24/7 Technical Support

Handle With Care provides 24/7 technical assistance and customer support to every Handle With Care client-agency. HWC also provides the following services at its discretion:

  • Confidential critical incident review
  • Video analysis
  • Civil, administrative and criminal case evaluation and review
  • Deposition testimony
  • Expert trial testimony for civil, administrative and criminal proceedings

Background and Experience
HWC’s founder, Bruce Chapman, is an expert in the fields of behavior management, unarmed use-of-force and the use of both physical and mechanical restraints. Throughout his 34 year career, Bruce has developed five separate proprietary training programs to help specialized agencies caring for children from as young as three years old to geriatric facilities caring for the elderly to maximum security forensic and correctional facilities. Bruce created Handle With Care® technology from 1973 through 1984 on the locked psychiatric unit of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, where he was regarded as the hospital’s authority on the prevention and management of aggression and suicide.

Bruce created PLUS in 1995, a standalone defensive tactics training program developed in response to the unique use-of­force challenges of the law enforcement and correctional environments.

Bruce created SoftCircle products in 1999 which has earned him 11 U.S. Patents for his “modular” therapeutic restraint system and other products. Bruce Chapman created training programs and products are currently taught and used in 47 States, Puerto Rico, the UK and Europe. He has personally produced many thousands of HWC Certified Instructors and HWC users working across the broad spectrum of human services.

Bruce has been described as a true innovator in the field of physical and mechanical restraint. In 2001, Bruce Chapman proprietary PRT® holding method was given the distinction of being the first and only physical technique in U.S. patent history for its integrated safeguards to prevent positional asphyxiation during a prone hold ( “Apparatus and Method for Safely Maintaining a Restraining Hold on a Person”).

Bruce has a reputation for conceiving ‘out of the box’ solutions and for presenting concise expert analysis and use-of-force testimony. He can assist any agency in crafting and shaping behavior management and restraint policies that conform with the minefield of applicable state and federal laws and regulations including JACHO, COA, CMS, CWLA, OJJDP, ACA and Pediatric Standards.

Bruce brings his own considerable research capabilities and legal resources to every project.

Consulting Services and Expert Witness Services
Bruce Chapman has testified as a use of force, behavior management, physical restraint and mechanical restraint expert at depositions, criminal trials, administrative hearings, a Native American Tribal Court (Paute) and various state and federal court proceedings. Bruce is a qualified expert on such topics as self-defense and unarmed use-of-force, the proper and improper use of physical and therapeutic (mechanical restraint), negligence matters involving allegations of misconduct and excessive use-of-force. He has worked for both Plaintiff and Defense counsels as a consultant and expert witness at a ratio of 60/40.

Environments Services

  • Mental Health and Social Service Agencies: psychiatric centers serving children and adults, general hospitals, EMTs and EMS, residential treatment facilities, developmental centers, substance abuse, in-patient and out-patient treatment programs, detoxification centers, geriatric and head injury.
  • Residential Facilities, Group Homes and Foster Care.
  • Schools and Special Education: including: nursery, grammar, middle and high schools, alternative schools, teachers, administrative staff, paraprofessionals, school resource officers.
  • School Resource Officers
  • Juvenile Justice: detention, juvenile probation, correctional facilities, court officers, hostage negotiators and security.
  • Event and Concert Security: including: stadiums, arenas and convention centers.
  • Law Enforcement and Adult Corrections: detention, probation, correctional facilities, court officers, hostage negotiators and security.