John Stanley

Behind the Bars

Lieutenant John J. Stanley, M.A., is a twenty-seven year veteran of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. He has worked a variety of assignments including, custody, patrol, training and administrative support. He is considered an expert on less lethal weapons and tactics. He provided corrections scenarios for the Institute for Non-Lethal Defense Technologies Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State University and contributed to its on-line Less Lethal Weapons class. John spent over a decade at LASD’s Custody Training Unit teaching classes such as Tactical Communications, Jail Intelligence Gathering, Tactical Weapons, Squad Tactics and Cell Extractions. John also was the lead instructor for LASD’s Custody Incident Command School (CICS) a class designed for sergeants and lieutenants and the Executive Incident Command School (EICS) for captains and above. He is a member of the California Tactical Officers Association and has published almost forty articles on law enforcement tactics and legal history.

Full list of John Stanley results

Book Excerpt: Caged Spirits
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Caged Spirits is a fictional novel by Corrections1 columnist John Stanley. The ghosts at Lt. Gary Conner's jail are on both sides of the bars. They are caged spirits, held not by metal and mortar a...
Protecting our center of gravity with good performance
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Legitimacy through public trust and confidence is also law enforcement’s center of gravity and it is that very thing that has been under attack this past year
Why we should keep our actions transparent to the public
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Before we take any action, we must consider the public's view and support for us
5 more tactics for preparing for correctional warfare
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Understanding tactics that inmates might use can help you be prepared for anything
Are you familiar with the MOOS of corrections?
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Find out how the '9 Principles of War' can apply to corrections
Knowing you've arrived: Declaring an 'end state'
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Declaring a clearly articulated end state is critical for the success of a tactical operation
5 factors present in every crisis (and how to deal with them)
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Understanding and accepting the 5 components of a crisis will make you better able to deal with crises when they happen
Tactical science: Understanding the why
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We discuss how to do tactics, but never why we perform them
The correctional officer fast track to the E.R.
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The wrong way to get time off for the holidays
The one less lethal weapons class you must take
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Ongoing education for law enforcement officers is often an uneven adventure. Sadly, once we complete our academies’ core curriculums, training often slips to “catch as catch can.” State, local, and...
Preparing for violent encounters
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Imagine this: It’s two o’clock in the morning and you’re doing a row walk to make sure that everybody is still breathing. Your partner is actually watching you this time instead of preparing the co...
The truth lies somewhere in between
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(Photo/John Stanley)Chemical agents have always been at the lowest end of every agency's force options chart. It is also the gift that keeps on giving, even after inmates receive treatment after it...
TASER tip: Be ready for inmate countermeasures
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Inmates who have experience with the TASER may attempt to defeat it in a number of ways. Covering up works in cell extractions, but is less effective when they are out in the open. Another techniqu...
Terrain analysis: From corrections to patrol
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Several months ago I made the transition from custody sergeant to patrol sergeant. One day I was working the largest (with nearly 800 sworn employees) jail in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, ...
Responding to major disturbances
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The faster you respond to a major disturbance, the more likely you are to keep it from escalating.This may seem self-evident, but there are too many incident commanders who subscribe to the false n...
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