Learn, Share, Grow - One Patrol Tactic Every Officer Should Practice
Below is a lesson from Sgt. Elizabeth Prillinger (SFPD) in Police One on how emotional control drives effective patrol, as well as our key learnings.
The Blue Courage team is dedicated to continual learning and growth. We have adopted a concept from Simon Sinek’s Start With Why team called “Learn, Share, Grow”. We are constantly finding great articles, videos, and readings that have so much learning. As we learn new and great things, this new knowledge should be shared for everyone to then grow from.
What’s one patrol tactic every officer should practice on every call — and why?
Elizabeth Prillinger
Sergeant with the San Francisco Police Department’s crisis intervention unit and hostage negotiator
An underlying discipline of good patrol work is emotional control.
Ask experienced officers what matters most on patrol and you will hear tactics, awareness, pre-incident planning and decision-making. All of this matters. But beneath these essential skills sits something more fundamental: control of yourself.
Patrol work demands far more than tactical competence. At its core, it requires mastery of self.
Every shift places officers in volatile environments, dealing with people gripped by powerful emotions: anger, desperation, grief and fear. Some moments require empathy. Others demand firm command presence and decisive action. Often all of these qualities are required within seconds. Officers who cannot regulate their internal state risk allowing emotion to cloud judgment.
Emotional discipline is not about suppression. It is about conscious control.
Continue Reading Here.
Key Learnings:
- Self-mastery underpins all tactics - Skills like awareness and decision-making only work if the officer can control their internal state.
- Emotional discipline ≠ suppression - It’s about consciously regulating responses, not ignoring emotions.
- The “space” between stimulus and response is critical - Choice in that moment determines outcomes—especially under pressure.
- Metacognition is a tactical advantage - Recognizing your own emotional and physiological shifts (adrenaline, frustration) enables better decisions in real time.
- Physiology influences outcomes - Breathing, heart rate, and composure directly affect the tempo and direction of an encounter.
- Control → clarity → time → better decisions - Regulating yourself slows situations down and improves judgment.
- Cumulative stress degrades performance - It’s the buildup of repeated exposure, not just single incidents, that impacts effectiveness.
- Peer check-ins matter
Brief debriefs and awareness of coworkers’ mental state help process stress and maintain team performance. - Physical habits are operational necessities
Sleep, nutrition, and fitness are essential for stress regulation and recovery—not optional. - Your nervous system is core equipment
Like any tool, it must be trained, maintained, and protected to perform effectively.
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