Episode 4 – Brent Stratton and Marcus Sprague: The California Association of Tactical Officers and The Doctrine of Tactical Science
Guest – My guests today are the hosts of the very successful California Association of Tactical Officers (CATO) Podcast, Brent Stratton and Marcus Sprague. Brent is the Assistant Chief at a Southern California Police Department and the President of the California Tactical Officers Association (CATO). Marcus is a recently retired Lieutenant at a Northern California PD and the Vice President of CATO. Both Brent and Marcus are graduates of the CARO Strategic Leadership Program.
Time Coding
1:05 – Marcus’s background (CATO and SWAT)
2:55 – Brent’s background (CATO and SWAT)
6:52 – The Evolution of CATO
10:00 – Role of CATO and regional associations
12:45 – Hot topics in California
15:00 – CATO’s role in helping defining mission-readiness
17:30 – The importance of identifying areas for improvement
19:30 – The need for debriefs and lessons learned
24:10 – Understanding the why in training
30:45 – CATO Decision Making Exercises
36:55 – Anecdotal evidence vs hard data in law enforcement
41:00 – Transparency and the gap in the story about law enforcement
51:10 – Origin of CATO Podcast
1:00:50 – The Future of CATO
1:09:04 – How to contact CATO (and the power of the community)
1:13:04 – How to join or become involved with CATO
Links and Books Referenced
Field Command by Sid Heal
Sound Doctrine: A Tactical Primer by Sid Heal
Contact Info
CATO Website – catonews.org
CATO Podcast on Apple Podcasts
Marcus Sprague – vp@catonews.org
Brent Stratton – president@catonews.org
