Posted on 12/24/2014 9:30:34 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
There are no “low-risk” assignments when you’re on duty, just a bunch of “unknown risk” assignments.
In the days to come, we’ll learn more about the cowardly ambush killings of two NYPD officers and will be able to analyze it in detail for lessons learned, but until then I want to discuss a few initial thoughts prompted by these senseless murders — not accusations about the incident but rather some officer safety issues that need to be readdressed.
Please be assured that I am not making any accusations about the fallen officers here — I’m only saying that the situation has highlighted some officer safety issues that need to be readdressed.
We’ve discussed this issue before, most recently in connection with the June 2014 ambush killing of two Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Officers in a pizza restaurant,: there is a difference between comfort and safety, and it’s important to your survival to think about this as you go through your shift.
1. Comfort vs. Safety It’s a natural part of the human condition that we seek out places where we feel comfortable. We are attracted to places that we know, places where our friends are, places that provide shelter. We’re especially attracted to them when we’re feeling tired, scared or vulnerable, or when we need a mental and physical break.
There’s nothing wrong with this, but there is a hidden danger associated with these havens that we have to be aware of. We have to be aware of the fact that we may subconsciously allow our comfortable surroundings to affect our level of situational awareness, and we may allow ourselves to mistake our feelings of comfort for security.
If an area of comfort is indeed secure — at home, for instance — then it’s OK for us to “switch off” for a while and relax. In fact, we need to do this every day to maintain our mental and physical health. However, when you’re on duty and in uniform in the public view, there is no place of comfort that is safe enough for you to let your guard down.
When you’re out there in public in uniform, you are a walking target for the angry, deranged, damaged, drugged, and sociopathic among us. It doesn’t matter if you’re surrounded by brother officers, parked in a remote location in your patrol car, or in the back corner of the local cop stop eatery — you are not safe, you cannot turn your radar off, and you cannot mistake your familiar, comfortable, surroundings for safety.
2. Continual Risk Assessment Cops are good at reading people and situations. They develop an ability to quickly analyze a situation, determine what’s going on, and make rapid, accurate decisions based on limited information.
Despite this, I’ve got some bad news for you: Sometimes your risk assessment skills aren’t enough.
There are certain parts of your job that are inherently high-risk, and when you find yourself in these situations, you naturally increase your level of attention and awareness, and you take extra steps to ensure your safety. On the flip side, there are certain tasks that are generally low-risk, and you typically don’t approach them with the same level of intensity.
Domestic violence call or a traffic stop? High risk. Be alert. Issuing a parking ticket or investigating a fender bender? Low risk. Yawn. When’s lunch?
The problem is, the whole high-risk, low-risk thing is absolute crap. It’s fantasy. The truth is, you have no idea what the risk level is in any of these activities.
In the past year, we’ve had officers violently assaulted or killed while eating lunch, writing parking tickets, working a vehicle accident scene, going to court, writing a report, making a quick stop for a soda, working the front desk at the station, doing highway construction guard duty, telling some pedestrians to get out of the middle of the street, or doing a hundred other things that we would classify as “low-risk” activities. Guess what? They weren’t “low risk.”
The problem is, you sometimes have no idea what sharks are swimming in your waters when you’re on duty, and anytime one of these predators gets close, your level of risk skyrockets — without you knowing it.
There are no “low-risk” assignments when you’re on duty, just a bunch of “unknown risk” assignments. There is nothing you do on duty that doesn’t require your utmost awareness and attention to safety. Don’t let yourself drift into condition white out there.
No More “Purple Heart Boxes” The American Sherman tanks of World War II were no match for the heavy battle tanks of the Germans. They were under-gunned, under-powered, and under-armored compared to the German steel, and in the black humor favored by combat troops, they quickly became known as “Purple Heart Boxes” — especially among the Infantry, who wanted no part of being trapped in them when the ammo started flying.
Cops don’t drive tanks, but they do drive patrol cars. These thin-skinned vehicles can be penetrated by most small arms, and have all kinds of internal obstacles (MDTs, gun racks, steering wheels, go bags, radios) to trap you in place so that you can’t escape them quickly or fight effectively from within them. They have blind spots that rob you of your awareness and allow threats to approach unseen.
But cops spend so much time in their cars that they feel comfortable there, and don’t think about these weaknesses. Big motors, flashing lights and loud sirens promote a sense of authority, power and control. All that steel and glass gives a sense of security and protection. With a good partner seated next to you, it’s easy to start feeling like you’re a bit insulated and protected from the world outside the windows, and can let your guard down, just a bit, while you finish that report.
Don’t fall prey to that temptation. Stay alert, and don’t let that Ford or Chevy become your own “Purple Heart Box.”
Be safe out there, and God bless you all.
# 3 - No matter what the dispatcher says, the actor(s) have “no KNOWN weapons”; not “no weapons”.
IMHO, the passenger side mirror should be set up so the passenger can see behind him.
Hate to say it, but these two officers were in condition white.
You need to be a little nervous and always aware of the conditions around you.
Given that a beat cop's entire job is scoping out the people around him, I am surprised these two guys got bushwhacked. How in the world do you let a black guy walk up to you without klaxons going off? You might not want to arrest him, but you certainly want to pay more attention to him than to any non-black guys around.
As a former police officer (30 + years), I attribute my survival to two thing: Always aware of my surroundings and I never become complacent.
I knew that the world was out to get me and I lived that way ...
I never assumed I was safe, no matter were I was or what I was doing.
Good advice for everyone. Just watched a video of a video of a woman carjacked in NOLA by 3 “brave”, armed, urban yutes. White woman, black perps so it won’t make the news. She had just parked her vehicle and was maybe going into her home or a local establishment. Radar off then BAM. You could literally feel the terror.
What a way to have to live. God Bless You and Merry Chrstmas.
It is considered survival for the average cop. And Merry Christmas to you as well.
I think the person who wrote the artilce is right but I think that is impossible for the duration of a whole shift to be in a red or yellow state. (i don’t even know what a whole shift is. ) and i’m just thinking about in my own little safe world where i need to concentrate and solve problems. I need to sit and relax during the day. I think that cops should rotate in and out of the precinct house to make that the only safe place to relax, eat lunch, get a coffee, etc. I think the police are now under siege because the feds want to take them over. And unfortunately the feds are our enemies.
It was a city street; narrow, as many of those streets are. There are quite a few people in NYC, and 25% of them are black. If parked like that, the officers had no way to escape the fact that at least 100 people of all colors walk by them every single minute.
Theoretically, they could park in some large parking lot by some big-box store, and keep the distance. But those are not that common in NYC, IIRC, and the officers had no real reason to be worried. They also cannot just go anywhere they please - they had to stay within their beat and be available for assignments.
I’ve lived in Philly for 30 years and i am much more conscious of arranging my departure from my car to my house. I used to have a carry permit. don’t now but i do need to re-up that. I’m also conscious in the burbs i frequent.
Bed-Stuy is 70% black. Scratch out the women, the children (1-12) and silver-haired (45-80), and it's 15%, as in 3 out of every 20 people is a fighting-age black male. Fighting age black males who get within point-blank range of cops are rare. My point is that they let the guy close without their spidey senses going off.
Solving problems requires you to zone out completely. Being watchful requires a much lower level of focus.
Definitely reup, especially now. Philly will be a hot zone very soon if not already.
The only place a cop is a safe is in a small town where he will probably never have to draw a gun in his entire career.
The catch of course is such places are few and between in America.
There is no substitute for being alert, vigilant and being ready to confront a truly dangerous situation.
A cop’s job is and always has been, high risk and low reward. You seldom run across decent people in that line of work.
Its not a cop’s job to be “nice.” Its a cop’s job to stay alive and make it home safe and sound every day.
As a police officer, your survival was due to your training and partly due to the fact times were different then in America.
Today’s PC hostility to cops has made difficult work even more stressful and dangerous.
The NYPD cops were murdered because of PC pressure to let their guard down. That cost them their lives.
If people are not willing to secure their own lives, we both know they have absolutely no business being in law enforcement, period.
If they can’t do that, they can’t truly do their job.
If we are partnered up and parked I move the mirror so I can see behind me from the passenger seat or I get out....I do the same if I am driver...I move it so passenger officer can see back.
Had a multi officer killer try to get me and fortune/fate probably saved me from at least being wounded. The murderer was dead 4 hours later after trying to ambush another officer.
I have sent someone airborne from my driver’s door hitting them as I opened it into them as they ran up on me. Sorry...didn’t know your intention was to “thank you” for my service.
I always throw in a “My wife would kill me if I got shot” to smooth over any ruffled feathers.
Rasis. Suggesting the cops profile based on RACE?
Shame on you!
/s
And that's just the politicians, the street people can be just as bad...
You owe me a new keyboard!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.