Law Enforcement Training Blog

In The Gravest Extreme by Massad Ayoob

Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self Defense was a phenomenal book written by police training expert Massad Ayoob. Although the book is now out of print, the tome still holds many valuable lessons.

Ayoob wrote this book as an introduction to the defensive use of firearms way back in 1980. Ayoob discusses the legal implications and practical aspects of owning and using a firearm for self defense. While the book is old, the concepts he talked about then, still hold true today. The legal requirements on the use of force have remained largely unchanged, though new concepts have entered the public’s knowledge.

Although this is not a book to teach you to be an expert with a firearm, In the Gravest Extreme was one of the best first steps anyone can take to learn to defend themselves. The book was written to a broad general audience, not specifically to police officers. However, the information that Ayoob provides is equally useful to the armed citizen and the sworn law enforcement officer.

I have often found myself in discussions with citizens in my city regarding self-defense and the use of force. I try to offer them a broad understanding of the use of force as it applies in my state, and I always suggested they read this book.

Massad Ayoob has distinguished himself as a master trainer, marksman, and writer. I have found all of his work to be worth every penny. Without hesitation, I recommend picking up a copy of In the Gravest Extreme if you can find it.

Fortunately for the shooting public, Ayoob updated the authoritative work in 2014 and published Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self Defense. The new book is greatly expanded and updates all of the information that was in the original book.

I highly recommended the original work, and I also strongly suggest that all police officers and gun owners pick up a copy of the new book and read it.

The Patrol Officer’s Response to a Homicide Scene: Some Basic Steps

By Richard Leave a Comment

Police officers become very good at dealing with drunks, making traffic stops, and investigating domestic disputes because we frequently handle these calls. Do something enough times, and you are probably going to learn how to do it in a fairly efficient manner with few mistakes.

A murder investigation is arguably one of the most important kinds of cases a police officer will investigate. Thankfully, most of us don’t get a lot of practice at them. This means that the one case that is most likely to generate intense media interest and put you on the witness stand, you are unlikely to have much experience in working.

So, here are a few tips to keep in mind when you respond to a homicide.

First – Know Your SOP. If you follow your department’s standard operating procedure you will avoid any problems with administration and the investigators. Most departments have a pretty good SOP, so following it will keep you out of trouble on the witness stand also.

Second – Protection of Life Is Paramount! Each scene is different, but saving lives is universal. Protect the scene as best you can, but life saving actions always take priority. Morally, legally, and ethically…if you have to choose between trying to save a life and trying to preserve evidence, always try to save the life.

Third – Get Enough Help. You are going to need a lot of manpower at most homicide scenes to secure the location and identify witnesses. You can’t do it all by yourself.

Fourth – Identify the Crime Scene and Secure It. The evidence at the crime scene is not permanent. Things can move, liquids can evaporate, evidence can be stepped on, and perhaps even worse, new things can be introduced into the scene. Contamination of a crime scene can sink the case before it ever gets to court. Also, be aware of how large your crime scene needs to be. Always secure the largest area that may reasonably be involved. Investigators can shrink the size of the scene, if appropriate.

Fifth – Detain and Separate Witnesses. Chances are, you will not interview many witnesses. However, you should detain anyone on scene, and separate them so their memories and stories are not influenced by others. Move them outside of the crime scene and babysit them until detectives get on scene and decide how they want to handle interviews.

Sixth – Written Notes. Write down everything you did, saw, smelled, heard, touched, etc. Make sure someone is running a detailed log of who came into the crime scene. You will omit important information if you wait until later to write down your observations.

Talking with your investigators prior to ever responding to a homicide will give you a great deal of insight into what expectations they have.

Stay safe!

Crime Prevention: Try Incarceration!

By Richard 4 Comments

Let me rant for a few minutes, if I may.

I am tired of the courts not putting and keeping people in prison. I’m not talking about some dirtbag getting off because a police officer made a bad call on a Miranda issue, or should have gotten a search warrant when he didn’t. I’m talking about people that are found guilty.

How many criminals have you arrested without a prior arrest record? What, maybe one in a hundred? That alone should tell us the system of “corrections” isn’t working to rehabilitate these folks. The only thing the short sentences (if any) is doing for these guys, is to build them up badder and stronger for the next time we have to arrest them.

Take, for instance, a drunk I was dealing with the other day. This rocket-scientist is drunk and passed out in front of a local high school in the middle of the afternoon. Another officer and I determine that he needs to be transported to the local drunk tank to sober up. Unfortunately, he doesn’t like that idea. So, he still goes to jail, but now with two felonies: battery on a law enforcement officer and terroristic threats.

This may be a bit of a shock, but this was not his first arrest. Nope, not even his 50th. Try 56 priors. Oh, and he had just been let out of jail the previous evening (less than 24 hours prior) after serving less than two months for multiple felony drug charges. In fact, he had eight prior arrests in our county, this year alone!

He also gets $2200/month on government disability. Is this a great system, or what?

So, the state attorney accepts a plea of guilty on misdemeanor battery (ignoring the prior felonies and that the victim was a cop) and drops the terroristic threats. He has already been released back into society.

My story is just a small sample of the foolishness that passes for justice in some courtrooms today. How many cops are killed by perps with no priors? Or, I suppose I should rephrase the question as: Are any police officers killed by perps with no priors?

This year:

Phoenix (AZ) Police Department lost one of theirs this year on a pedestrian stop. The officer unknowingly stopped, and was shot by, an armed man who had prior felony convictions and was an illegal alien. His most recent felony conviction was in 2006.
Hillsborough County (FL) Sheriff’s Sergeant Ron Harrison was shot and killed by a man with 23 prior arrests. The first, at age 12, was for armed burglary. Multiple charges of battery, witness tampering, and aggravated assault sprinkle the criminal record. The most recent was for aggravated assault, for which he was out out of jail after a judge had reduced the bond amount.
A Philadelphia (PA) PD officer walked into a store on his beat, and was shot and killed by a man robbing that store. His confessed killer has several prior arrests, including a possession with intent to distribute charge. A judge allowed him to complete a drug treatment course, and then dropped the charge entirely. At the time of the murder, the killer was out on bond for new drug charges.

And now, most recently, a sergeant with the Athens-Clarke County (GA) Police Department was grievously wounded when a convict stabbed her repeatedly in a grocery store. The suspect in this case had been arrested for aggravated assault for threatening another person with two butcher knives. The judge kindly reduced the charge to disorderly conduct and probation. Several probation violations and arrests later, the suspect was finally serving time in jail until October 17th, when the judge credited him with time served and released him from jail.

The public defender representing the suspect in this case, filed a motion for a mental health evaluation, which the judge claims he never got. Regardless, the judge said the suspect only had two misdemeanor convictions and no indications of any violence. This, of course, flies in the face of common sense, as the court allowed him to plea down to a misdemeanor from the whole “threating people with butcher knives” incident.

If these convicted felons had been in prison on the day that these officers went to work, every one of them would be spending Christmas with their families.

Say a prayer for the quick and full recovery of Sgt. Courtney Gale. Work with your unions, state legislators, and citizen groups. We have got to convince our government to stop releasing these predators back into society.

Stay safe!

Update

Sgt. Gale’s wounds were grievous. During the attack, her femoral artery was severed, and she would have died on the floor of that supermarket had it not been for a nurse who helped slow the bleeding until EMS could get on scene.

Gale was in a coma for two weeks and stayed in the hospital for 45 days. During that time, she had multiple surgeries and other treatments intended to save her life and leg.

The attack happened in December of 2007. Gale was able to return to the department as a civilian employee in early 2012. With additional rehabilitation, she made it back to full sworn duty in mid-2013.

At the time of this update, the man who was arrested for attempting to murder Gale has not stood trial. Instead, in early 2014, the man was involuntarily committed to a mental health hospital where he will be treated and evaluated. While I am not an expert on the mental health laws of Georgia, it appears that he will be evaluated annually by the court, and could be released without ever standing trial for his brutal attack.

Police Officers Should Carry Guns Off-Duty

By Richard 6 Comments

I have talked about this before: every police officer should carry at least one firearm off-duty. There are many specific reasons for carrying a handgun when you are not on the job, but they all boil down to one reason: you may need it.

There have been plenty of instances where armed, off-duty officers were able to take action to stop a violent crime and defend themselves and members of the public. Yet, there seem to be some officers that don’t seem to get it.

Carry Survey – Dismal Results

PoliceOne did a survey of law enforcement officers and their off-duty carry choices. The results were indicative of how complacent a lot of police officers are.

According to the survey, less than half (only 43%) of the respondents always carry a firearm while off-duty. While another 15% “rarely” or “never” carry off duty. I guess this means that less than half of the responding police officers truly believe that they can encounter a deadly force situation while they are away from the job…a situation in which the lives of their families and their own can hang in the balance.

The 15% who never or rarely carry off duty should re-evaluate their career choice, because they do not have the right mental attitude to be a cop. Sound harsh? The real world is.

You never know what you may encounter off-duty, but these 15% have made the decision to not be an active participant in their own survival while out of uniform. If they don’t care enough about their own life when they are off the clock to slip a pistol into their pocket or onto their waistband, then they probably aren’t setting any good examples of officer safety on the clock either.

If you don’t carry a gun off duty, and you think you have a legitimate reason (like you are bullet proof)…leave a comment. I would love for someone to prove to me that they do not need to carry a pistol while out of uniform.

Let’s go over a few examples why off duty officers need both a firearms coupled with the proper mindset and tactics.

Mass Murder Prevention

On December 5, 2007 in Omaha, Nebraska, some nut-job decided to start killing innocent Christmas shoppers in the Westroads Mall. Initial reports indicate a 19 year old male carried a rifle into the the mall and began shooting shoppers and clerks. The incident ended only when the gunman turned his rifle on himself. In other words, the carnage would have continued, and dozens more would be dead, if he hadn’t committed suicide.

I assume Omaha PD responded with all due haste and implemented their active shooter plan. Even so, they arrived too late to stop the killing. As we saw in the Trolley Square shooting, one off-duty cop with one gun was able to stop the killing long enough for the on-duty officers to arrive on scene and dispatch the murderer.

There is no telling if an off-duty officer was in the area, or if they were in a position to respond. But if you are there, and you have no way to deal with the threat, you are just another casualty. You MUST be an active participant in your own survival.

The next shooter may not kill himself. The next shooter may be killing people where your family is shopping, or where your children are in school. Pray for the best, but be ready to do what you must.

For these kinds of incidents, you may need more than a single magazine or cylinder of ammo. Make sure you know how to load your revolver quickly, and consider having some sort of clear identification so responding officers don’t mistake you for a bad guy. As this badge study suggests, merely having your shield is no guarantee of being spotted as an off duty police officer.

Common Violent Crime

Of course, not every violent encounter you may have off duty is with a spree killer. It is more likely to be a common criminal you run into.

Saturday, an off-duty SWAT member with the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida, shot an armed robber, ending the violent attempt at a Winn Dixie supermarket. The would-be robber, who was out of prison on early release for armed robbery, had already fired his shotgun to make entry into an office to obtain money. According to the press, the SWAT officer walked in on the robbery, returned to his car to obtain his firearm, and then confronted the robber.

A few key points in this incident:

Excellent job by the officer to end this situation. An argument could be made to have let this dirtbag go, rather than try to stop him while off-duty. However, the officer on the scene made the decision to intervene, and accomplished the mission. Good work!
Carry your gun(s) on your person. If the officer encountered the subject before he had time to return to his car, he would have been facing a shotgun-toting felon unarmed. Keeping a rifle in the car isn’t a bad idea (see the next point), but if you can’t get back to the car, you’ve got to fight with what you brought.
The felon was wearing body armor. Plan and train for this eventuality. Police officers should train with the “failure to stop” drills (you know… put a bullet in the head/brain box/cranial vault). If you have a handgun, chances are your rounds will not penetrate body armor. A rifle in the car is your best bet, but it is very unlikely you will have the time to get to it.

Again, good work to the KSC officer for excelling in the most difficult encounter any of us is likely to face.

Revenge Attacks

As a police officer, you regularly arrest people. Very few want to go to jail. Some will fight, some will run their mouth about “seeing you off-duty.”

Anyone you have arrested can want revenge. Rarely will anyone act on those desires, but there is no way to know who will show up on your doorstep one day with revenge on their mind.

There have been numerous cases of police officers and their families being attacked at home because of on-duty incidents.

For example, in January 2007, two men bent on revenge against Jackson County (FL) Sheriff John P. McDaniel, followed his wife home and murdered her and Deputy Harold “Mike” Altman that responded to her call for assistance.

While this particular case is horrific, it is not unique. Many police officers have been attacked off duty for the work they do. Additionally, family members are targeted as well. Carry your pistol in case you need to protect yourself and them.

Sitting in a Car

A common place where people are attacked is in parking lots and at traffic lights. In both cases, you may have to fight for your life from a seated position. Having a pistol is important, but so is being able to access it.

Consider this Atlanta PD officer.

An Atlanta Police Department recruit officer was sitting in his personal car when he was approached by a teenager armed with a shotgun. The off-duty recruit officer had been sitting in his car in the parking lot of his apartment complex using the free community wireless Internet on his laptop when the criminal approached him and ordered the officer out of the car.

The quick-thinking Atlanta officer used his laptop computer to conceal his hand as he brought his pistol to bear on the offender. The criminal, looking at the computer instead of his victim, never saw the officer’s gun that ended his criminal activity.

While someone, I’m sure, mourns the loss of the criminal teen, society should not. Robbing people at gunpoint suggests this criminal would have been a parasite on the Atlanta community, causing much pain and grief for innocent, law-abiding people in his community. According to one news article, the decedent had a history of armed robbery.

The lessons of this story for officers should be the following:

Always carry a firearm off-duty. You may never need it, but if you do, nothing else is an adequate substitute.
Do not hesitate to act. When your life is in danger, decisive action with overwhelming force is your best chance for survival. Hesitation betrays your intentions. The moment when you can act will pass quickly, and you may not get a second chance.
Be careful where you sit. Although this officer was off-duty in his personal car, the lesson is applicable to on-duty status as well. Most of us sit in our car to do our paperwork. Make sure you choose a relatively safe location to do so. A place where you can see who is approaching and where you have an escape route is good. Sitting with another officer so he or she can watch while you write (or type) is best.
Continue shooting until the threat is neutralized. Early reports indicate that the Atlanta police recruit shot the criminal multiple times and the perp did not return fire. If a threat is worth shooting once, it is worth shooting twice…or 15 times. As long as someone is a threat, continue perforating them with bullets. Cease fire when the threat is no longer a threat.
Always watch the suspect’s hands. This officer concealed the movement of his hands until he had brought his firearm to bear on the perp. Reverse the situation, and you are the cop on a traffic stop ordering the driver out of the car. Do not be distracted…watch the hands!

Off Duty Doesn’t Mean Out of Uniform

While we expect to face danger when we put on the uniform and head out on patrol, do we let our minds slip a little when we are still in uniform but working “off duty?” I sincerely hope not.

If you do get a little lax when working an off duty job, consider this incident that happened outside of Atlanta in 2008.

Officers Ricky Bryant Jr. and Eric Barker of the DeKalb County (GA) Police Department were shot and killed while working an off-duty job as police officers. The eventual arrest and trial of the suspect revealed that the officers were working security in their police uniforms at an apartment complex. The officers responded to a resident’s complaint about a suspicious man on the property. The suspect, who had three prior felony convictions, was in possession of a firearm and shot both officers in an effort to avoid a return trip to prison.

I am not here to second guess Officers Bryant and Barker, but to not address their deaths from a training perspective is to ignore the lessons that may save other officers’ lives. We know that they are not the only pair of police officers to be killed on the same call. In my previous article, Cover Your Partner and Watch Your Six, I talk about a few of the incidents in 2007 where multiple officers were killed in the same incident.

Two things we need to make sure that we do correctly on the street: contact and cover and searching from a position of advantage. Contact and cover is one of the best tactics that officers can use to maintain a safe working environment when dealing with suspicious people. One officer handles all of the interactions, while the second officer maintains an overwatch position. The cover officer watches the suspect and the surroundings looking for any possible danger.

The second thing officers must do is to establish a position of advantage when searching people. Placing people against vehicles, walls, etc. does not place the officer in the position of advantage. Reduce the suspect’s ability by pulling them off balance and controlling their hands. Don’t get lazy when frisking or searching people.

Keep Officer Bryant’s and Officer Barker’s families in your prayers, and make sure you come home to yours tonight.

Police Training and Real Life Shootings: Move!

By Richard Leave a Comment

One of the things that really gets me upset about a lot of the firearms training given to police officers, is the concept of a static officer vs. a static target. You know the training I mean: the officer stands on the line, waits for the command, draws his firearm, and shoots a pre-determined number of shots at a piece of paper.

This is supposed to demonstrate that the officer is proficient with a handgun. In reality, it just shows the officer can, in low stress conditions, put holes in a piece of paper that is not moving and not shooting back.

A real deadly force encounter is likely to be very dynamic: the officer should be moving, the perp will be moving, various innocents may be moving in the area, and there will be all sorts of inanimate objects that may be cover…or just trip you as you move. How you train will dictate how you perform when the bullets start flying.

As an example of good technique, view the video above. On November 15, 2007, Altamonte Springs police officers responded to a reported robbery of a hotel near Interstate 4. For those that are unfamiliar with the area, this is just outside of Orlando, Florida.

A 10-year veteran officer observed and attempted to stop a red Ford Focus that matched the description of the vehicle that had left the scene of the robbery. As the police officer approached the car, the passenger opened fire. The driver, who was kidnapped by the passenger, fled from the car. The officer returned fire and struck the suspect multiple times, ending the threat.

What I think is important about this video is the use of movement. The officer assumes a solid isosceles stance, and then moves laterally while engaging the shooter. The suspect on the other hand, remained mostly static, as he was inside of a car and could not move off the officer’s line of fire.

The end result? The officer was not hit, but the suspect was hit multiple times. It may not have looked pretty, but the officer got the job done and went home at the end of his shift.

I don’t know if Altamonte Springs PD incorporates lateral movement into the firearms training, or if this officer practiced this independently, but it worked. Think seriously about incorporating movement into your practice sessions, and work with your department to incorporate movement into the department training program.

Stay safe!

No Guns for Police Officers at Disney World

By Richard 32 Comments

Disney World appears to have a strict no gun policy. No law-abiding citizen, including an off-duty police officer, is allowed to carry a firearm, concealed or otherwise, to protect their family from violent predators while at Disney World.

I searched Disney’s web site looking for clarification on this policy, but was unable to locate anything. On non-Disney websites, I have seen reports that off-duty police officers were asked to either lock up their weapon, or to leave the property. I did have one of their security guards confirm that even cops aren’t allowed to carry off-duty at Disney World.

I requested information from Disney World about police officers carrying firearms, but so far my request has been ignored.

Disney World is a huge, juicy target for terrorists and nut-jobs alike. When thousands of people are gathered in one spot, one crazed individual can kill, wound, and maim a lot of innocents by detonating a bomb, or by firing a gun randomly. Islamic terrorists have stated the intention to kill as many of our children as they can. Killing children at Disney World would shake Americans to the core. So, if Disney World is telling me I can’t discreetly carry the means to defend my family, they better have that place on lock down.

During a recent trip to Disney World, I made several observations about their security measures. First, I observed a lot of security guards near the entrances to the different parks. The guards were not armed, and did not appear to be any higher a caliber than what we have come to expect out of contract security companies: many were old, out of shape, or both. I observed very few guards beyond the gate areas.

Second, I observed very few undercover, or plain clothed, security or police officers. No doubt I would not see all of them, but I still spotted very few.

Lastly, at the gates to the parks, the guards check your bags. Depending on who was doing the checking, my bag was either not searched or only a cursory check was done. Every day I walked in, I could have toted several pounds of C-4 in the bag that was “checked.” At no point was I ever checked, nor was any stroller or wheelchair that came through the lines with me. Anyone could carry multiple handguns on themselves, and bombs or long guns in their baggage or strollers.

I can only assume that Disney World uses state-of-the-art electronic surveillance equipment, and they have deputies and/or armed security hidden behind the doors labeled “Cast Members Only.” However, based on my observations, anyone can carry firearms and bombs into the Magic Kingdom.

I suggest that anytime you are off-duty, you need to be armed. I also suggest that Disney World is no exception. I carried every day I was there, and at no point did they ever detect it.

Stay Safe!