European Police Trainer Conference in Nürnberg
Jim Wagner
After I finished up my Level 1 courses in Paris, France on March 7 I flew to Düsseldorf International Airport in order to catch a train to Nürnberg, Germany to attend the European Police Trainer Conference and then the IWA 2008 Show.
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I was a guest of the Polizeitrainer in Deutschland, also known as the PiD, which was the organization in charge of the Europäische Polizeitrainer-Fachkonferenz; a two-day event that took place March 13 and 14. The courses I took was:
Decision Making Under Fire
Police Foot Pursuits
Tactical Emergency Medicine Support
Austrian Modern Police Training
Firearms Training in the 21st Century
Less Lethal Devices in Riot Control
TASER and Medical Effects on the Human Body
I was very impressed with the conference, and it was good to talk with many of my European counterparts. There were at least 300 participants and translation services was provided. The organizers provided each participant with a headset. Chanel 1 was the German language and Chanel 2 was English. Whenever a German speaker got up to do a presentation I just slipped on my headset and heard an instantaneous translation. It was great.
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IWA 2008 & Outdoor Classics
Jim Wagner
After the European Police Trainer Conference I attended the IWA 2008. It was Böker knife manufacturer who brought me in from Paris to attend this show and work in the Böker booth to promote my Jim Wagner Reality-Based Blade series and my upcoming Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection courses in Solingen, Germany.
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The trade show took up five large buildings at the Nürnberg / Messe convention center. Just about every knife and firearms manufacturer was represented there along with hundreds of police suppliers.
Although I was there representing Böker and my system I had a chance to run into some friends and a lot of my students. Lynn Thompson of Cold Steel came to see me. Lynn is an avid knife fighter himself and quite a hunter of some of the largest and most dangerous animals on Earth. We talked about his latest hunt in Africa and he showed me his tie which has a gold pin of each of the big game that he took down. I gave Lynn a copy of my new book Defensive Tactics for Special Operations.
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To my pleasant surprise Amnon Maor showed up to talk with me. He was one of my students back in 2003 when I taught for the Israeli government at the Israel Police Operational Fitness Academy in Havatselet Hasharon. He is also going to appear in my soon-to-be-released DVD all about the Israeli martial arts. Amnon showed me how his new Hand-shock weapon works. True to form, he was carrying the weapon on his belt when he approached me. Naturally I wanted to see how it worked. He used my Director of Germany, Tobias Leckebusch, as the guinea pig.
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I also got to spend a couple of hours with Bram Frank. He was there working with Cherusker Messer promoting his new knives, which he was kind enough to give me as a gift. Bram is in the Black Belt Hall of Fame as a Weapons Instructor of the Year. He has also taught the Russian military and several Israeli units.
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Ulrich Rose of Reality-Based, one of my Reality-Based instructors paid me a visit. His online store carries a few of my knives. Plus, a couple of European publishers approached me asking me if I was interested in writing some articles, which I am.
Not only did Böker make deals selling my knives to Poland, Russia, and Armenia, but I also had a chance to hook up with some vendors that will be supplying me with the equipment I need to conduct my Reality-Based courses in Europe. One such vendor is COP, one of Germanys largest police and security equipment suppliers. They were distributing, at their own booth, my brochure for upcoming Reality-Based Personal Protection courses.
After the IWA show I left Bavaria and headed back to Düsseldorf where I caught a plane the next morning to California just in time to celebrate Easter.
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