Thin Blue Mind / Smokey Heroes
Police Psychology | Detecting Bombs
by Matthew Sharps, Ph.D. and Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP
Archive for the ‘Public Information Bureau’ Category
Police Psychology: Does Torture Work?
Posted: March 2, 2017 in Public Information BureauTags: police, police stress, torture
Police Psychology: Does Torture Work?
by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP
If you go on the internet there are hundreds of articles that give you a resounding “No” to this question. They repeat the same material, the same studies and give the same reasons to say torture doesn’t even begin to work
and shouldn’t be used. In fact, you are hard pressed to even begin to find one article that says it worked once in the history of man. That bothers me. Why is it even considered if it hasn’t worked once in the entire history of the world? Can’t anyone except Donald Trump say something positive about torture?
Then, you notice every article appears on sites like the NY Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, etc. Now, I am not the one to complain about “fake news,” but there does seem to be some bias in the newspapers these days, and these papers are always saying “black” when our president says “white.” So, let’s let Inside Police Psychology take a little more of a research look at answering the question “Does Torture Work?” (more…)
Police Psychology | “Inside the Mind” of an Anarchist
Posted: February 8, 2017 in Mastering Emotions, Public Information BureauTags: anarchy, police psychology, police stress
Police Psychology | “Inside the Mind” of an Anarchist
by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP
There are the guys seen dressed in all black with black masks that are crashing chairs through windows and ripping up cars alongside of the road at the recent demonstrations. They are destruction-oriented 
and do not tend to favor either party, although they sit with the extreme left now and most often do. They look for a peaceful demonstrations and turn it into a riot. They call themselves anarchists, and they are not so much of a group as an instant mob, just add water. One thing is for sure, they make a demonstration uncomfortable, not only for police, but for the demonstrators themselves.
A true anarchist does not want any government at all. They fight all forms of authority and even fight the idea that a society should be organized. That is why they look for demonstrations and try to create chaos. They don’t like authority so they destroy anything built by a company, such as a building. The cars they just throw in for free as they represent the hierarchy of life. They wear black for a reason, and it is not to look thin. Black is the absence of color, the absence of light. This is homegrown terrorism and the actors are known as domestic terrorists. But there is more than meets the eye in this terrorist movement. Let’s get inside “THE MIND OF AN ANARCHIST.” (more…)
Police Psychology | Eating Bugs
Posted: November 17, 2016 in Public Information BureauTags: culture, police psychology, police stress
Police Psychology | Eating Bugs
by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP
Water Beetles! Yummm…. I watched as people walked up to a street vendor and gathered a fried bug on a stick when I was in Hong Kong. I had been working with the Singapore Police Department and decided to 
make a little stop in Hong Kong on the way home. I figured, this is the culture, I should try a bug. So, I summoned up the courage and bought one. Took the shell off as I was instructed and bit into it. It was crunchy on the outside, but boy the inside was where the treat was. It tasted like the inside of a large bug, sort of like a shrimp paste gone really bad. It was much worse than the tequila worm from college, but then I had drank a significant amount of the bottle and couldn’t feel anything. Here it was just me and the bug. No Tequila, no revelry, no people encouraging you with their “yechs” and “oh my god he’s eating the worm.”
Later that evening we went to a sort of “Denny’s” and had Hong Kong food which was rather good in an eastern kind of way. I was comfortable with the food. At the table next to me was a group of cute college girls out on the town and they ordered a plate of barbecue pigeon heads, about 50 of these little heads looking up at you while you ate their beaks and eyes. I stared at them so long, they asked if I wanted to try them. I did, and they weren’t that bad, but man the culture was really different. When I went to China on a later trip to work again, there was a whole market with different kinds of bugs, silkworms, centipedes, deep fried scorpions, sautéed tarantulas. Some say they only eat bugs for either medicinal purpose or to freak out foreigners. Freaked Out! Worked for me. There are other places where we see culture first hand, although not through bugs. Like in our police officers. (more…)
Police Psychology | Killer Klowns! Who Are All These Bozos?!
Posted: October 20, 2016 in Public Information BureauTags: clowns, police stress, psychology
Police Psychology | Killer Klowns! Who Are All These Bozos?
by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP
Killer Clowns! What evil lurks behind the mask and the florescent green hair? I saw one down the street and he had a big knife to hack teens into little bits that can be fed to the street dog and cats. Sound like a summer
campfire story. An urban legend at it’s best. Well they’re here, in Long Island New York, in Fishers Indiana, in New Orleans Louisiana, Albuquerque New Mexico and even in Hollywood California where the theatric meets the macabre. Why are they here? What do they want? Who are these BOZOS? (more…)
