Hardwired to Survive  /  Coming Soon

What stress does to trained officers.

The human-factors science of police performance under pressure, written by a cop turned human-factors scientist and expert witness. Recognize the overload. Manage the response.

Be first the day it drops, plus a launch discount. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Hardwired to Survive book cover
Free  /  Guide + practice tool

Reset on demand.

The book's Tactical Breathing Protocol: box breathing, the physiological sigh, and a reset breath, as a short field guide with an online guided tool. Start pushing back against stress-driven performance deficits today. Drop your email and it's yours, and you're on the book launch list.

Breathe In
TrainingComing with launch

The course.

The book's method as guided video training. Work through the biology of stress, the ways it degrades performance, and the training that pushes back. Built for individuals and agencies looking to reduce error, mitigate adverse outcomes, and enhance organizational performance.

MembersComing later

The Debrief.

A members-only room to talk through what acute stress does on the job, the tunnel vision, the auditory exclusion, the calls where your thinking jammed, and to ask and answer the questions you can't get into at briefing. Plus training ideas from me as I share them.

What it is
  • Members-only, and off the record.
  • Compare notes, ask questions, swap what works.
  • Training ideas straight from Dave.
Who it's for

For everyone who runs toward it.

Under enough stress, anyone can stumble, and some fall. When the stakes are life and death and every call is second-guessed in hindsight, officers need evidence-based tools and training to push back.

01Your life

The read that comes a half-second too late is the one that decides whether you go home.

02Their life

A phone mistaken for a gun is a tragedy for a family and a weight you have to carry.

03Your career

The same seconds decide an indictment, a lawsuit, or a termination hearing. Better is also defensible.

Written for the whole profession: patrol, dispatch, corrections, federal agents, probation and parole, and the families who wait up.

From inside the arena

Scholar's knowledge. Practitioner's voice.

D.M. Blake, PhD spent years on the street making the calls this book is about, then retired on an on-duty injury and earned a doctorate in psychology with a focus on human performance.

Today he is a consultant and expert witness, retained across the country to analyze police use-of-force cases, including officer-involved shootings, and to testify on human performance under stress. He has stood in the shoes he writes to, and has since been cross-examined on every claim in these pages.

Launch list

Get it the day it drops.

One email when the book launches, plus a launch-day discount, and first word on the course and The Debrief.

No spam, ever. Unsubscribe anytime.