Sadly, it has happened again. Another officer, this time FBI Special Agent Samuel Hicks, has died while serving a search warrant. While the facts remain murky as I write this, there is at least one report that the wife of the suspect believed that it was a home invasion, and was on the phone with 9-1-1 when arrested. With the media and some police agencies talking up home invasions, that is a not unreasonable fear.
So, why are we making entries? The usual reasons are to prevent escape and the destruction of evidence. Mostly, we make entry because that is the way we have always done it. But, as I used to ask my students at our Academy, "How much cocaine is your life worth?" Most officers just give a blank stare, convinced that it will never happen to them, always to someone else. Well, here is a news flash: you are "someone else" to everyone else in law enforcement.
Okay, making entry is a problem; what is the solution? Here's one way I have done it that minimizes risk to the officers, the suspects, and the public. I must warn you that it's expensive, but far, far less expensive then losing an officer. In fact, in the early 1980s, a friend on the San Diego Police Department ran the numbers, and calculated that the death of a single, mid-career officer would cost his department $1,000,000 that is One Million Dollars, in 1980s money! So, let's spend the money preventing the deaths.
Look at your own situation for a start. When off duty, you are most likely to have a weapon in your home. You are less likely to have one in your car, and for many officers (who perhaps should know better), you are least likely to have a weapon on your person. How many times have you "just run down to get a paper" without a handgun? They are heavy, bulky, require you to dress a certain way, and while they may be comforting, they are not comfortable. Is it any different for the suspects?
Your suspect thinks he has outsmarted us. He is "getting away with it," so why risk arrest by carrying a gun when he/she is not working? It is all lose, no win for him. Besides, most of them do not own a holster, so the chance of discovery and arrest is greater for them. And their guns are just as heavy, bulky, and uncomfortable. So why do we insist on going onto their turf, where they are most likely to have a gun?
Another factor you share with the suspects: We all leave our homes sometimes. That's right, they run out of bread, meat, and the all important beer just like you do! So, why don't we arrest them when they are out of their house, out of their car, and preoccupied with getting the perfect pork rinds to go with their beer?
The answer, my friends, is surveillance boring, quiet, frustrating surveillance. On countless occasions my agency set up a surveillance just to make the arrest. Evidence? We already had lots of evidence; anything we might find at their home would just be icing on the cake. And, after we arrest/detain everyone at the house, serving the search warrant is much safer. Preventing escape is a matter of how you plan the arrest.
Let's take the typical dope sales arrest. We already have the arrest and search warrants, so your best surveillance team sets up on the house. These days, your "best team" may consist of a concealed TV camera! By now, you know that three people live in the house, and you have an arrest warrant for one of them. Mom leaves the house to get some chips, and is quietly detained for interview at the 7-11 down the block. Then the teenage boy leaves to find out why Mom is not back, and he gets scooped up just as quietly. After the beer runs out, Suspect #1 grabs his jacket, drives down to the 7-11, and gets taken down by your arrest team as he tries to leave the store with his 24-pack of beer and two bags of chips. With his hands full, the arrest may be messy (chip bags explode when smashed trust me on this), but no one gets hurt. Then, your entry team goes to clear the house (just in case). The evidence is still there (you don't think they go and hide it just to make a beer run, do you?), and escape is hard when you are already in custody at the station.
Will it work every time? Of course not. Will it work some or most of the time? It did for me. On one occasion, the suspect was recorded talking about how he ALWAYS carried his 9mm, and would never be taken alive. As he drove down his dirt road, he came upon an apparent auto accident, only to have seven officers with shotguns and pistols pop up, all aimed at him. "I'll never be taken alive" turned into both hands out through the sun roof and "Please, please don't shoot me!" His gun? He had left it in the house after all, it was just a beer run.
On occasion, we would get the principal bad guy first. Then, we would take him back to the house (in cuffs and leg irons), and have him tell everyone else to come out quietly. That worked every time we did it!
Let us commemorate the officers who gave their all serving warrants, by learning from their deaths. Let us look "outside the box," and try a different method of taking down the outlaws. Yes, it may cost more at first. But avoiding a officer death is far more important than "we always do it that way!"
Seth Nadel served as a Senior Special Agent with U.S. Customs for 27 years, including twoi overseas training missions and nine years at the Academy as an instructor. He has been a FLIR operator in specialized aircraft, performed horseback patrols, extended surveillances, and undercover operations. During his career he put about 1,000 felons into Federal Prison. He was stationed in Boston, San Diego, Tucson, and on the Tohono O'odham Indian reservation southwest of Tucson.
