What are your top 3 principles or habits that you believe are essential for staying safe and effective on patrol? Not just general advice, but specific things you do or prioritize, little tricks or things of importance you’ve developed or noticed, like always knowing your location, keeping a mental map of gang territories, or managing your approach angles on stops, etc.? Thanks in advance!
What are your top 3 principles or habits that you believe are essential for staying safe and effective on patrol that you would hammer into a new officer in a major city?
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Always watch em hands.
Learn pre-assault indicators and make a habit of looking for them in every interaction.
Be aware of your surroundings even when you’re preoccupied with something or someone (who’s around you, doors, windows, exits, cars, etc).
If you’re a cop and you haven’t read this, you need to:
https://www.police1.com/patrol-issues/articles/the-dirty-dozen-updating-the-10-deadly-errors-of-policing-sSxBjBFdN82uFNQR/
My top 3 from personal experiences:
Watch the hands.
Search thoroughly.
Everyone is lying to you. Act based on facts and not feelings.
Know your location, always! Had a deputy I worked with call for backup on a foot chase. Got there asking where he was from his last location his answer was, “Over here!” We found him, but he was getting his ass beat while we spent a critical 3-4 minutes trying to find “over here.”
My FTO said it well, “Fast on your seat, slow on your feet.” You can drive like mad getting to a call, but you need to slow your roll once on scene. I’ve seen too many deputies/officers come screeching up, bailout, and run to a door, vehicle, etc and nearly get killed cause they didn’t take the time to observe what the heck was going on, myself included.
You ain’t Superman! You ain’t John Wayne, John Wick, or whoever is the current flavor of macho man is in the movies. Tombstone Courage is called that because on your tombstone, it will read, “Here lies a brave man, and a damned fool.” You’re not paid to die. You’re paid to serve and protect. The only way to do that is to live another day.
Watch the hands
But also I recommend having a mental “professional switch”.
When you’re on patrol, mentally flip your professional switch on. When you’re chilling back at the station, or when you mark off duty, flip your mental switch back off. It helps you know, hey, it’s time to focus and take this serious. It also let’s you relax and say okay, im now off duty. It may also help with hypervigilance, that way your not always mentally switched on.
1.) Absolutely watch the hands. Always.
2.) Slow the F down – when driving, responding, and entering a situation. Take a moment to evaluate and think.
3.) Be aware of your surroundings – this mean’s especially don’t type reports on your computer parked someplace where people can walk up behind you or drive right next to you. Leave the Netflix for at home – stay off your damn phone. When your dead tired go to a fire station or with a partner. Never “rest your eyes” behind some desolate building.