Fundamentals should be designed to allow us to maximize our strengths while exploiting the weaknesses of an adversary
By Ken Merrell
When discussing tactical fundamentals, it’s important to recognize that most of them have a military origin. In the early 1970’s, while stationed as a Military Policeman at various Marine Corps installations, I participated in cross training between the military and civilian law enforcement. This cooperative relationship has continued, paying huge dividends for both. Many tactics used in civilian law enforcement by specialized small units evolved from small-unit tactics honed by our military. Over the years civilian law enforcement has taken these fundamentals and refined them to serve their particular mission. As our military continues to deploy to urban areas throughout the world, these refined tactics are increasingly being taught back to them by civilian law enforcement elements. There is no getting away from this kinship. Care should be exercised when pointing this out because historically military tactics have been seen as aggressive and offensive. Often, the idea of how our military operates is based on the last military movie we saw. Because this misconception may be true for someone sitting on a grand jury as well, it can place an officer at a disadvantage of perceived obtrusive behavior. When this happens it often results in police tools being overly regulated or taken away.
This article in no way stands to be instructive in nature. It is not my intent to tell any agency how to do business. There are obvious differences in military missions and goals of the average police department. Paramount among these differences is the fact that our average policeman is not working in a combat environment. The patrolman is not on an offensive. Therefore he is equipped and trained vastly different. However, when we get past the feathers and fat, and down to the bare bones of tactics, there are a number of tactical fundamentals universal to any scope or environment that do not change no matter what the objective. The best way to make these points relative to police officers is simply to break down what we want to accomplish and which fundamentals best reach these goals.
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