Community Advise and Assist Team (CAAT)
During America’s operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, the Philippines, and elsewhere since 9/11, it became rapidly evident that in order to properly apply our Counter Insurgency Doctrine (COIN), we needed highly credentialed Law Enforcement Professionals (LEPs) to assist us. These LEPs worked tirelessly to assist military personnel from the highest echelons to the the lowest level understand Rule of Law, Rules of Engagement, Community Policing, and other key topics related to peacekeeping in contentious areas. One of the most powerful lessons we learned, and continue to learn, is that misapplied kinetic and authoritarian applications can make environments more dangerous for all parties present. Coupled with a perceived lack of transparency, as well as ongoing failures with strategic communications, these problems further exacerbate dysfunction and disorder. Perhaps the time has come to return the favor, and offer counterinsurgency veterans an opportunity to help American Police Departments succeed in their missions here at home.
Modelling itself after the Counterinsurgency Advise and Assist Teams, Culper is proud to offer the Community Advise and Assist Teams. Comprised of a group of Special Operations professionals (including US Army Special Forces, Rangers, and Navy SeALs), partnered at times with JAG officers, LEPs, combat arms, and intelligence personnel, as well as PhDs, these CAATs are designed to help organizations reach their goals of minimizing misapplied lethal force, improving officer and community safety, and enhancing strategic communications efforts. CAATs are available for short term seminars on how SOF forces, under persistent lethal threats, conduct real-time risk analysis, to help all officers become sophisticated ‘strategic corporals’, as well as provide longer term consultancy efforts. A brief survey of what our CAATs can do for you, or train your department to do, include:
Community research - internal and external polling, identifying problem areas, assisting in solution development
Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures review, analysis, and advisory
Implicit Bias training
Training evaluation and development - helping departmental training cells improve training by identifying any overlooked expertise in their organization, or nearby resources, shaping training to address officer and community disconnects, and incorporating non kinetic risk reduction techniques. There’s a host of tactical training offerings already available, so we will leave the running and gunning aspects to others.
Training scenario development. Our staff excels at developing realistic three dimensional training worlds based on experiential learning and grounded in adult learning theories.
Facilitating Interdepartmental communication and the cross pollination of best practices
Cultural Awareness - Cultural Awareness is a core competency in the Special Operations community. This coursework is not about cultural sensitivity, but about the relevant factors regarding the cultural expressions of the various communities within a department’s jurisdiction.
Improving strategic communications and community outreach
Training seminars covering topics such as public perception, risk analysis, incident evaluation, the science of combat, human cognition and communication, and fostering excellence, all geared towards increasing awareness and reducing misperceptions.
We encourage City Managers, Mayors, City Councils, and Police Departments to contact us, to see how we can help your department, and thus, your city, to continue to improve and excel in this ever increasing transparent but ambiguous world.
If you are interested in having a Culper Group CAAT working with your local LEA, let us know.