About this course

"Good tactics can save even the worst strategy.
Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy."
-George S. Patton

Course Overview
Interdiction is widely taught across the country. Whether learning "The Drive" or employing a high volume of stops, various classes teach on this topic. However, the "tactics" to keep the interdiction officer safe are constantly overlooked or rarely highlighted. STOPS Criminal Interdiction Tactics is a training program that stresses proactive officers' safety, giving them a foundation for success in the interdiction world.

Pro Train's mission is to provide the best and most current tactical training to officers. We are constantly revising training areas that we notice are lacking focus in tactical procedures for officer safety. We have combined many tactics from our proven and nationally accredited STOPS course into this course's newest Interdiction training approach. Pro Train cadre had studied, attended, and applied many interdiction teachings from across the country into this new course. STOPS Tactical Criminal Interdiction results from seeing the lack of focused "tactical" training in interdiction stops. The STOPS Tactical Criminal Interdiction Course focuses on tactics the proactive officer should utilize when "seeking the criminal element" is the focus of traffic enforcement. We have developed a tactical course that breaks the stop/contact into three parts: the beginning, middle, and end of contact. Using these concentrated training areas, we can identify where tactics need to override habit, routine, and complacency. While taking drugs, guns, and criminals off our roads is pivotal to interdiction, it is more important to get home to loved ones at the end of the shift. This course gives an outline of practical and easy-to-implement tactics to employ when hunting down criminals in your jurisdiction. With a combination of classroom and outdoor instruction, this course will cover the rapid assessment needed to categorize a traffic stop properly. We will highlight several tactics taught in the STOPS program, including an in-depth breakdown of Unknown Risk Stops. Using these proven tactics can accentuate the ability to read verbal and non-verbal cues of criminal activity. While this is not a class covering specifics of a roadside interview or hidden compartments, it is an overview of what criminal interdiction is, where to employ it, and the differences between street and highway interdiction. Tactics taught here work in either application.

What will the student learn?

• Approach patterns on traffic stops with emphasis on passenger-side approach.
• Walk-Back and Walk-Thru patterns to use in stops deemed Unknown-Risk.
• How to determine between a Low-Risk and Unknown-Risk traffic stop.
• How to escape from Ambush Positions outlined in the classroom.
• How to safely search under consent and proper placement of violator(s) and back-up.
• Case law pertinent to stopping vehicles and then leading into a consensual or PC search.

What will the student be required to do?

• The student will learn from a structured PowerPoint in the classroom covering facts and outlines of tactics to be employed later in outdoor/field training. There will be a breakdown of several vital videos showing why these tactics are so necessary to successful interdiction.
• This course is a combination of classroom and outdoor activities to keep the student engaged and interested in learning concepts to enhance his/her ability to seek out the criminal element, quickly identify it, and be prepared if a lethal force encounter were to occur.

Course Breakdown

Train Hard * Train to Win

Course Intensity
The content and pace of this course will be challenging to most students. Some videos used in this course may shock those of a more sensitive conscious.

Physically Demanding
This course's style is a combination of classroom lectures and outdoor practical applications; the student must successfully demonstrate the ability to escape from ambush zones.

Mentally Challenging
Seeking out the criminal that has masked himself within the general innocent motoring public is not easy. Conducting rapid assessments of violators while also staying tactical is challenging and will be addressed throughout this training course. Students will analyze situations represented in videos and reach conclusions about safer tactics to use while conducting interdiction stops.

Core Building
Proactive officers engage in traffics stops daily. Now, more than ever, officers dealing with the public on traffic stops or other calls for service are under the microscope. Successful completion of this course will provide students with a foundation rooted in safe tactics and professionalism that will lead to successful interactions with criminals and the innocent motoring public.

Student Take Away

• Several approach patterns for initial walk-up to a violator and options for calling violator back to patrol vehicle.
• A clear understanding of what interdiction is, why it is needed, and the differences between street and highway interdiction.
• The ability to recognize ambush zones and quickly escape them in a lethal force confrontation.
• A safe and effective way to search vehicles while in contact with a violator.

Course Accreditation/Certification/Completion

• The student will receive a certificate of course completion.

Course Hours

• (3 day) 21-hour course.
• No Re-certification required.

Instructor: Brad Kellar

• Currently a Detective Sergeant in Criminal Investigations
• STOPS Instructor for over 19 years
• STOPS Instructor Trainer
• Indiana Certified Instructor in Defensive Tactics and Taser
• Mechanical & Ballistic Breaching Instructor
• National Criminal Enforcement Association Board Member
• Master Interdictor Certification, NCEA
• Robbie Bishop 314 Award Winner
• Certified Police Motorcycle Operator

Instructor: Ron Hantz

• 25 plus year police officer
• Khan Police Control Tactics (KPCT) Close Quarter Combat Instructor
• MarTac Tactical Physical Tactics Instructor
• Pressure Point Control Tactics (PPCT) - Instructor
• Protective Training Systems (PTS) Close Quarter Combat Instructor
• DPS Close Quarter Combat Instructor (certification through Black Belt Dr. Paul Whitesell)
• Indiana Law Enforcement Training Board Certified Physical Tactics Instructor
• Kung Fu San Soo Black Belt
• Police Use of Force Expert Witness

Required Course equipment

Attending students will need to be enrolled individually online. The student will be required to provide proof of employment either by credentials, work verified email or authorization from their agency's training coordinator. All students must be on duty and not forced to attend the training course.

Students are required to bring the following equipment with them to class.

• There are no required items to bring to this course.

**No live weapons, chemical agents, or intermediate weapons are allowed in the training area**

About this course

"The skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible...."
- Sun Tzu

Course Overview
Remember when you first began this job … You would’ve done it for free…. 

NOW? … The thrill is gone … 

Armchair quarterbacks declare guilt before they know the facts… Politicians working to eliminate resources and tools that ensure you return home safely to your family each night… 

Civil unrest, looting, violence, destruction of property …. It’s all somehow our fault. “If it weren’t for this pension,” you think … I’d be out of here. 

Couple it with the fact that 2.19x as many cops took their own lives as died by felonious gunfire last year (felonious gunfire rates up 37% from 2020) and it can look hopeless… 

Evil is real … It has a plan to destroy you … Once you understand it, it’ll make all the difference… 

Examining the battle strategies identified by a highly revered ancient warrior named Sun Tzu, we can use them as a highly effective tool in illustrating the psychological vulnerabilities of the profession and how they are exploited. Armed with that understanding we can then identify preventative strategies that can make all the difference in helping officers develop a resilient mindset! 

Sun Tzu was a Chinese general and tactician born in 544 BC. A brilliant strategist, he authored the epic war tome, The Art of War, which required reading for the CIA, U.S. Military Intelligence, and the Marine Corps Reading Program. Sun Tzu specialized in tactics that equipped an inferior force to defeat a superior one. Employing such principles as using deception, carefully accommodating oneself to your enemy’s purpose, studying your enemy’s disposition, baiting his forces to divide/conquer them through the ambush, and ideally breaking their resistance without fighting was the primary goal. This 7-hour training will examine how these same tactics are used to destroy law enforcement officers’ psychological well-being. We will identify the deceptions employed against officers; the ways evil accommodates itself to the profession, the baits offered to lure officers and the sobering reality of success in getting them to quit without a fight. ”The skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible…”, stated Sun Tzu. This course will share “rubber meets the road” strategies that are not touchy-feely but will armor up warriors psychologically, fortifying them against defeat! Don’t miss it! 

What will the student learn?

• Students will be given a fresh perspective on why the profession of law enforcement is one of the highest of callings.
• Students will be challenged to consider a core foundational element, that when lived out, will guarantee them success.
• Students will identify 9 strategic vulnerabilities in the profession that are often exploited psychologically.
• Students will be given effective, proven resiliency strategies for each that will PREVENT them from being exploited psychologically.

What will the student be required to do?

• Think outside the box.
• Fearlessly examine their mindset and identify any areas where they have begun to lose ground psychologically.
• Replace the above areas with concepts that will ensure their success mentally.
• Continually choose to place themselves beyond the possibility of defeat.

Course Breakdown

Train Hard * Train to Win

Course Intensity
This course is low-level intensity but will challenge the student to consider their level of psychological vulnerability.

Physically Demanding
This is a classroom course and does not require any physical exertion.

Mentally Challenging
The student will be challenged to consider the process that transforms their mindset from one where they have a tremendous love of the job at the beginning of their career to one of hopelessness and depression all with the same exact ingredient toward the end.

Core Building
The student will be given proven resiliency concepts, that if implemented, will strengthen their warrior mindset and grant them psychological victory.

Core Building

Student Take Away

• A greater understanding of how the battle for the mind is waged.
• Identified core resiliency principles that keep students psychologically prepared for victory.
• A proven vehicle for imparting understanding to coworkers.

Course Accreditation/Certification/Completion

• The student will receive a certificate of course completion.

Course Hours

• (1 day) 7-hour course.
• No Re-certification required.

Required Course equipment

Attending students will need to be enrolled individually online. The student will be required to provide proof of employment either by credentials, work verified email, or authorization from their agency's training coordinator. All students must be on duty and not forced to attend the training course.

Students are required to bring the following equipment with them to class.

• There are no required items to bring to this course.

**No live weapons, chemical agents, or intermediate weapons are allowed in the training area**