I 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, … [Read more...]
Archives for 2007
Identify Your Target: Use Your Flashlight
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 … [Read more...]
Disguised Weapons: A Hidden Threat to Police Officer Safety
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. … [Read more...]
Contact and Cover: Are Police Officers Doing It Right?
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 … [Read more...]
Terrorists Next Plan: Killing Our Children at School
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 … [Read more...]
Introduce Your Shotgun to the TASER XREP
Currently, there are (among others) two trends in law enforcement: the widespread deployment of X2 and X26 TASERs, and replacing shotguns with AR-15 style rifles. The folks at TASER International, Inc. saw an opportunity in these two trends and have developed the TASER XREP. What is the XREP? XREP stands for eXtended Range Electronic Projectile. In a nutshell, the XREP … [Read more...]
Recognizing Emotionally Disturbed Persons
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, … [Read more...]
Spotting An Armed Subject
An unfortunate truth about police work is there are evil people out there who would like to kill us, simply because we are cops. Given the opportunity, some of them will try. So, we need to take every opportunity to spot danger before it is too late. One of the more useful skills an officer can develop is learning how to spot someone carrying a firearm. Several agencies, … [Read more...]
Wear your body armor? Wear your seatbelt!
One of the officers on my shift was injured tonight when another driver decided the best way to merge into traffic was through his cruiser. The officer's cruiser was struck on the driver's side, and the force of the impact caused his car to hit a power pole. Thankfully, he walked away from it with minor injuries and should be back to work in a day or so. His car, I'm afraid, … [Read more...]
Is Your “Non-Flammable” Pepper Spray Really Non-Flammable?
In the August 2007 issue of Law Officer Magazine is an article that is both informative and scary. For years it has been common knowledge that departments that issue both electronic control devices (such as the TASER) and oleoresin capsicum (O.C. or pepper) spray should be careful to buy a non-flammable formulation of O.C. spray. Early formulations of O.C. spray used an … [Read more...]