Editor's note: Through the end of the year, we will be posting a series of articles that focus on common-sense officer safety. Use them for briefing and squad meetings, and send them to everyone you know who wears a badge.
’Tis the season for peace on earth, spending time with family, balancing work life with holiday planning, and dealing with the physical and emotional draining holidays … But it is also a time of year where we often see an increase in family violence, depression and emotionally charged situations. It is also the time of year that we see an increase in suspicious persons and vehicle calls.
With the holidays upon us, we need to evaluate and re-evaluate how we will deal with the multitude of emotionally charged and potential dangerous situations.
Regardless of how many years you may have in this great profession, we all get complacent from time to time. What I want to tell you is nothing new or earth-shattering, but we ALL need an occasional reminder.
Let’s start with domestic related incidents. It does not matter how many times we have been to that address for “domestic violence” or how well we know the parties involved, we must use sound tactics. Answer the questions below and re-evaluate whether you need to change some of your current tactics:
• Do you choose a tactically sound position as you are arriving at the scene of the call?
• When you pull up, are you talking on the phone, typing on the computer or doing some other task that prevents you from being totally attentive to your surroundings?
• Do you park three or four houses away from the address and exit your car quickly and quietly?
• When you open your driver’s side door, are you lighting yourself up and becoming an easy target of ambush?
• If responding at night, are you using shadows to your advantage? If responding during the day, are you using concealment for as much of your approach as possible? Things like tree lines, privacy fences or other tall barriers can help hide your movements.
• From the time you leave your vehicle until the time you knock on the door, are you listening to what is going on around you? Things like voices, movement in a tree line or even a weapon being loaded or charged.
• As simple as it sounds, are you making sure you’re not standing directly in front of a door or window just in case bullets come flying your way?
• If one party has left prior to your arrival, do you become complacent? DV participants sometimes return to the scene and catch officers off guard.
• Once you have arrived and made safe contact with the parties involved, are you aware of everyone in the room? You must concentrate not only on the parties directly involved, but those who may be hiding in the corners.
Remember: If something or someone causes the hair on the back of your neck to stand-up, listen to it. Address what your mind perceives as danger.
Making an arrest can be deadly. In fact, according to the FBI’s LEOKA report, of the officers feloniously killed, making an arrest was the deadliest activity for three of the last five years. In the other two years it was a close second place behind ambushes.
Knowing that making an arrest is a very dangerous part of or job, consider the following:
• Do a thorough review of pre-assault indicators: clenching, target glancing, focusing on their surroundings and not on you, fighting stance, and verbal cues such as “I can’t go to jail.” There are several others. Do an Internet search and you will find plenty of well written articles on the topic.
• If possible, don’t make an arrest by yourself. Call for a back-up unit and try not to telegraph your intentions to the suspect. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Don’t be a dead hero because of your ego.
• When making an arrest with a back-up officer, remember one of you makes contact with the subject and the other is a cover officer. Don’t just use the words contact/cover officer, do it.
During this time of year, we often see an increase in suspicious people and vehicle calls. Don’t take these calls lightly. We tend to get complacent on these calls and often times just dismiss them as a nosey neighbor calling on the neighborhood teens or some druggie up to no good. These druggies or mischievous teens can be a real threat. Take them seriously.
• Refer back to the pre-assault indicators.
• Watch for indications the subject is carrying a weapon. It may be harder if the subject is wearing heavy winter clothing. Look for things like one side of the coat weighed down, one side of the coat swinging as if there was something heavy in the pocket, or the subject repeatedly touching or gripping a pocket or place on their body where a weapon maybe hidden.
• Call for back-up and remember your role (contact or cover) if you choose to detain someone.
• If the subject flees on foot, remember some simple foot pursuit tactics: If you lose sight of the suspect, don’t pursue blindly into an ambush. When going around a corner or blind spot, don’t forget to “slice the pie” and work your angles to your advantage. If the subject disappears into a tree line, don’t run into the same place you last saw the subject. Doing so allows them to set up an ambush.
• If you find a suspicious vehicle, ask yourself, where are the occupants? Don’t get so focused on identifying the vehicle’s registered owner that you forget that a bad guy maybe lurking in the shadows.
• If you decide to search a suspicious/abandoned vehicle, have a back-up officer watching the surroundings.
This part of the year is often dangerous for law enforcement and our minds are not always in the game like they should be. Remember: Complacency kills! Pay attention to your tactics and use your cop intuition. It may just keep you alive.
