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Excited Delirium: Signs Police Officers Should Look For

by Richard

March 14th, 2008

The nature of excited delirium is debated among medical professionals and police trainers. Whatever its causes, and no matter what we call it, excited delirium exists, and it is dangerous.

A person who is in a state of excited delirium is clearly a threat to the officers and others, but they are also in danger from themselves. Oftentimes in-custody deaths are related to a suspect being in a state of excited delirium.

The best bet for an officer to avoid an in-custody death related to excited delirium, is to recognize the symptoms and summon emergency medical assistance when you encounter it.

Some of the symptoms attributed to excited delirium as identified by the Street Survival seminar are:

profuse sweating
paranoia
aggression toward objects (especially glass)
disrobing
running
yelling
hiding
hallucinating (especially that bugs are crawling on them)
seizure
thrashing before/after restraint

Keep in mind that someone with these symptoms may not be in a state of excited delirium, but it is far better to have EMS respond and clear the subject, than to have him or her die in your back seat.

Stay safe!

Categories EDP, Officer Safety
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Meth Tweakers: Officer Safety Training Tips

by Richard

January 10th, 2008

Methamphetamine is one of the more dangerous drugs on the street. The manufacture of meth in clandestine labs uses acids, ammonias, and a host of other dangerous chemicals. During the process, things like phosphene gas and yellow phosphorus can be produced with deadly results. It is a nasty process.

Officer Safety Tips for Dealing with Meth Tweakers As dangerous as the meth lab operation is, for most police officers the danger from meth comes from dealing with the methamphetamine user. Meth users are responsible for violence toward themselves, family members, friends, strangers, and each other. Headlines such as “Father Beheads 14-Year-Old Son” are, unfortunately, a by-product of meth use.

The abuse of methamphetamine tends to go in a cycle, with the user being most dangerous when they are tweaking. During the “tweaking” phase, the abuser is driven into a severe depression, followed by extreme paranoia and aggression. The tweaker’s behavior is very unpredictable, and the effects of tweaking are intensified by other depressants, such as alcohol.

A tweaker may appear normal at first blush. Their eyes are clear and their speech is concise. However, their eyes are moving at about 10 times faster than normal. Their may be a quiver to their voice. Often the tweaker’s movements will be jerky. The tweaker may be saying weird, delusional, or paranoid things.

If you, a police officer, encounters someone you believe is tweaking, here are a few tips that can help keep you safe:

Get backup enroute. If violence erupts, you want your backup officers already on-scene or already enroute.
Maintain a reactionary gap. A seven to ten foot gap is a good minimum. This allows you slightly more time to react if the tweaker becomes violent. Almost as important, this does not “crowd” the tweaker. Keep in mind that he is paranoid, and by standing close to him, he feels crowded and his feelings of paranoia are intensified.
Slow your rate of speech and lower the pitch of your voice.
Slow your movements. Try to avoid any sudden moving.
Avoid shining lights in his face. Bright lights can be very frightening to a tweaker. Bright lights can cause a tweaker to spontaneously fight or run.
Keep the tweaker talking. If he is talking, he is not listening to the paranoid voices in his head. A silent tweaker often means his paranoia has encroached into reality. You are now part of his paranoid delusions, which could mean violence against you is imminent.

Stay safe!

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.

Categories Drugs, EDP, Officer Safety
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Suicide Jumpers: An EDP Police Officers Must Train For

by Richard

October 12th, 2007

Police officers often respond to calls involving EDPs: Emotionally Disturbed Persons. Some of these EDPs are high on drugs, mentally ill, or severely depressed about some event in their life. Suicidal subjects are one of the types of EDP that we have to deal with.

Often times a suicidal subject does not have any real intent to harm themselves; they are just looking for help and don’t know how to ask. However, there are some EDPs who have the intent and will to die by their own hand. One method they may use is jumping from a tall structure.

Someone who is standing on a rooftop, a bridge railing, or a window ledge is a heartbeat from falling to their death. Even the most hardened cop is unwilling to let this person fall without making an attempt to save them.

Start thinking about where in your zone, beat, or jurisdiction are you likely to encounter a situation of a suicide jumper. Even if you don’t have skyscrapers, you probably have a bridge overpass, multi-story commercial building, or radio tower.

Once you have identified where you may encounter the EDP, think about:

How will you approach the subject?
Can you approach the subject from cover?
Will the location allow for more than one officer to approach?
Will there be a lot of ambient noise that will interfere with talking to the subject?
Can you safely talk to the person at the location? If not, can you do anything to make it safer?
Is there any special equipment that you may need access to?

Bridge overpasses seem to be a frequent location for suicidal subjects. This probably is because of ease of access. Anyone can walk across a bridge, whereas accessing a building roof is generally a bit harder.

Ohio troopers encountered a suicidal subject on a bridge last year. The subject was on the railing, and appeared to be ready to jump. The video is here. Watch the trooper as he talks to the woman, and works his way around to (about) her 5-o’clock position. From this position, he gives himself a fraction of a second more time to get to the EDP and pull her to safety. A job well done!

Keep in mind, however, not all suicidal subject will want your help. You must be prepared for witnessing a tragic incident.

A friend of mine with a neighboring department saw a woman parked in the break down lane of a bridge over an Interstate highway. Thinking that the woman was broken down, my friend pulled her patrol car around and parked behind the woman’s car. As the officer was getting out, the woman glanced at my friend, and then jumped right off of the bridge, hitting the pavement 20+ feet below. The woman did not survive.

Pay attention to what’s out there, and plan ahead for everything you can imagine. By thinking things through before you encounter them, you increase your likelihood of doing the right thing when the feces hits the windmaker.

Stay safe!

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For more on dealing with EDPs:

Recognizing Emotionally Disturbed Persons
Tips For Dealing With EDPs

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Categories EDP, Officer Safety, Training
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Recognizing Emotionally Disturbed Persons

by Richard

September 18th, 2007

Emotionally Disturbed Persons, or EDPs, are common encounters for the street level police officer.

EDPs fall into three general categories: chemical abusers, short term, and long term. Recognizing what category the EDP falls into may help you in how you deal with the subject.

The first category is the chemical abuser. The folks in this category include your crack-heads, meth-freaks, and drunks. Name any chemical, and I’m sure I can find someone abusing it. Police officers often deal with these people, especially drunks, and may become complacent because of this. Complacency can get you and your partner hurt. Anyone who is in a chemically-induced altered mental state has lowered inhibitions (they are more likely to attack you), and will most likely have a much higher tolerance to pain. Not really a good combination.

The short term EDP is generally out-of-control because of something going on in their life right now. For example, the loss of a loved one may push someone into a frenzy. Many times these folks aren’t dangerous, but they need some level of intervention to stabilize. A short-term EDP may be dangerous in some situations, though. Say, for example, a father has found out his daughter has been raped by a neighbor. That father may lose rational thought and be walking down the street with his hunting rifle to find him when you roll up.

The long term EDP is someone who has on-going mental health issues. Someone who is bi-polar or schizophrenic, for example, is a frequent example of an EDP police officers often encounter. A lot of times officers know in advance of the mental health issues because of prior calls to the residence. Sometimes, though, you may roll up on a trespassing or suspicious person call, completely unaware of the skewed reality of the person with whom you are about to deal.

Pay attention to the person’s behavior. Are they withdrawn? Are they acting as if they are being persecuted by people? Is their behavior erratic, or does their mood shift sharply? Do they have repetitive behaviors, such as snapping their finger every minute, or doing things in multiples? If you are seeing any of these behaviors, recognize them as clues that the person may be an EDP.

Many human services agencies offer free training in how to better recognize EDP’s, and how to deal with them. If you can, take some of this training, and learn to integrate it with your officer safety training.

Categories Drugs, EDP, Officer Safety, Training
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Tips For Dealing With EDPs

by Richard

September 11th, 2007

We’ve all dealt with them: EDPs. EDPs, or emotionally disturbed persons, come in all shapes and sizes, and they all have the potential for violence.

Through the years, I have had a variety of police training classes, and a bunch of first hand experience. Probably the best set of tips I’ve gotten came from the Street Survival officer safety seminar I took in 1998. I don’t know if Calibre Press is still teaching the same tips, but here they are.

1. Never underestimate the intelligence of an EDP. Many of them are highly intelligent.

2. Get back-up enroute ASAP. If things go bad, you may have a fight on your hands.

3. Don’t rush. Wait for your back-up, and be prepared to talk for a while to establish rapport. As trainer and law enforcement veteran Bob Willis told us, if you don’t talk, you’ll have to fight.

4. Use simple, straightforward language. Speak slowly. Use soft tones.

5. Try to calm the EDP.

6. Maintain your reactionary gap, and be willing to widen those gaps more than normal.

7. Be ready to use force if it becomes necessary.

8. Do not assume cooperation in previous encounters will mean cooperation in this or future incidents. Apparent cooperation doesn’t mean the danger has passed.

Use your training, and watch out for yourself and your partner.

Stay safe!

Categories Drugs, EDP, Training
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