At a Glance

In partnership with Dr. George Thompson, President and Founder of the Verbal Judo Institute, Verbal Judo training was incorporated into the PROSPECT Visitor Assistance training program in 1997 to provide Park Rangers tactical communication skills to supplement existing personal protection training. Tactical communications is a required component of the Basic Visitor Assistance training curriculum as well as MSC/District citation authority courses and annual Refresher Visitor Assistance training for all employees with citation authority. Training consists of:
• Methods to generate compliance through persuasion.
• Defusing situations to avoid conflict.
• Redirecting uncooperative visitors to obtain a positive outcome.
• Recognizing potentially dangerous situations and reducing the risk of attack.