Brian A. Kinnaird owns and operates Forceology™Research Group. For over a decade, Brian was a practitioner in the law enforcement community serving in posts as reserve officer, jail officer, and deputy sheriff for the Ellis County Sheriff's Department in Hays, KS. During that time, he held various field assignments including field training, defensive tactics, and tactical team member. Following active police duty, Brian held appointments in post-secondary education as professor and chairman of the Criminal Justice Department at Fort Hays State University. In 2008, he was appointed as the Northeast Regional Training Director for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. Brian earned accredited degrees from Capella University (Ph.D., Human Services, 2004) and Fort Hays State University (M.L.S., Criminal Justice, 1999), (B.A., Sociology, 1997).

Brian has been involved with use of force research and training since 1997. He is the author of the first published text on use of force risk management entitled "Use of Force: Expert Guidance for Decisive Force Response " (2003) and provided a chapter in Brian Willis' 2007 text entitled "W.I.N.: Critical Issues in Leading & Training Warriors". Brian is widely published in a variety of peer-reviewed and trade outlets, including work featured in model policies by the IACP. He is a Senior Policy Fellow with the Docking Institute of Public Affairs and has served as a litigation consultant in federal use of force lawsuits. Brian has worked as a guest defensive tactics instructor at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center and is honored to be considered by fellow author and trainer, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, as "a true pioneer in the scientific study of force".

In tangential roles, Brian serves as Editor of ILEETA's Use of Force Journal and Associate Editor of the ILEETA Review. He currently stands as an advisory board member, trainer, and consultant for various combatives companies and professional associations, worldwide. As a researcher and trainer seeking the best avenues for control and self-defense, Brian has attended and/or obtained instructor certifications in numerous police defensive tactics systems and holds a traditional, accredited black belt from Golden Sun Martial Arts (Junction City, KS). He operated a reality-based combatives program at Fort Hays State University for six years.

Brian's most recent research and writing focuses on social-psychology and existentialism in law enforcement contexts, including mortality salience and death denial. He is currently completing his second book entitled Parallel Universe: An Iconography of Cops and Superheroes.

You may contact Brian Kinnaird at: brian@forceology.com