19 Nov 00

Consistently taking personal responsibility for one's own safety through alertness saves the day for this young trooper. This from a friend with the State Patrol:

"Last week, two people, the driver and a passenger, ran on foot from their vehicle at our Port of Entry as officers approached their car. The POE is next to our office on the interstate. The incident took place at night, and, after a short search, neither person was found. The search was ultimately called off.

A few hours later, one of our officers closed up our POE office for the night at the end of his shift. He had been there alone. He has made it a habit to first turn off the lights inside and then wait a minute before going outside. Once outside, he always looks right/left before walking out of the door. This night, his precautions paid off!

The passenger of the suspect vehicle, still drunk and staggering, was waiting to the side of the office exit. We don't know his intent, but our officer spotted him immediately. Being aware of the vehicle incident and suspecting this person was involved, our officer confronted him at once, shouted a verbal command, called for help, and immediately took control. Startled, the suspect offered no resistance. When other officers arrived, he was taken into custody. A short time later, his friend the driver, was discovered nearby and was also taken into custody.

It was a minor incident, of course. It surely didn't make the headlines. But, it would have if our officer, through lack of alertness, had been taken by surprise, attacked, and killed. Correct personal safety attitude and procedures saved a headline. It may have saved a life, or two!"

/John

21 Nov 00

Shooting incident in Los Angeles. This from a friend with the LAPD:

"A US Marshal and one of our patrol officers were shot today. Both survived. The suspect was a federal fugitive, armed with a Soviet AK-47.

At 11:00am hours yesterday (Monday), two ununiformed US Marshals (armed only with pistols) knocked on apartment door in an expensive and exclusive neighborhood. They were there to arrest a federal probation violator from Tennessee.

They had not done their homework. They had no idea what crime the suspect had committed and knew nothing of his background. They apparently thought this was a milk run. In fact, the suspect had an extensive, violent history and was a suspect in a recent drive-by shooting in the City of Hawthorne, all of which we could have told them had they only asked.

Unknown to the Marshals, the suspect had a CCTV system in the apartment hallway and had monitored their entire approach. The Marshals had just begun to knock on the door, when several AK-47 rounds were fired from inside, through the door. One Marshall (who had been standing in front of the door) was hit in his right bicep. Astounded, both Marshals quickly retreated to another apartment and asked to use the phone so that they could call 911. Yes, called 911 from a local telephone, because they had no radio, no backup, and had not advised our station of their presence or intent!

As our units arrived, a number of shots were fired at us from the suspect's fifth floor balcony. This is an enormous apartment building, and it was difficult for us to locate the source of the fire. One of our senior officers was running about in a frantic effort the coordinate our deployment when he took a through-and-through wound to his right calf. He went down in the open and was unable to crawl to safety. Without hesitation, several officers immediately drove their vehicles between our downed officer and the gunfire, rescued, and then extracted him.

It was forty more minutes before our guys got to the wounded Marshal on the fifth floor and got him out. Of course, numerous residents had to be evacuated also.

There were subsequent negotiations, but the suspect indicated he would not be taken alive. SWAT finally used explosives to blow off the apartment door. Numerous gas projectiles and flash bangs were expended with no response. At 11:00pm SWAT made entry and found the suspect dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Our wounded officer was treated and released. The Marshal's wound was likewise not life threatening. He will recover.

This is yet another case of an outside agency coming into Los Angeles, getting in over their heads, and then pleading with us to bail them out. Yes, we're sending the bill to Janet Reno!"

Lessons:

>"Even the timid become brave when they are cornered. Even the brave become timid when they are confused." Confusion of purpose, lack of preparation, lack of coordination, lack of communication, and, dare I say, personal vanity and arrogance, led to this preventable calamity.

>True heroes are not confused and thus never hesitate when they are needed. The officers who rescued their downed comrade deserve a medal. All who responded without hesitation deserve a medal!

/John

21 Nov 00

More on the LA shooting:

After the North Hollywood shooting, LAPD acquired a number of military-surplus M-16s (altered to fire semi-auto only). The plan was and is to build up a cadre of rifle-qualified officers, who would routinely carry rifles with them. Simultaneously, a cadre of officers was and is being trained to use slug-shooting shotguns. The department switched from Ithaca shotguns to Remington 870s some years ago, and the old Ithaca pump guns are being designated "slug only." Anyway, that is the theory of it. In practice, it appears actual needs were grossly underestimated!

"My entire division has only one officer on day watch who is rifle qualified. In any event, no rifle rounds or slugs were fired by our guys, not because they should not have been, but because no one in a position to make a rifle shot had a rifle!

On a number of occasions, I have said openly to watch commanders to my captain, that we don't have nearly enough rifle-qualified officers in our division. We have a total of six, spread out over three shifts. The reply has consistently been that ‘we can do with what we have, and rifle-qualified officers from outside divisions can respond to any situation.' When the cry went out last night, it become painfully obvious that we needed a whole bunch of rifles there, along with their qualified operators, real fast! My friends who arrived at the scene, only to be immediately pinned down, said it with more vastly more colorful language!"

/John

21 Nov 00

More on the LA shooting:

After the North Hollywood shooting, LAPD acquired a number of military-surplus M-16s (altered to fire semi-auto only). The plan was and is to build up a cadre of rifle-qualified officers, who would routinely carry rifles with them. Simultaneously, a cadre of officers was and is being trained to use slug-shooting shotguns. The department switched from Ithaca shotguns to Remington 870s some years ago, and the old Ithaca pump guns are being designated "slug only." Anyway, that is the theory of it. In practice, it appears actual needs were grossly underestimated!

"My entire division has only one officer on day watch who is rifle qualified. In any event, no rifle rounds or slugs were fired by our guys, not because they should not have been, but because no one in a position to make a rifle shot had a rifle!

On a number of occasions, I have said openly to watch commanders to my captain, that we don't have nearly enough rifle-qualified officers in our division. We have a total of six, spread out over three shifts. The reply has consistently been that ‘we can do with what we have, and rifle-qualified officers from outside divisions can respond to any situation.' When the cry went out last night, it become painfully obvious that we needed a whole bunch of rifles there, along with their qualified operators, real fast! My friends who arrived at the scene, only to be immediately pinned down, said it with more vastly more colorful language!"

/John