Killology: Ann Arbor Police Dept. Won't Send Officers to Attend "Offensive" Seminars

May 19, 2021

Ann Arbor Police Department officers will no longer attend seminars led by controversial law enforcement trainer Dave Grossman, Police Chief Michael Cox said.

Grossman is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and director of the Killology Research Group whose stances on lethal force have been controversial.

The Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police recently canceled a training event with him due to complaints from the public.

Cox said he has never attended any of Grossman’s training seminars, but comments from Grossman that he’s heard and seen in the news are “totally outrageous.”

Grossman has traveled the country since 1998 speaking to police groups and churches. Before Grossman was scheduled to speak at Oak Pointe Church in Novi recently, a video circulated online depicting Grossman telling a class that police can have “the best sex” after killing someone.

“Both partners are very invested in some very intense sex,” Grossman said in the video. “There’s not a whole lot of perks that come with this job. You find one, relax and enjoy it.”

Grossman, who was scheduled to speak about the psychological effects of being involved in a fatal shooting, is credited with popularizing a “warrior mentality” in law enforcement, encouraging police to see society as a collection of “sheep” who need protection from dangerous criminals.

Grossman’s books argue police officers are “sheepdogs” who protect society using their natural “gift of aggression.” Therefore, he argues, police must squash their hesitancy to use violence and even kill when necessary.

While it’s been a few years since AAPD sent any officers through Grossman’s training, Cox, who came to Ann Arbor to become police chief in 2019, said it won’t be happening under his watch due to what he’s heard and seen.

Lisa Jackson, chair of Ann Arbor’s Independent Community Police Oversight Commission, said she checked with Cox after hearing Grossman may have trained police in Ann Arbor.

Jackson learned from the chief that eight officers employed by AAPD in March 2017 and five officers employed by AAPD in June 2018 went to hear Grossman speak, she said.

The past events calendar on Killology.com lists a March 2017 appearance in Ypsilanti and June 2018 appearances in Dearborn, Mount Pleasant and Parma.

One of Grossman’s all-day seminars that some AAPD officers attended in 2018 was called “The Bulletproof Mind” and it was intended to cover topics such as post-traumatic stress, surviving gunshot wounds, survivor guilt, “new killers in the 21st century,” violent visual imagery, “reality versus fantasy” and “games that are more dangerous than movies,” Jackson said, citing an event pamphlet provided by AAPD.

Of the handful of AAPD officers who attended, Cox said he thinks one doesn’t work for the department anymore.

“And also, based on my understanding of the course, the nature of the course had to do with not about police killing people, but really about the mindset of people who kill in general, video games, the nature of violence in the country in general and understanding some of the people that might be out there killing people,” Cox said.

That’s what was advertised on the pamphlet and the subject matter seemed relevant, Cox said, though he couldn’t attest for what was actually said during the training.

AAPD wants its officers trained to be patient with people, especially around de-escalation, Cox said.

Cox said he’s heard “sound bites” of remarks from Grossman that are “pretty horrible,” but he doesn’t know if Grossman was just having a bad day and he doesn’t want to judge Grossman’s entire life’s work by them.

“But I do know that the sound bites that I did see, that is not the kind of thing that we would ever want to send any officer or any person, for that matter, to go and hear,” Cox said. “In my opinion, it was offensive.”

Source: Ryan Stanton, Malachi Barrett, “Ann Arbor police will no longer attend seminars led by controversial ‘killology’ trainer,” Mlive.com, May 17, 2021, URL: https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2021/05/ann-arbor-police-will-no-longer-attend-seminars-led-by-controversial-killology-trainer.html