Allison Sands is someone you want to talk to and be friends with. Yes, it’s the nature of who she is but it’s that kind of soft skill, the ability to talk to people, that she advocates for in security training. All part of the art of de-escalation and part of the training she offers through Project Hummingbird. Allison is a former intelligence analyst, FBI agent and is now in corporate security.
Allison says the reason she created Project Hummingbird is she found people need soft skills 99 percent of the time but most officers are only trained in tactical skills. Watching the protests against police brutality, Allison says the light bulb went off. Officers were put in situations that turned violent and being held accountable for outcomes that could have been different had they received additional training in how to de-escalate.
Despite the perception of the security/law enforcement sector as a whole, Allison says most officers/agents who have been put in violent situations believe this type of training is necessary. The pushback hasn’t been as prevalent as one might think, and Allison says typically it’s from people that have never been in tumultuous situations.
She believes in the altruistic nature of the industry and says the majority of officers/agents just want to come home at night to their families without ever having to draw a weapon. Allison believes life saving skills are absolutely necessary but so is the ability to assess the situation and the necessity of drawing a weapon, instead of coming in hot.
You can learn more about Allison’s training on her website! Be sure to check back with Premier Risk Solutions for more videos just like this one!
