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Rant...call from the other day.

3K views 12 replies 6 participants last post by  MiamiVice 
#1 ·
I work private EMS for a company that contracts to run the city coverage for many cities around Boston. We have a lot of interaction with the city PD’s. I had a call earlier in the week that STILL has me shaking my head and pulling my hair out and I needed to write it down and address the issues I saw. Some of these problems were due to lack of or poor communication, which happens when messages are relayed and is sadly often unavoidable.

I was dispatched on a hot response to “meet the PD” to pick someone up on a section 12….no further info. Arrive on the block where the address is, a busy street with mostly houses, one small commercial building, and a school across the street. No PD is visible on the scene. I shut down the lights, cruise by the house, make a U-turn and park 4 houses away on the same side of the street. I radio to confirm the address, and am told I am in the right place. Advise that PD is not on scene, and I phoned dispatch to see if I could get any details on the reason for the section. Dispatch relates that the section is filled out with poor handwriting, but was faxed by the patients psychiatrist. He can make out “paranoid delusions, threatening statements, aggressive behavior.” Dispatcher says we can wait for PD if we want….umm yeah. I backed the ambulance off another block, and parked on the opposite side of the street so I could see the front and side/rear of the house. My partner asked why we weren’t going to knock on the door, I explained that we had no idea what we were walking into. He asked why are we so far away….I explained that if this guy was crazy he could shoot at us from his windows. My partner then said…”That’s silly, why would anyone shoot at EMT’s?.” I really wanted to just rest my head on the steering wheel and cry.

We wait 40 minutes, and 4 XXPD cruisers pull up, 2 park a few houses away, 2 park down the side street. Smart. I see 3 officers and a Sgt, and the Sgt is carrying the beanbag shotgun. That was a “clue” that this wasn’t a typical call. I approached and asked what the deal was, they explained that this was a Vietnam Vet, he was having paranoid delusions, and he threatened to “shoot up anyone who came to get him, and go out in a blaze of glory”. Gee thanks for that tip, dispatch. They relate that they are familiar with him and that they think he’s just “upset about something”. I went back to the ambulance and put my vest on. Up until now, it’s a simple miscommunication that could have potentially ended badly had we not been aware of our approach.

Now….this large, city PD… Two of the officers and the Sgt stand on the side street, without visual of the house, in a huddle facing inwards at each other while they LOAD THE SHOTGUN FROM EMPTY. As they are doing this, the 4th officer goes up and knocks on the front door BY HIMSELF AND OUT OF SIGHT OF HIS BACKUP while they still dick around with the shotgun. A woman answers and says the guy hasn’t been home for hours. I then watched the three of them look puzzled as they tried to unload the shotgun. So they say he usually hangs out at a Dunks, we caravan over there and find he’s not there either. Officer says “I have his cell number, let me give him a call….” No answer, so they shrug and clear up and leave. I stood there for 10 minutes trying to process all the fail I just witnessed.

He’s making threatening statements…enough it warrants 4 cars and deploying the LL shotgun…you have his CELL PHONE number, and you don’t call him and ask him to step outside and talk. Worse, you knock on the door alone and completely out of sight of your backup….who would have only been reactionary anyway?? WTF???? These weren’t young kids either, they all had years on. The Sgt clearly seemed unfamiliar and uncomfortable with the LL gun…which you should be able to load/unload/clear blindfolded. Not to mention deploying a LL gun ONLY to a person making lethal threats. No other rifles/shotguns present, but it wouldn’t have mattered as they had no visual in the first place.

And no debrief afterwards, no discussion, no “hey, what were the rest of you guys doing while I was on the porch by myself?” Complacency kills, everything around here seems to be run on luck and “hey, it worked last time.” There’s nothing heroic about taking a bullet because you were using shit tactics or had your head up your ass. Please, step your game up.
 
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#2 ·
police work usually doesnt resemble an s SF team doing a breach and clear. I wasnt there, maybe they are getting complacent. But this is probably something they do alot and realized that getting into a stack on the side of a paraniod skitso house might not be the best way to roll. Maybe they sent the one guy who had his cell and knew him a little to be the point of contact, keep him calm, talk him out and tucked the rest out of sight to be used if they can get him to come out or he calls for help. They can't find him, he will turn up, swing by tommorow. It doesn't always look sexy, and you trap more flys with honey.
 
#3 ·
That wasn't the issue I had, and that is exactly what frustrates me about the complacency with "how things are done here" that I see and hear about on a near daily basis. I completely understand and get the soft approach....that's what they were probably going for, but had this guy been home with a gun and wanted to shoot it out...they would have been caught with their heads up their assses. Whats the point of having backup if they can't see or hear you? Whats the harm in calling someone to meet you outside, rather than knock on the door. Or loading the shotgun BEFORE you're standing outside the house? There isn't, and that's how it would be done in other parts of the country. Or getting shot in the face because you casually stroll up to a car filled with known, violent shitheads and start pulling them all out of the car at the same time rather than calling them out individually and proning them out. There's the "way things are done", and there's a better way. Ill choose the better way, every time.
 
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#4 ·
The Felony Macharena is a joke. Too many new guys watch that west cost dance routine and try and use it to act tough. Proning someone out verbally is resource and time consuming, and guys spend to much time doing it and forget their situational awareness. A routine car stop should be routine. If you need to implement felony procedures, go ahead, but do not overdue it. And the suprise carjacking swarm technique works best for me, when they dont even see you coming. (the ONLY good thing about my Hyundai)
 
#5 ·
I'm not saying that would have been the best approach in that situation, but some use of contact/cover could have made a difference. Again, a matter of "eh, it worked last time" rather than WHY it works or doesn't. LACOPPER will be along to share his perspective I'm sure, I witnessed an ENTIRELY different culture on my visit to the left coast.
 
#6 ·
I don't think many guys do things because "it's just the ways it's always been done". Every situation is different and usually is done on the fly when your a guy working the road. You think you are going to get a skitso to come out yelling over a bullhorn to come to the front yard to meet you? You are not always going to be tactically sound or safe. Sometimes it's better to get it done quickly before someone has time to react... That's with anything. Someone has to knock on the door with most things. This sounds like it was a "hot call" but this might not be to them. Maybe they knew him, have delt with him before and knew how to talk to him and get the response they wanted out of him. Doesn't mean your not aware, but your right loading the long gun on the side of the house probably isn't the best. Sounds like some things they could do better, but the "better way" isn't always realistic. Your not proning guys out of a car because they are shitheads or because you have to arrest or put hands on one or more of them. It's just not happening. You can be tactical without looking like your trying to be, and you are always going to have to put yourself in harms way at one point or another.
 
#7 ·
I understand the subtleties here, I had a big picture view of the entire scene. I'm not complaining that they weren't using SWAT tactics, my problem is that even if they had a plan three guys looking at each other while one knocks on the door is fucking stupid any way you look at it. I meant if they knew him and had a relationship with him, why not call his cell and say "Hey, we'd like to have a word would you mind coming out to the porch and talking to me" rather than knocking on a curtained door, standing in front of a curtained window, alone.
I know there is routine, and "routine". I've spent a lot of my own time (and MONEY) taking training. In the dangerous world that is out there, why leave the door open to chance when you could take SMALL steps to retain a tactical advantage, in any facet of the job. No one tool works all the time, and I know policing is regional. Some scoff at the passenger side approach on a stop, while others swear by it. I've taken training with people from agencies around the country. Only here do I constantly here "eh, we don't need that". Or "that won't work here" with no explanation why. Rifles, tasers, and pistol mounted lights are considered NECESSARY equipment in most of the country, but they are rarely seen here. I don't get why thinking is so backwards here sometimes. I've seen a tiny dept in NH running rifle and shotgun up front in the car, not in the trunk. Tasers, cameras, the works. But a big city can't get a rifle on scene without a supervisor in some cases. Most of these issues can be solved by training. Or it's "not in the budget". If LAPD can authorize personally owned and approved patrol rifles, what's stopping a dept here? Backwards thinking. If sure fire x300u's and ALS holsters aren't in the budget, what's stopping from allowing them to be personally purchased? Backwards thinking. I can't drag some of my LE friends to FREE training from nationally renowned instructors without hearing them bitch they won't get paid for it, or will have to use a vacation day. Medical training that will save your own life? Nah, I have a detail. I don't have a chief to bug, so I'll get my rants out here.
 
#8 ·
"It's ok, I know this guy...I have a history with him"
Can just as easily go this way too.
 
#9 · (Edited)
I agree with you on most of your points. People should have better equipment and use what works for them to complete their job more effectively. Guys get lazy and complacent and don't keep up on training that they should. I did 6 years as a recon marine x2 on deployments. I have had a ton of tach training, most of which i don't use on the job, but I have to keep up with it. Like anything it's a perishable skill. I was just commenting on the scene you were talking about I wasn't there maybe your right, I was just giving you another perspective of what might have been going on.
 
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