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Professional Development

From Street Artists, to an Armed Ambush Andy Foley , BTP Branch I was one of the many people who joined the IPA, but did not make the most of their membership. That changed after eight years as a member, when I had my first experience of Gimborn. I joined the Association in 2012 as a Strathclyde Officer, in the hope of a ride-along during a holiday to the USA. But I never got around to organising it. Since moving to the British Transport Police (BTP) in London, I found that they have a very active IPA section. After seeing some of the things they got up to, I signed up to my first IPA Seminar at

Gimborn - Tactical First Aid for Police Officers. C ologne was too good to miss from my itinerary , so I arrived a couple of days early. After seeing the usual tourist attractions on the first day, I spent most of my second day exploring Ehrenfeld. This is a vibrant and edgy part of Cologne, which is home to many famous street artists. I wandered round admiring some of the street art and relaxed with some great coffee. Later that evening I arrived at Gimborn, and met a group of Danish and Dutch Officers, who invited me to join them in the Turmbar, Gimborn’s famous self-service bar. I was a bit apprehensive at travelling to Gimborn on my own, but after a few beers, I was adopted by the Dutch. The German instructors who delivered our training were all current and former Bundespolizei (Federal Police) and Landespolizei (Local Police) Officers. The level of student knowledge varied greatly, as we were drawn from many different roles. At the upper end were Specialist Firearms Officers, with an in-depth knowledge of tactical medicine. For them, the course was a basic refresher and a chance to network. For the Response Officers, like me, we were doing it all for the first time. To get around the four different languages, we were split into two groups, with one group taught in German and the other in English. Although we still mixed together during meals and in the bar.

The course involved lots of hands on practice, after being given the theory and a demonstration. We learned to: apply tourniquets, chest seals and pressure bandages to each other, whilst being assessed by the instructors. It was fascinating to pick up nuggets of gold from the Firearms Officers, based on their real world experience. For our second day, we were set a series of tactical scenarios, which were much more realistic than I expected, and absolutely nothing like UK first aid training. We had colleagues being ambushed and shot on the stairs, who we then had to physically carry up the stairs to safety. Then we had to secure the area while performing lifesaving aid. It was a far cry from my annual first aid refresher, where I sat in a chair pretending to have been slashed in the hand. It made the learning much more real. All in all it was an absolutely fantastic course, I learned so much in an action packed two days and also made some new friends. If you have never been to Gimborn, or if, like me, you haven’t made much use of your membership, I would say “just do it.” I was initially worried about going there by myself, but I had such a great time, and have been encouraging everyone else in BTP to go.

A selection of gifts from the course members

Ambushed on the stairs at Gimborn

Tactical 1st Aid practice

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POLICE WORLD Vol 65 No.3, 2020