How many of you have honestly thought about this scenario:
“When a speeding car that has blasted through multiple attempts to stop it, barrels to within 130 yards of a kids’ jumpy house sitting in the street at a crowded community event, I will…”
Two officers in Sallisaw, Arkansas recently faced that very situation and whether they had prepared for it or not, they had to act, or a sea of people would be mowed down. Their decision was to drive their squad directly at the speeding vehicle and slam into it head-on. Thank God, that did the trick. The suspect vehicle was debilitated, neither officer was seriously injured and scores of lives, including children, were saved.
The incident begs the question, was “When a car targets a group of people, I will…” in their line-up of When/Then mental rehearsals?
Maybe.
Is it in yours?
The value of playing through scenarios in your mind and practicing When/Then thinking is huge. In fact, we have an entire block dedicated to When/Then Thinking in our 2-day Street Survival Seminar.
The question becomes; what type of scenarios are you thinking of? Likely predictable encounters like:
— Gunman blasts into the Stop-n-Rob while I’m buying a cup of coffee.
— Driver pulls a gun on me during a traffic stop.
— Belligerent drunk with a stick in his hand charges me when I respond to a domestic.
— Car takes off when I try to pull it over, then stops and the driver bails.
— Etc., etc.
All good stuff. But what about out-of-the-box incidents like the one in Arkansas. Scenarios like:
You pull up to a house and as you walk up the front sidewalk, an agitated 10-year-old walks out of the front door with a gun in his hand screaming for you to go away. You’re in the open. No immediate cover available. He’s not directly targeting you—yet—but he’s wildly waving the gun and he’s mad. What do you do?
The driver of a car you pull over jumps out and charges your squad before you can get out. You’re not sure, but you think he has a gun in his hand. You’re stuck behind the wheel and he’s charging fast. Next move?
Or how about: The driver of the car you just pulled over gets out with a gun pointed to the ground? Or how about pointed to his head?
You’re responding to an active shooter inside a school. You look down a hall and see an elbow sticking out around a corner and gunfire coming from that direction. What’s next?
You’re sitting in an urban restaurant in uniform and a guy calmly walks in holding a rifle. He’s not pointing it at anyone and he doesn’t seem agitated…as though walking in with a rifle is normal. There are many tables of unaware people between you and the man with the gun. If you yell, you know the place will surely erupt into chaos. What do you do?
A guy you’re dealing with threatens to kill you. He turns away from you and from his body motions appears to be pulling something out of his waistband. You haven’t seen a gun. He’s not facing you. He’s not pointing anything at you. What do you do?
You respond to a well-being check in an apartment building. When you knock on the door of the unit, a fairly frail elderly man wearing a military uniform opens the door and immediately levels a WWII rifle with a bayonet attached and starts marching toward you at a decent pace. You start to retreat and trip, falling on your back. You haven’t had a chance to draw your gun but you’re going for it. He’s headed in your direction, looking confused. Your course of action?
Answers for what you’re going to do in some situations may not be immediately easy to formulate, but the key is to keep trying to envision the unexpected…crafting scenarios that make you think. The more creatively you think, the more you decrease the likelihood you’re going to face something you never in a million years you thought you would face.
What Have YOU Seen…or Thought About? Please let us know!
What are some unique, unexpected scenarios/settings you have either faced (and suggest other cops plan for) or have imagined as part of your When/Then Thinking exercises?
We want to know! Please e-mail us at: editor@calibrepress.com
You are off duty and see a person running through your neighborhood with a gun. When you order them to drop their weapon, they identify themselves as an off duty officer/deputy/agent and order YOU to drop YOUR weapon. Their badge is not visible. {Happened to a friend of mine on his deck in his back yard. Off duty was chasing a fugitive. They both realized something wasn’t right when they both yelled “Drop your WEAPON!” instead of gun.}
You are relaxing in your home or yard, weapon nearby, when a group in tactical raid gear enter. Maybe they got the address wrong? You haven’t done anything illegal, and shouldn’t be getting “swatted”/raided, but there -has- been a spate of fake raid crews robbing people in your area lately. {We’ve seen this in the news a lot.}
MY true story, from Detroit, MI PD: my partner and I were outside on a porch taking a malicious damage to vehicle call from a woman, when a toddler with a diaper walked past the glass screen door inside the house — with a full-sized chrome handgun in his hand! We jumped/backed into the driveway, yelling, “GUN!” and scaring the mom half to death. Pointing, hands on our still holstered weapons, we told her the baby had a gun in his hand and was behind the door. She whipped the door back, grabbed the gun away, then screamed for her husband to come downstairs (he was a shift worker sleeping upstairs). She slowly sat the gun down on the porch and slid it toward us: it was a facsimile firearm!
When dad came down, half asleep and half dressed, we all explained the situation to him. Through gritted teeth, he said, “I TOLD him he wasn’t allowed to buy one of these!” and explained that his 18 y/o son had asked for one but had been told “no”. He then called the son on speakerphone and asked him if he had bought the gun against his orders. “I’m working! I’m an adult, so I can do what I want with MY MONEY!” Dad told him his decision nearly got his baby brother killed by the police and made him listen while he bashed it to pieces in the driveway with a hammer in front of us.
I still shudder to think what could have happened that day!
We run our officers through “what-if” scenarios getting them to think because the body can’t go where the mind has never been. We use the suicidal person in a park with a gun, similar to the scenario you mentioned. No cover or concealment. What are you going to do? Can you justify shooting the individual? How quickly someone can go from suicidal to homicidal. I am glad you published this article because, far too often, officers think of the normal scenarios, not the ones mentioned in this article.
The concept of thinking of actions/reactions to out of ordinary situations is very useful; what I’ve found to be of even greater use is discussing these same things with coworkers. For every good idea I’ve ever had, I’ve gotten far more from others. Not every idea is a good one, but there’s a lot to be gained in the discussion.
I am constantly considering the floor plans, occupancy, potential type of crime, in every structure I enter, particularly those commercial and high occupancy loads. This has become second nature throughout my career and envision what actions I would take with a variety of scenarios from a person down, to an active aggressor, sever weather, or fire. One has to consider similar events when operating a vehicle whether a pursuit, DUI driver, MVC, or other untoward event. In other words, one must stay in an alert and curious mode constantly while considering what type events might occur. This stressful but becomes second nature with practice on or off duty.