with numerous exercises and scenarios. Students will learn about and apply a preponderance of hands-on practice applying tourniquets, hemostatic dressings, chest seals, as well as learn about other relevant treatment equipment and procedures, starting with self-aid and building up to the handling of more complex life-threatening situations. On request, this course can be taught on a shooting range and add element of “Force on force” or weapons manipulations.

Contact us for a full review of our courses by police officers recently trained on the “The Critical Gap” course

To summarize my opinion on the course is I really don't understand how a course like this isn't mandatory yet

I strongly believe the course is useful for all front line members especially in a place like PG. It provided useful life saving training that can be applied to us and the public, especially with the volume of high risk and violent calls members here attend to.It baffles me that not every Police Officer has this course as we are often the first responder on scene and are not equipped to deal with mass wounds. •

As a front line responder, I found this course of great use. My section routinely handles investigations where gangs and guns are commonplace and I consider us to be at risk, like all police officers, of being in a gun fight at some point in our careers. This course taught practical wound treatment for a gunshot wound situation.

I think all front line members should have the training and equipment (should be mandatory training). Far too often we arrive at calls by ourselves or go to calls by ourselves and having the skills and equipment to save our own lives or someone else's is paramount. There's been a big push in the **** to get everyone trained on Carbines and making sure all the cars have Hard Body Armour, but our first aid training is poor at best. Our members should be given the training and equipment to deal with the entire situation we expect them to go into which includes medical/saving our own lives and the public.

I think this is a skill that should be discussed and taught at a much earlier time in one’s career, given the increased chances of survival it gives a member who has these skills. Also, we unfortunately see new events unfolding every day in our environment which highlight the chances that I may someday need to use this skill.

This one was very 'real'. Other first aid courses teach you the basics and the scenarios are never realistic. This one made you walk into the role plays having no idea what to expect. We were expected to be able to gather information and make a decision on the spot... and sometimes that decision was to leave the person and move on to someone else were could save.

Nick has a high level of knowledge, with examples that bring the course closer to reality and allow for the course to be interesting and effective. He was able to provide a lot of knowledge in a very short time, using a lot of examples rather than power points which I believe to be important in this type of learning.

EXCEPTIONAL COURSE CONTENT AND DELIVERY. Nick has delivered numerous sessions of his Battlefield Medicine Course for members of the agency to date. His experience and way of imparting his knowledge is second to none. His course offering very effectively targets the missing link between standardized Basic 1st-Aid and the reality that Law Enforcement Officers regularly encounter. Nick's teachings and strategies have been put to use several times already, and lives have been saved as a direct result of the principles/skills taught. He keeps participants engaged and interested throughout the course and gives you real skills to save your life, your partner's life, or the life of a civilian you encounter in the course of your duties. VERY GOOD COURSE...NEVER HAS PRICELESS BEEN THIS AFFORDABLE!

No matter if you are new to firearms or been there/done that, you will find this course very useful even back home. Nick has great knowledge and experience to take you one more step up in your battlefield med training to the next level. Come open minded and ready to learn, and brig your notepad, there's tons of info you may need one day from setting up your PFAK to putting on Tourniquet. You think you have a lot of time to do it, try putting it on with your week hand in 40 seconds!

Nick has the ability to instill a sense of urgency and realism that several years of OFA level 2 training never did. He exposed us to a wide range of tools to "get the job done"; my favorite being the scarf improvised tourniquet! I thought I had my IFAK ready, but immediately moved some components around after a few drills showed how slow it actually was. Care and attention to detail is Nick’s hallmark.

I’ve taken several courses with Nick, he has a lot of good and relevant experience to share, combine with a keen eye focused on details and his natural leadership his courses are relavent to today environment and presented in a positive setting ideal for learning. Thank you Nick and let me know when you have new courses available

Leave your ego at the door. Do the work. Keep your mouth shut and your ears open. Drink from the fire hose. Everyone wants to be able to put small holes in tight groups on target. Being able to patch up someone is even more critical and necessary in my experience. You can learn how to do that from someone who's been there if you attend a Rhodes Solution class.

I've taken Battlefield Medicine twice now from Rhodes. I'm absolutely convinced that this is going to be the next big thing in tactical training for one simple reason: you will use these skills. Even if you never see a gunfight in your life, sooner or later, you will be the first person on scene at a car accident, at an industrial accident, or at some kind of critical incident. If your first aid is geared towards heart attacks...now you have a golden hour to deal with a one minute fatal bleed. These are the skills that first responders need. This is not weekend fantasy camp; this is not warrior training for aging desk jockeys (like me). This is the training that is most likely to keep people - whether that's you, your partner, your coworker or your child - alive when things go haywire and I have never seen anyone do it as well as Rhodes.

Very positive and energetic instructor. A great sense of humor and perfect combination of fun / push for higher skill. The instructor drives you to perform but in a manner that is reinforcing ideas and practicing them as opposed to simply telling you your making mistakes. The order that the steps are taught and the specific drills really come together at the end. Looking forward to completing some more advance courses in the future!

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to train with Rhodes Solutions for his basic course and gun fighting 101. My pistol shooting improved immediately with his no nonsense instruction style. His instruction was concise and easy to follow. As a member of the law enforcement and military community, I found the addition to my knowledge base from these courses to be a clear benefit to my career goals and personal safety/security.

Nick at Rhodes Solutions provided a professional, no nonsense approach to his class. His real world knowledge base has given him a practical approach to “gun fighting.” without the “fluff” that other pistol course have that I have taken seem to have. I am looking forward to additional training with Nick and I would not hesitate to recommend him to any shooter whether they are novice or advanced.

With almost no experience handling a firearm, Rhodes Solutions catered their instruction to exactly my comfort level. The lesson was advanced enough to challenge me, but not so advanced as to be discouraging either. With lessons ranging from beginner to advanced, there is plenty to learn and their instructor was able to adjust his lesson to the abilities of each participant. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and one that I would highly recommend to others. Thanks Rhodes Solutions!

Nick at Rhodes Solutions provided an excellent pistol course. The course was well laid out, and very professional. The methods taught are practical, and provides an atmosphere where you are constantly driving yourself to improve. No matter on skill level, or background I would definitely recommend to others interested in becoming more proficient with their firearms in a defensive or fighting role.

I found the Course provided to me by Rhodes Solutions to be practical, informative, and very enjoyable. The tecniques delivered where something new to me, but delivered in a very professional manner, which helped my advance my level of confidence and training. I would say excellent overall.

Call
1-778-257-4994

Email
info@rhodes-solutions.ca

Location
Kamloops, BC - Canada

During overseas deployments the online store will not be active and orders should be sent by email at: sales@rhodes-solutions.ca Thank you for your understanding Nick P. Dismiss