Another "Sling-Story"

26 Aug 08

Another "Sling Story:"

"Earlier this year, another patrol officer and I responded to an armed-robbery call. The single suspect had fled, first on foot, and then in a vehicle. We spotted a vehicle matching the description and, between the two of us, performed a classic, high-risk traffic stop.

My M4 was in a copy of the ever-popular Big Sky, overhead rack. The sling was wadded up alongside the rifle. I unlocked the rifle and pulled it down on my lap. The sling, of course, came down with it. As the suspect vehicle pulled over, I grabbed the microphone to update dispatch. In the process,I inadvertently pulled the microphone cord up through the sling, and then, not realizing what I had just done, put the microphone back in its holder.

As I then exited my beat-car, the sling, now tangled in the microphone cord, refused to permit the rifle to come out of the car with me! I tugged frantically before I finally figured out what was hanging it up. In the process, I wasn't much help to my partner! In frustration, I finally droppedthe rifle and defaulted to my pistol.

Happily, the driver was not our suspect, so the whole incident ended quickly, and without incident.

However, I learned a critical lesson about not permitting a loose sling to become ensnared in the furniture, at inconvenient moments! I now keep the sling neatly folded, and taped to the rifle stock. That way, it will rapidly deploy when I need it, and not when I don't!"

Comment: Some eventualities are foreseeable, but many are not. Mostly, we learn our, often painful, lessons from operational experience. I thank this officer and colleague, and the one who volunteered the information for the last Quip, for sharing these valuable, sometimes embarrassing, lessons with all of us.

Let's not keep making the same mistakes!

Remember: "There are things that you cannot imagine, but there is nothing that may not happen!"

/John