About CRT Consulting | Less Lethal Research and Training

ABOUT CRT CONSULTING

Mission Statement: "Providing answers to the capabilities and limitations of less-lethal impact munitions, TASERS, and chemical agents through practical experience and independent scientific study thereby creating a safer outcome for all parties involved."

What We Do: CRT recognized the need to provide objective independent data relevant to the real world of law enforcement. We started by examining the capabilities and limitations of the available less-lethal, then devising and conducting structured and practical forensic testing. We compile this data and combine it with operational experience to provide practical reality-based training.

Who Are We: We are specialists in a variety of law-enforcement topics ranging from Less-Lethal selection and deployment, to tactical applications, to forensic analysis. All team members have testified and qualified as a less-lethal expert in courts of law. The biographies below give you a glimpse of our backgrounds and you can read more about our work as consultants and researchers by visiting the experiments page.

Chris Myers

Officer Christopher Myers began his Law Enforcement career in 1990 with the Seattle Police Department. Chris has worked in a variety of assignments including Patrol, Field Training, Plain Clothes Anti-Crime, Warrant Service, and as an Advanced Skills Instructor. While assigned to an advanced training unit, Chris was the lead instructor, coordinating the EVOC program, TASER Program and Patrol Less-Lethal Program. Chris is a certified EVOC instructor with WSP and FLETC-ADITP. Chris is trained as a firearms instructor, less-lethal instructor, Field Training Academy Instructor, and has taught Rapid Intervention Tactics.

Chris is recognized as an expert witness in Police use of force, and ECDs. Chris has taught a variety of less-lethal and tactics courses and presented internationally. Chris gained experience in crowd control on the front lines of Seattle’s WTO and Mardi Gras riots. Prior to entering law enforcement Chris earned a Bachelor’s degree and was working on a post-graduate teaching degree. Chris has recently gained expertise in digital video technology for law enforcement and military applications. He serves on the NIJ TWG (Technical Working Group) for Less-Lethal.

Rick Wyant

Rick Wyant has been a forensic scientist since 1995, currently employed by the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory, Seattle. He was trained at the Texas Department of Public Safety, Austin in firearm and toolmark examination. He has extensive training and experience in crime scene investigation and reconstruction. Prior to employment as a forensic scientist, Rick worked as an EMT, ER/OR assistant, medical research technician, and computer programmer for NASA. He obtained his Bachelor's and Master's of Science degrees from Colorado State University in 1993 and 1994. During his career, Rick has testified as an expert witness over 100 times.

Rick is an associate member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS.ORG). He is a distinguished member of the Association of Firearm and Toolmark Examiners (AFTE.ORG), where he serves on the Research and Development Committee. For several years, Rick has served as a member on the FBI’s SWGGUN (Scientific Working Group for Firearms and Toolmarks SWGGUN.ORG) board and the NIJ TWG (Technical Working Group) for Less-Lethal.

To become familiar with the application parameters of less-lethal tools, Rick has completed several instructor level courses in addition to field experience gained as a reserve deputy in the Seattle area. CRT has performed extensive forensic testing on Electronic Control and other Less-Lethal devices including impact munitions. Rick has presented scientific papers on forensic testing to the American Academy of Forensic Scientists, Association of Firearm and Toolmark Examiners, Northwest Association of Forensic Scientists, Tactical TASER conferences, and others.

Tom Burns

Officer Tom Burns has worked with the Seattle Police Department since 1989. During that time Tom has been assigned to Patrol, Anti Crime Team and SWAT and a pro-active bicycle patrol unit. During his tenure in SWAT, Tom was a member of the chemical agent/less lethal cadre and was cadre leader for two years. He developed the concepts for the chemical agent response teams (CART) for WTO in Seattle in 1999. Tom was also a lead instructor in crowd control for WTO and the patrol-CART (Chemical Agent Response Team).

Tom is a certified Master Instructor for Specialty Impact Munitions, Chemical Agents, NFDDs, and ECDs. Tom was a lead instructor in Rapid Intervention Tactics and consulted with the Department of Homeland Defense. Tom has taught crowd control tactics and the use of less lethal/chemical agents throughout the United States, and Canada. Tom spent seven weeks in Georgia training law enforcement and military personnel for the G-8 conference held in 2004, and is now consulting for several upcoming major events. He serves on the NIJ TWG (Technical Working Group) for Less-Lethal.

Tom has expanded his role, now also consulting on the use of technology in use of force documentation, including wearable personal digital video recorders.

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