chutchinson

Before I start this article I have a short bit of homework for you all. Read this article by Lt. Jim Glennon. http://www.policeone.com/police-prod...egraphed-cues/

Did you read it? Good. If not then go back and read it.

After you have read it, print it off and put it on a notice board at work. After that make sure you email it to everyone you work with. If you have a training department tell them that this is now a required handout for everyone that comes through their classes.

Congratulations. As a team we have now improved the safety and survival levels in our profession. We have given vital and potentially life saving training to officers that go out everyday on missions of conflict. Most officers have never been shown what to watch for and I doubt it is on the security exams or required training that several provinces are now creating.

Now for this article I am going to talk about stance and a few of the things to look for. This shouldn’t be too different from what you may have learnt during basic training.

Calm:
The subject appears calm. His body positioning is open and he appears non threatening.



Hands behind back:
Again the subject appears calm. As a responding officer I would be concerned about his hands being behind his back. I would recommend asking the subject to put his arms by his side. If the subject refuses then ask yourself why.



Interview stance:
The subject appears non threatening but ask yourself this. How often do people move into this stance when we are talking to them? It’s not a natural stance is it? His right leg is dropped back and his fists appear to be clenching. He is in a very good fighting stance and may be about to strike.



Forward stance
This stance is a good indication that someone may be about to fight. The subject is giving off lots of pre-attack indicators. He is in his fighting stance, shoulders are back, head forward. He is making direct eye contact, his nostrils are flaring and his hands are made into fists.


Fighting stance
Pretty self explanatory. This subject is about to fight. He is in a good fighting stance, knuckled up and making direct eye contact.




While you are at work be aware of these behaviours. I am sure we have all heard officers claiming that the guy attacked them “out of the blue”. More then likely the attacker was displaying some kind of pre attack indicator, just the officer did not pick up on it. Why? Maybe the officer didn’t know what to look for.

Alternatively have you ever been dealing with someone and had a gut feeling that they were about to attack…then they did! That’s your unconsciousness picking up on those behaviours and trying to warn your conscious mind.

When you are writing a report try to remember if there were any pre-attack indicators. If there are then put it in the report. Make sure you document them in your notebook.

Now let’s use the information from Lt. Glennon's article and try to put some of this into use.

Everybody watch the Centennial Bridge Shooting:

Full video of fatal bridge shooting

Remember that the officer was making the contact because he believed the offender had just committed an unprovoked assault 15 minutes earlier.

The offender is walking towards the officer on the bridge. What is the first thing the offender does even before the officer says anything. He pulls up the sleeve on his right arm. By itself is this significant? Not really. But what do you see people doing before they fight? Normally they pull up their sleeves.
The officer then gives a number of orders for the offender to “come over the rail”. What does the offender do? He carries on walking.
The officer then points the TASER at the offender and the offender finally complies. Or does he? Watch closely. He puts one leg over the rail, kinda sits down a bit, rubs his nose while looking away (as if contemplating something…maybe an attack) and slowly brings his other leg over. The officer then orders him down on his knees. The offender does not comply. At 01:08 he is looking at the officer even after several verbal commands to “turn around and go down on your knees”. He then takes several steps backwards toward the officer (closing the gap) while looking over at the officer (target glancing). He continues to close the gap and questions the officer.

At this point the officer deploys the TASER and the fight is on.

Now the reason I show this video and describe the actions is not to disrespect the officer. I have the highest respect for him, and, I think he deployed the TASER because he knew this guy was not going to co-operate. Maybe he consciously picked up on the pre-attack indicators, maybe his sub-conscious did and sent off a warning. Either way he didn’t wait to be attacked. He took the first step.

Stay Safe,

Chris