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Car 54…Where Are You?: Update Your Dispatchers on Your Location

By Richard Leave a Comment

Radio Communication - Officer SafetyI know… it seems like a no-brainer. When you get out of the patrol car, let your dispatchers know where you are. Recruit officers have this drilled into their heads by their FTOs, and we know it makes sense. After all, you never know what may happen at any given moment, and in the middle of a fight is not a good time to start trying to give dispatch you location.

However, we are all big, bad police officers, and at some time or another most of us have been impatient with the radio traffic. Not wanting to wait for radio time (and besides, I can handle myself, right?) we have gotten out with that pedestrian or stalled car without calling it in. And most of us have gotten away with it.

But, what happens next time? Maybe next time, we don’t get away with it.

Case in point. A couple of our POP (Problem Oriented Policing) units go hunting for a local drug dealer that we have charges on. In-and-out of various apartment complexes they go, and then suddenly, there he is! They see him, he sees them, and it is off to the races. (Kudos to the sergeant for running him down, by the way.)

The units call out the foot chase, and patrol units start responding. Dispatch tells us the apartment complex, and the POP units are calling out directions and landmarks. The only problem is, dispatch had the wrong location. Police officers from all over two districts were enroute to an apartment complex that was several map grids north of the actual location. I don’t know who made the error, but either the units failed to notify dispatch of their location prior to the chase, or dispatch failed to update CAD. Regardless, we had to find them by GPS (which, ain’t always accurate!)

Ok, try this one. I work a shoplifting case: local drunk walks into a 7-Eleven and runs out with a beer. The suspect in this heinous crime was last seen (45 minutes ago) running away toward a nearby park. I decide to drive through the area and see if I can spot anyone matching the description.

A certain corner of the park is the occasional home of some urban campers (aka transients). Near this area of the park is a house. I decide to knock on the door to the house. Fortunately, I called out my precise location, because inside the house is my suspect, who has decided that fighting with the police is a far better choice than simply being given a notice to appear. Within a minute of knocking on the door, I am taking the suspect to the ground, while his three buddies start inching closer. Now was not the time to try to call out my location. Since dispatch knew where I was, the calvary knew where to go, and things didn’t get any worse.

Remember, your partner may have to come looking for you. So, cut him some slack, and tell dispatch where to send him beforehand.

Stay safe!

  • Traffic Stop Safety – Calling Out the Stop

Richard is a police officer with a medium sized, central Florida department, and previously worked for a Metro-Atlanta agency.  He has served as a field training officer, court officer, corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, watch commander, commander of a field training and evaluation program, and general pain in the butt to management-types looking to cut training hours.

Identify Your Target: Use Your Flashlight

By Richard 3 Comments

Flashlight Techniques

It is well established that as police officers, we often work in diminished light situations. Even officers assigned to day watch have to go into dim areas, such as abandoned buildings, warehouses, and closets, looking for suspects.

Police officers have been trained, however, that using your flashlight can make you a target. Therefore, many instructors have encouraged police officers to either not use, or at least limit the use, of their flashlights.

Tom Aveni, a firearms trainer and career law enforcement officer, has conducted quite a bit of research into low-light shootings and the use of white light. In a SureFire document on lowlight and tactical training, Aveni said:

“There’s concern about a flashlight becoming a ‘bullet-magnet’ – and it might, if used improperly. But in all my years of research, I have never been able to document a single case of an officer being shot because he was using his flashlight. I’ve found no statistical evidence whatever of this much-feared consequence ever happening.”

However, Aveni’s research did find that officers mis-identify a threat in 18-33% of shootings, and of those, 75% happen in low light conditions.

Aveni found that the use of fear is heavily used in training police officers, and he feels that has made officers engage in unsafe firearms handling. Aveni said this trained fear interferes with good tactics.

“We should be conditioning officers to deploy their flashlights when walking into potentially threatening situations where they can’t clearly see what’s unfolding,” said Aveni.

Based on Aveni’s research, the use of a flashlight does not increase your chances of drawing fire, but it can help you avoid a bad shoot.

Aaron put together a three-part series on flashlight tactics. He covers a lot of the different techniques and the best lights to use with each of the techniques shown.

Check out our page on the best police flashlights here. We spend a lot of time reviewing the handheld lights that can be carried in law enforcement, and we want you to have our thoughts on each of them. As this article points out, you need a good quality torch to help split the night.

Police Chases and Officer Survival: Be Prepared to Do More Than Just Pursue

By Richard Leave a Comment

police shooting pursuit

When the chase is over, are you prepared for a shootout?

The police officers in this video were chasing a suspect when he suddenly slammed on the brakes, causing a collision with the officer’s car. This is a fairly common tactic used by subjects, with the goal of causing the officer’s airbags to deploy. When the airbags deploy, the suspect can then speed away.

However, in this pursuit, when the suspect is hit by the patrol car, the suspect’s vehicle spins out. What many officers may not be prepared for is the suspect exits his car, moves to the rear of the car, and while using cover, the suspect engages the officers in a gun fight.

After a short gun battle, the suspect gets back into his car and drives off. After the suspect hits a spike strip, he begins to get out of his car. One of the pursuing officers, knowing the subject is armed and all means of deadly force are authorized, rams the suspect with his patrol car.

The two lessons that I take away from this incident are:

  1. Suspects do not always run at the end of a car chase. A lot of them do, but some suspects are well armed and use good tactics. Be prepared to engage them with deadly force.
  2. Keep all deadly force options available to you. That .40 caliber Glock or .223 rifle both generate a lot of force, but a 3000 (or so) pound cruiser can generate a lot more. If the suspect presents a deadly force threat, running him over is not just a viable option, it may be the best!

Stay safe!

Update: The video has been removed from YouTube. Unfortunately, my notes on this incident have long since been lost, and I cannot seem to find another copy of the video online. If anyone has a link to the video, please share it in the comments section below.

Second Update: The video was located and is now embedded above.

Disguised Weapons: A Hidden Threat to Police Officer Safety

By Richard 2 Comments

cell phone stun gun

Police officers often find weapons on suspects during pat-downs and post-arrest searches. Sometimes the weapons are firearms, and other times the weapons are knives, ice picks, brass knuckles, and the like. These are generally no problem to spot and identify, right?

Not always. There are many criminals walking around with weapons that are disguised as mundane, common items. Not recognizing these items as a weapon can cost you dearly should the criminal offer resistance.

The California Department of Justice, through the Criminal Intelligence Bureau of the Division of Law Enforcement, regularly publishes a booklet for police officers called “Disguised Weapons.” The book contains photographs and written descriptions of a wide range of weapons that are made to appear to be something else.

Many of the items featured in “Disguised Weapons” are commercially made, and are legal to own in many jurisdictions. However, what may be a legitimate self defense tool in the hands of an honest citizen, including an off-duty cop, can be very dangerous in the hands of a criminal.

Weapons come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. These stun guns are disguised as cellular phones. Recently, one of these stun guns was used on two Georgia police officers who were attempting to arrest a fraud suspect.

stun gun cell phone

Generally, these types of stun guns are not nearly as incapacitating as compared to the TASER M/X-26. However, these devices remain dangerous when used against you by a combative subject.

A quick Google search turned up a wide variety of these being sold under names like Pretender Cell Phone Stun Gun and Titan Multi-Functional Cell Phone Stun Gun. Prices start at about $60 and go up. These are perfectly legal in most US jurisdictions, and are probably used by far more honest citizens than criminals.  However, mere possession may be a crime in your area, and regardless, no law ever stopped a criminal from attacking a police officer.

Keep an eye out for these things when dealing with suspects. All of the photos below are of actual stun guns being sold today.

This stun gun is the StreetWise Small Fry 1,000,000-volt Mini Stun Gun. While not disguised to appear to be something it isn’t, the Small Fry is exceptionally small, fitting into the palm of your hand. In fact, it is so small, it can fit into a pack of cigarettes. Keep that in mind, the next time you are conducting a field interview and your subject wants to smoke.

The Small Fry uses a rechargeable, flat battery, which allows it to dump some of the bulk normally seen in stun guns due to the use of a 9-volt battery. StreetWise also has stun guns that use the CR-123 3-volt batteries that many of us have in our SureFire lights.

Stay safe!

Contact and Cover: Are Police Officers Doing It Right?

By Richard Leave a Comment

For more than two decades, police trainers have preached the virtues of using “contact and cover.” Done correctly, contact and cover offers a very safe method of dealing with suspects. But, are we correctly implementing what we were taught?

Contact and cover is a tactic that is used by two patrol officers when encountering a subject of investigation. The contact officer interviews the subject, takes notes, runs them for warrants, etc. The contact officer handles the entire transaction.

The cover officer stands in a position of advantage, relative to the subject being interviewed. The cover officer does not get involved in the routine aspects of the interaction. the cover officer’s sole responsibility is scene safety for the contact officer. The cover officer only intervenes when a threat appears, such as the subject begins to reach for a concealed weapon, etc.

Police officers have had great success in the field when they have implemented this training.

However, are we using what we have been taught? I have noticed a steady trend at my department, in which officers are utilizing their cover officers to obtain statements, get gear out of a trunk, run suspects for warrants, etc. In fact, some officers have even commented to me that when they perform the cover officer duties correctly, the contact officer makes comments that he (the cover officer) isn’t helping enough.

It is not enough to be trained in contact and cover; we have to implement the concepts fully. That means each and every time we go out with a suspect, we use the technique, not just when it is convenient. Yes, this means that one officer will do all of the “leg work” sometimes. But, the goal is to go home the same way we came in!  Officer safety must come first.

Be a good contact officer, and let your cover officer do his job correctly. Be a good cover officer: keep your partner safe!

Terrorists Next Plan: Killing Our Children at School

By Richard 1 Comment

Beslan Terrorism

© Getty Images – Used for police training purposes.

I don’t care what your stance on the President, the Middle East or any political event is. The fact of the matter is, there are trained terrorists who are intent on killing as many of our children as they can to further their “holy war.”

Don’t believe me? Read Terror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America’s Schools.

In 2004, terrorists took over a Russian school for three days. While the authorities attempted to negotiate, the terrorists forced the captive men and boys into slave labor to fortify the school against the inevitable attack. As the hostages completed their work, they would be executed.

Meanwhile, the women and girls were repeatedly raped and then killed.

When the counter-attack on the school began, the terrorists began wildly killing the children. Police and SWAT teams encountered barricades and booby traps, hindering their progress. It was a blood bath.

172 children were murdered.

In all, 338 people were killed, and some 700 were wounded.  The number I always keep coming back to, though, is the 172 children who were murdered.

Don’t think it can happen here? You better think again.

There are terrorists training right now to do even worse in the US of A. There is credible intel that indicates some of them have already made there way into the county (across our southern border, in case anyone in Washington is listening.) They are implementing the lessons they learned during the attack on the Russian school.

Al-Qaeda has publicly stated they will kill 2 million American children.  Operations in Afghanistan have recovered videotapes of terrorists training to overrun schools.  These tapes include the terrorists giving orders in English and killing children.

Here is what an attack may look like in this country:

The terrorists will strike multiple schools at the same time, so law enforcement and military resources are unable to focus on a single event. Terrorists have already begun scouting targets, and will continue to do so right up to the events. Terrorists are seeking the best sites that combine:

  • states without citizen CCW permits
  • states without a gun/hunting tradition
  • jurisdictions that do not issue rifles to their officers
  • rural or other geographically isolated areas to slow police response
  • schools without SROs

Expect to encounter car bombs, or similar IEDs, in the parking lots or other areas that responders may set up in. We saw the same thing in Atlanta (although a much smaller scale) when Eric Rudolph set up secondary devices to hit public safety officials as they responded to the initial bombs.

Killing School Resource Officers will, of course, be part of the initial goals. In our “gun free zones,” SROs are likely to be the only initial threat to the terrorists.

Negotiating will only give the terrorists more time to fortify their position, and kill more children.

The terrorists have learned their lessons, and are advancing in their plans. What have we learned?

There are a lot of things that departments can do to increase our ability to detect and react to these threats. The sad truth is, few, if any, local governments will adequately prepare for these dangers. We will lose our children, and many good cops will die trying to save them. I believe any of us would willingly give our own lives to protect innocent children. What angers me is that our political leaders refuse to allow us the training and tools to save as many as we can.

So, it falls to each of us to be as ready as we possibly can for such an event. Having a bail out bag and realistic firearms training is exceptionally important. So is having the right mindset to do what must be done if this burden ever falls to us.

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