Decision making during high stress , life and death situation is difficult for most well trained first responders and the military personnel. With that being said, many Americans have found themselves listening to soundbites and watching incomplete clips of tragic events that forever change men and women’s life. At core of each watched or listen to encounter, is a burning question of why did this event occur as it did. Do I have all the information? Was it the police officers fault? Is it the suspects fault? Is it the systems fault? The outcry for answers is often deafening. What so many armchair critics and keyboard warriors fail to understand is that there are decades of research when it comes to Human Performance and Human Dynamics. Empirically, peer reviewed research is constantly informing training commissions across the nation on the best way to approach potentially deadly situations, but we have to listen to the data and implement the findings.

At the center of this research is the Force Science Institute (FSI) FSI is led by executive director Dr. William “Bill” Lewinski. Dr. Bill Lewinski has spent the better part of his life asking critical questions about how the human body works under and incredible amount of stress. Which is faster, Action or Reaction? What is the human experience with time distortion? How do we create experts? What is at the route of human error and how do we mitigate against the bodies tendency toward self preservation verses the best decision when a decision must be made. How does experiential bias impact a man or woman when faced with a decision that needs to be made in under 1 second? During this interview with Dr. Bill, he sheds some light on a few of these questions during our time together. This is a man that has sacrificed so much in the name of science and has provided vetted solutions to help prevent injustices toward the men and women who have sworn to serve and protect the constitution of the United States and the Laws of other nations around the globe.

As children across the nation are preparing to return to school there are many important questions on the topic of school safety beyond the health concerns that parents need to be asking their children, their children's teachers and administrators. There are many questions about mental health and the toll the pandemic has had on children. It is critical that we all prepare now and know the risks that our schools face, not so we will live in a constant state of fear, but that we might be informed to have a greater level of confidence that the appropriate mitigation strategies are implemented to save the most lives should an act of evil come to our communities. "Knowledge diminishes fear," and this conversation with (Ret.) Chief Tony Pustizzi will move us one step closer to equipping ourselves with the information to engage in tough conversations with the local school systems.