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2025 TACTICAL DEBRIEFS
Tactical debriefs and speakers that cover a wide variety of current events and topics from the police tactical community in Canada and USA.
LEADERSHIP AND RESILIENCE IN SPECIAL OPERATION TEAMS
Mike Rouleau & Kevin West
LGen (ret) Mike Rouleau, CMM, MSC, CD
Mike was a soldier for 34 years, joining as a Gunner in 1985. He served regimentally in Valcartier and Lahr, West Germany. In 1994, his career focus shifted from big army toward the emerging military counter-terrorism unit, Joint Task Force 2 (JTF 2). After being Assaulter-qualified, he commanded at the troop and sabre squadron levels.
Chief Warrant Officer (ret’d) Kevin West, MMM, MS,CD
Kevin enrolled in the Naval Reserve’s in the summer of 1983 as a Naval Signalman.
In January of 1985 he transferred to the regular force as a Naval Signalman. Kevin sailed on the East coast in numerous ships.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL BIOS FOR MIKE & KEVIN
Mike and Kevin’s military careers centered around building and getting the best out of high performing teams. But as we all know, truly high performing teams are not common, so it takes both good conditions and hard work to attain. The ingredients include leadership, vision culture, truth-telling and much more.
Leveraging their 74 years wearing various uniforms, they will speak to subject matter that is especially relevant to tactical police elements whose tolerances for operational failure are small. Leveraging lived experiences (the good and the bad) from their past to illustrate the message, Mike and Kevin are honored to have the chance to engage with OTAB in May.
LEADERSHIP AND RESILIENCE IN SPECIAL OPERATION TEAMS
Mike Rouleau & Kevin West
LGen (ret) Mike Rouleau, CMM, MSC, CD
Mike was a soldier for 34 years, joining as a Gunner in 1985. He served regimentally in Valcartier and Lahr, West Germany. In 1994, his career focus shifted from big army toward the emerging military counter-terrorism unit, Joint Task Force 2 (JTF 2). After being Assaulter-qualified, he commanded at the troop and sabre squadron levels.
Chief Warrant Officer (ret’d) Kevin West, MMM, MS,CD
Kevin enrolled in the Naval Reserve’s in the summer of 1983 as a Naval Signalman.
In January of 1985 he transferred to the regular force as a Naval Signalman. Kevin sailed on the East coast in numerous ships.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL BIOS FOR MIKE & KEVIN
Mike and Kevin’s military careers centered around building and getting the best out of high performing teams. But as we all know, truly high performing teams are not common, so it takes both good conditions and hard work to attain. The ingredients include leadership, vision culture, truth-telling and much more.
Leveraging their 74 years wearing various uniforms, they will speak to subject matter that is especially relevant to tactical police elements whose tolerances for operational failure are small. Leveraging lived experiences (the good and the bad) from their past to illustrate the message, Mike and Kevin are honored to have the chance to engage with OTAB in May.
RANDOM SHOOTER DEBRIEF
JEREMY ELLIOT & FRASER SMITH - London Police Service ERU
Sgt Jeremy Elliot is an 18 year member of the London Police Service, of which 8.5 years were with the Emergency Response Unit ERU. During that time he was trained as a Use of Force Instructor, Rappel Master, Crisis Negotiator, Firearms Instructor, and Sniper Team Leader. After leaving the team in 2021, he took on the role of Patrol Supervisor.”
Fraser Smith is a 13 year officer with 7 of those years on ERU. On his patrol section he was a coach officer and on ERU he is a Rappel Master, Taser Master Instructor, negotiator and use of force instructor.
A paranoid male on drugs commits an armed carjacking of a landscaping truck from employees, drives down the street and commits a home invasion. While he’s there, he shoots an HVAC worker (survives) in the head then flees from the residence where he attempts another home invasion at a different residence with firearm. The subject leads London Police on a manhunt as he wreaks havoc in the community, and is eventually neutralized by London Police Emergency Response Unit ERU. This call has many layers, from foot pursuits, firearm discharges, the use of an armoured vehicle, and negotiations. Fraser gives an excellent account of the details of this call and the lessons learned.
Perceptions Versus Reality
Craig Bennell - Department of Psychology, Carleton University
Research shows that the public doesn’t understand much about police use of force. For example, the public significantly overestimates the frequency with which force is used by the police and the marksmanship skills possessed by the average officer. They also exhibit little understanding of use-of-force dynamics, the impact of physiological arousal on officer performance, and the legalities underlying use-of-force decision-making. Many of these misconceptions are fueled by biased portrayals of the police in mainstream and social media, and the consequences of these misunderstandings can be severe (e.g., strained police-community relations). Fortunately, research is beginning to show that these misconceptions can be corrected, to a degree. In this presentation, I will describe what the research says about public misconceptions of policing and attempts to reduce them. I will also discuss the role that police services (including tactical team members) can play in better educating the public. Finally, I will highlight some potential positive outcomes of these education efforts, including improved perceptions of police legitimacy among the public and better decision-making in the courtroom by judges, lawyers, and jurors.
Dr. Craig Bennell is currently a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Carleton University where he is also the Director of the Police Research Laboratory. He is a previous President of the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology and a previous Editor of the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. Craig is a current member of the Use of Force Committee and the Research Advisory Committee for the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and a member of The Working Group on Mental Health and Policing for the Royal Society of Canada. He also sits on the Advisory Board for the Canadian Police College and co-chairs the Program Advisory Committee for the Policing and Public Safety Institute at Algonquin College. In collaboration with Canadian police services, Craig conducts applied police research on a variety of topics, including: (1) evidence-based policing, (2) de-escalation and use-of-force, (3) tactical teams, including perceptions of their use and tactical decision-making, and (4) police responses to people in crisis, particularly mental health crises. His research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Ontario’s Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, the Canadian Police Research Centre, the Canadian Police Association, the National Police Federation, and the Ottawa Police Service.
JUDICIAL PANEL - LEGAL PERSPECTIVES ON TACTICAL POLICING
The Honourable Justice G. Paul Renwick
The Honourable Justice G. Paul Renwick
The Honourable Justice G. Paul Renwick
In 2017, Justice G. Paul Renwick was appointed to sit in the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton.
His Honour’s appointment came after 22 years as a prosecutor in Brampton, Newmarket, and the Guns and Gangs Initiative in Toronto.
Justice Renwick has contributed numerous papers and presentations to various groups within the justice and
In 2017, Justice G. Paul Renwick was appointed to sit in the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton.
His Honour’s appointment came after 22 years as a prosecutor in Brampton, Newmarket, and the Guns and Gangs Initiative in Toronto.
Justice Renwick has contributed numerous papers and presentations to various groups within the justice and law enforcement communities.
Notwithstanding all of his professional accomplishments and volunteer work, his Honour wants you to know that his proudest achievement is becoming a father to an amazing daughter.
Brigid Luke
The Honourable Justice G. Paul Renwick
The Honourable Justice G. Paul Renwick
Senior Counsel
Public Prosecution Service of Canada
160 Elgin Street , Suite 1400
Ottawa, ON K1A 0H8
Brigid Luke is senior counsel in the Ottawa office of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. She is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the Bar in 1993. After a brief stint on Bay Street, thirteen years as in-house couns
Senior Counsel
Public Prosecution Service of Canada
160 Elgin Street , Suite 1400
Ottawa, ON K1A 0H8
Brigid Luke is senior counsel in the Ottawa office of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. She is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the Bar in 1993. After a brief stint on Bay Street, thirteen years as in-house counsel for the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa and one year at the MAG office in Ottawa, she joined the PPSC in 2007. In addition to acting on major drug prosecutions and appeals, Brigid has been senior counsel in the Ottawa Drug Treatment Court since 2010. Throughout her career, Brigid has instructed at legal education programs including for the National Judicial Institute, Canadian Police College, Criminal Intelligence Service Ontario, University of Ottawa Law School, PPSC School for Prosecutors and a variety of training initiatives for the Ottawa Police Service.
Jeffrey Pearson
The Honourable Justice G. Paul Renwick
Jeffrey Pearson
Crown counsel
Ministry of the Attorney General
Crown Law Office - Criminal
INSET/CFSEU
Toronto
- Ministry of the Attorney General’s Office for 21 years.
- Prosecuted for 11 years in Central East Region (Newmarket)
- Attached to the Crown Law Office – Criminal Division for past 10 years.
- Currently embedded advisory Crown, for past 10 years, at RCMP’s IN
Crown counsel
Ministry of the Attorney General
Crown Law Office - Criminal
INSET/CFSEU
Toronto
- Ministry of the Attorney General’s Office for 21 years.
- Prosecuted for 11 years in Central East Region (Newmarket)
- Attached to the Crown Law Office – Criminal Division for past 10 years.
- Currently embedded advisory Crown, for past 10 years, at RCMP’s INSET (Integrated National Security Enforcement Team)
- Wiretap Agent
- Director of the OCAA’s summer Search & Seizure course for past 7 years.
- Provincial Coordinator to law enforcement across province for CC, s. 25.1 Lawful Justification provisions
- Advisory Crown to law enforcement on implementation of Major Case techniques (C/I’s, Mr. Big operations)
- Lecturer on topics of: Search and Seizure, Role of the Wiretap Agent, 25.1, Agent Handler’s Course, and the Anti-Terrorism Act.
- 12 years at TPS (joined at 18)
- 4 years at ETF (1998-2002)
Lawrence Gridin
The Honourable Justice G. Paul Renwick
Jeffrey Pearson
Partner - Criminal Law Group
Brauti Thorning LLP
161 Bay Street, Suite 2900
Toronto, ON M5J 2S1
Lawrence Gridin is a partner in the Criminal Law Group at Brauti Thorning LLP in Toronto. His practice is focussed on police defence work. He has represented hundreds of police officers throughout Ontario on criminal charges, PSA charges, at Co
Partner - Criminal Law Group
Brauti Thorning LLP
161 Bay Street, Suite 2900
Toronto, ON M5J 2S1
Lawrence Gridin is a partner in the Criminal Law Group at Brauti Thorning LLP in Toronto. His practice is focussed on police defence work. He has represented hundreds of police officers throughout Ontario on criminal charges, PSA charges, at Coroner’s inquests, and during complaint investigations. He regularly works with tactical officers in responding to SIU and OIPRD investigations in the context of dynamic entries. Lawrence was co-counsel on the Cavanagh case, which involved a Toronto Emergency Task Force officer charged by the SIU with second degree murder during a dynamic entry. Lawrence and his co-counsel Peter Brauti were successful in having all allegations dismissed at the preliminary inquiry, and were successful in defending the result against two Crown appeals.
SETTING MY SIGHTS ON STIGMA: THOUGHTS FROM AN INJURED MIND
MARK BOUCHARD
Mark Bouchard was hired in 2007 by the Delta Police Department and started his training in patrol in 2008. Mark joined the full-time Lower Mainland Integrated Emergency Response Team in 2014. He also became a police medic in 2014, with an advanced care scope of practice. Mark served on the LMD ERT team until 2019, at which time he was sent back to Delta Patrol. He lateralled to the RCMP in 2020, and worked Williams lake General Duty (patrol) with a part time position as an operator and a medic on North District ERT. In 2023, Mark received a promotion into a full-time position within the RCMP's National Tactical Medicine Program, helping to coordinate the tactical police medics across the RCMP.
Mark has also worked in a peer support capacity for almost 10 years, as a member of the RCMP peer to peer program and the BC RCMP's Proactive Support Response Team. He also completed his master's degree in leadership from Royal Roads University with a research project studying police culture and the impacts on police officer mental health. Mark combined his lived experience with a psychological injury (PTSD diagnosis), his academic research and his experiences as a peer supporter and combined them into his book called Setting My Sights on Stigma: Thoughts From an Injured Mind. In this book, Mark shares the lessons that he learned as he healed from his psychological injury, with a belief that it could help others with their own mental health.
The Overlooked Option
Developing Tactical Rope Standards, Certifications, & Programs for Law Enforcement
Eddie Cartaya (ITRA) with Randie Dodson (OTRA)
Overview: This seminar covers the growing effort to establish law enforcement-specific standards in training and qualification for tactical rope operations, like IRATA/SPRAT offers for commercial rope access. Establishing a global standard, that integrates advanced techniques from the cave rescue and arborist industries with tactical operations, will greatly expand critical incident options for SWAT commanders. “Solutions” for tactical situations are seldom considered as such if they exist in a plane or dimension of ambiguity or a well-defined and legally edified program. This seminar opens with current vertical challenges facing law enforcement in both urban and rural settings (to include some very recent updates from situation in Atlanta), the hybrid solutions that are being developed to deal with them, and then discusses the qualification programs emerging to give the tactical rope industry its own identity and standards.
Like other specialized law enforcement techniques, the vertical option is for experts only. Tactical rope mobility is a low-frequency / high-consequence contingency skillset, similar to bomb squad, crisis negotiator, K9, etc. If you don’t train and maintain a vertical option, it cannot be considered a potential or viable solution when crisis calls. It is NOT limited to high-rise structures and bridge jumpers! Tactical rope demands have evolved from simple police rappelling – one-way rope travel taught through traditional rappel master and confidence training – to complex rope access, rescue, and vertical intervention challenges that are reactive to suspect responses mid-operation. To be a truly useful TOOL, a vertical operator needs to possess unconscious competence and fluency in vertical mobility, common with cave rescue and arborist technicians. These hybrid technical solutions give operators access and extrication options seldom before thought possible. To achieve this, there must be a more holistic law enforcement-industry-specific standard and a scaffolded certification program that is recognized between agencies.
The tactical rope operations industry is relatively orphaned. It has no overall standards, playbook, advanced training curriculum, or dedicated equipment. Most police academies do not have a specific course for it. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) does not. Most police rope training and vertical gear are ‘borrowed’ from fire (NFPA), mountain rescue (MRA), guide services (AMGA), or military basic training, which has no standard of depth in any branch of service. This practice of adopting training and equipment from other industries for law enforcement operators is risky because other disciplines don’t consider the relevant tactical context. New standards and courses are evolving to approach vertical rope mobility from a law-enforcement perspective, and include critical life-saving and liability fortifying techniques such as: use of force considerations unique to this method of deployment, integrating entry kit with vertical kit, post entry mobility, NVD / mask operations, interventions with non-compliant subjects, and other tactical-specific challenges and needs.
Biographies:
Eddy Cartaya graduated the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1990 with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering. He began his immersion in military/tactical rope training at West Point in 1986 with the academy’s rock and ice climbing program. Eddy graduated US Army Sapper School in 1989, and served as a commanding officer in South Korea and Ft Stewart, Georgia. Since 1993, he was a law enforcement and tactical officer. Eddy was on the Savannah (Georgia) Police Department for 5 years, including 3 years on the Emergency Response Team, which also served as the vertical intervention team for the city. He then spent 10 years with National Park Service federal law enforcement, where he led the NPS tactical tracking/mountain operations team in North Carolina. Eddy also served as a national coordinator/lead instructor for the NPS Technical Rope Rescue academy (training federal law enforcement and military special operations), and was the SAR coordinator for the NPS Blue Ridge Parkway unit covering over 40 counties. While there, he was awarded the Medal of Valor by the Secretary of the Department of Interior. Eddy then served 11 years in law enforcement with the U.S. Forest Service in Oregon, where he was team leader for the Pacific Northwest USFS tactical team and was awarded the Unsung Hero Award by the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture. He expanded subterranean law enforcement operations in the caves of the Pacific Northwest, teaching tactical units how to deal with this unique type of tactical situation.
Eddy retired from, federal / military service September 2021. As owner of Direct Action Vertical, Inc., Eddy instructs worldwide (from the jungles of Columbia to the ice caps in Canada) on tactical rope access, rappel master, tactical tracking / winter/mountain LE operations, and wilderness rope operations. Eddy specializes in vertical protester and aerial blockade interventions, subterranean operations, and specialized firearms techniques for such micro-niche venues. He is the current president of the International Technical Rescue Association (ITRA), and is chairman for the tactical working group, which develops and assesses the ITRA tactical rope rescue certifications. He is a presenter for advanced tactical single rope techniques at the International Technical Rescue Symposium (ITRS), and is the Terrestrial Rescue Delegate for the International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR). He is also the co-author of the book “SPAR: Small Party Assisted Rescue,” a 604 page volume on the most advanced special unit rope extrication techniques in the world.
Training Constable Randie Dodson has been a Police Officer with the Toronto Police Service for 29 years. He has been assigned to the Tactical Unit (Emergency Task Force ETF) for 20 years. During that time, he has worked on operational teams as a sniper, negotiator, and team leader. He is currently assigned as a full-time trainer in the ETF Training Section, and holds the position as the Ontario Tactical Rope Access Coordinator.
ARMED AND BARRICADED SHOOTOUT IN QUEBEC
SGT JEAN-FRANÇOIS MATTEAU & CPT MARCO LAROCHELLE - SÛRETÉ DU QUÉBEC TACTICAL GROUP
Sgt Jean-François Matteau
Officer in charge of the Sûreté du Québec Tactical Group
Cpt Marco Larochelle
Chief of the Tactical Opérations Service
Both of these presenters were operators on the Tactical Group, and were promoted to the current positions they hold. Both are Subject Matter Experts in the realm of Tactical Operations.
On October 11th, 2023, Surete du Quebec investigators arrived at a subject’s apartment in the village of Cacouna. He was suspected of making threatening remarks towards Prime Minister Trudeau on October 6th. The suspect was confused, made threatening statements to the police and refused to open the door. A perimeter was established to attempt negotiations with him, and three gunshots were heard. The Tactical Intervention Group (GTI) was deployed on site.
During the operation, which lasted 24 hours, the suspect fired several times in the direction of GTI officers. The situation ended by deploying gas inside the apartment while breaching it with an explosive charge. The suspect was finally subdued without injury. It was later revealed that he had murdered his neighbor because he thought the latter was trying to poison him. There are many lessons learned from this call as well as good decisions which are highlighted.
