Issue link: http://lawandordermag.epubxp.com/i/144260
is when you leave roll call you have entered a battlefeld. There aren't tanks and infantry units fghting on this battlefeld. Cops and criminals fght for peace on the battlefeld of law enforcement. Don't take that lightly; the battlefeld we work in can be the donut shop as we meet for coffee with our comrades or responding to a barking dog disturbance. It Can Happen To You Training never gets old. counter or neutralizing our adversary. This reinforces the need for "tactical situational awareness" training. We have trained offcers to work in different conditions pre-determined by various different techniques such as color codes or different levels of awareness. This common set of "abstract evaluation dimensions" work great for pilots and other professions and may have some value to law enforcement. However, I wonder if we aren't conditioning our offcers to work in a state of situational awareness that slightly slows their response to an ambush or any encounter for that matter. Why can't street cops work in the same situational awareness state that tactical offcers do? Training provides the skills cops need for a successful response to an ambush or any encounter, for that matter. If we train and condition offcers to work and remain at different levels or codes of situational awareness, they may have to cycle through second or third choices of these awareness levels to fnd the proper tactical response. This concept isn't fawed, but is it time consuming? Working the streets, talking with citizens, making traffc stops, eating lunch, refueling your car, or speaking with coworkers in the coffee shop all require the same tactical state of situational awareness. When confronted with an ambush while doing any of these typical duties, cops also have to process through the OODA loop. Keep that in mind, as some police trainers teach and condition offcers to work in a pre-specifed awareness level. As these offcers process the OODA loop, they also must recognize their next awareness level or code in response. The time it takes you to navigate through these different threat levels may cost you your life. That's one reason why the use of the "force continuum" is no longer taught. Time for Change Where these various systems that condition an offcer's levels of situational awareness with different codes can fail the uniform offcer is "reaction time" while recognizing and moving through the various levels or codes. Many ambushes don't allow for time to move from condition to condition, code to code, level to level. What we don't have are stats on the many ambushes that occur daily across the United States that don't end up with the taking of an offcer's life. What makes these offcers successful when ambushed? I am sure these various techniques can contribute to their success. However, my experience with being ambushed in a hotel was that my "tactical situational awareness" kept me alive. That incident left me thanking all of my Army squad leaders who stressed the importance of "tactical situational awareness" in combat. Perhaps what cops need to understand June 5, 2004 was a day that affected many in my agency, a day that changed most offcers to think tactically even when writing reports. It was a day that would heighten offcers' states of situational awareness in all they do. One of our offcers had just fnished investigating a traffic accident and parked his patrol car in the parking lot of a Target department store in our city. While the offcer was completing the paperwork for the accident, a vehicle pulled up next to his patrol car and a male armed with a shotgun opened fre, striking the offcer in the head. The suspect then stole his service weapon and fed. The offcer was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his wounds the following morning. The suspect's motive in the killing was to acquire a handgun so he could continue his bank robberies. On July 25, 2004, the suspect was located in Jacksonville, Fla., after being featured on the television show America's Most Wanted. As a SWAT team and U.S. marshals stormed the house, the suspect committed suicide using the offcer's stolen service weapon. We will never know what happened in the exact moment the offcer was shot and murdered. However, we know he was ambushed and the suspect planned his actions. The offcer's legacy further cemented one thing in my mind—no matter what we are doing after we leave roll call, we are on the battlefeld of law enforcement. The offcer in this case didn't do anything wrong and I don't think there is anything he could have done to recognize the ambush and react before the gunman shot at him. However, what I did learn from that day forward was to be mindful of my surroundings even when completing reports in my cruiser. All of a sudden, I had to be tactical in the most mundane www.lawandordermag.com 39