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THE FIGHTING FIREBIRD The authorized newsletter of Action Fighting Arts
- By - Harry Wigder, President, Action Fighting Arts

“They say there is no silver bullet. I say we can train and train some more---”
Harry Wigder, Founder, Action Fighting Arts

PART TWO OF A TWO PART SERIES: TAKING A PAINFUL LOOK AT OFFICERS KILLED BY FRIENDLY FIRE.

This I know to be true: It is exactly when we need our six senses the most that we have them the least. Ask any cop who has been in a life threatening situation and, if that officer is honest, he or she will tell you about his/her visual field collapsing; auditory exclusion; an inability to perform simple, mundane tasks - like punching 9-1-1 on a cell phone, performing a Tactical Re-load, unlocking the Duty Shotgun or rifle from its rack or from the Duty Box in the trunk of the cruiser as that “invisible clock in his/her mind” ticks toward the moment of truth in a hostage situation – or, worse, suddenly losing his or her normal ability to make crucial decisions in a life or death critical incident. The officer can tell you all this because he or she survived the incident. But many law enforcement warriors don’t come through critical incidents unscathed. Some were trained to expect the debilitating effects of survival stress. Most weren’t. One thing for sure, though: The situation, the Critical Incident doesn’t know or care if an officer is ready for it. It just explodes. It keeps rocketing toward the inevitable showdown and every second the danger is growing because the Bad Guys have a singularity of purpose and that purpose doesn’t include the safety of the cop.

In a Critical Incident, unfortunately, motor and cognitive skills are a rare commodity. Has nothing to do with intelligence or commitment. It has everything to do with the reflexive or involuntary reaction of an officer’s brain to its perception of threat, to its objective fear perception as the system is being flooded with cortisol and other powerful stress hormones and the heart rate spikes from 70 beats @ minute to 220 and beyond and the primitive brain replaces the (intelligent) cerebral cortex and reigns as the source of an officer’s every thought and critical decision as long as the SNS is active in his system. It is an Equation For Disaster: A Bad Guy driven by a primitive brain, obsessively loyal to a singularity of focus that requires of him little thought or decision making against a team of officers, under severe survival stress, whose success and safety depend upon pinpoint timing, tough decisions without hesitation, clear communication with each other, with innocents nearby, and with the suspect(s), and, of course, when the time comes, immediate, effective and accurate physical counterstrikes and shot placement. All this while being rushed or threatened by a determined Bad Guy(s) while their (the officer’s) ability to see, hear and think is disrupted and their ability to react is slowed significantly (Fact: When stress causes the peripheral field to collapse, an officer’s ability to perceive, analyze and evaluate a threat is compromised, subsequently disrupting his/her ability to formulate a strategy and respond to the threat because his or her Survival Reaction Time will increase by 400%). Like I said, this is an equation for disaster----

And the right kind of training is Realistic Scenario-Based Training. RSBT is a form of Stress Inoculation, or, Dynamic Simulation ( a PPCT Instructor Course I am certified to teach, by the way) designed to neutralize the debilitating affects of combat stress by inoculating officers with survival stress in a training setting so when they encountered the same type of situations or incidents in the field they would be able to manage the threat without hitting the trip wire of deadly force or fear perception that would activate the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS). Managing scripted but realistic threat in a safe training environment under the supervision and guidance of a team of criminal justice experts usually results in officers feeling confident in their abilities – as individuals and as members of an effective team – to manage threat along all components of the Use of Force Continuum. It is a fact that confidence is a key to technique fluidity under combat stress and also a bulwark against fear. The perception of fear often initiates the activation of the SNS, so a key to the effectiveness of Dynamic Simulations Training (RSBT) is building confidence to prevent the initiation of SNS.

But I have discussed Stress Inoculation and Dynamic Simulations in a previous newsletter. This time, I want to present a few scenarios in which officers have gotten killed or seriously injured. Scenarios I have rarely seen nor heard of being used in a training setting.

OFF DUTY OR PLAINCLOTHED OFFICER/PAROLE OFFICER COVERING SUSPECT WITH FIREARM

Years ago, as a Pennsylvania State Parole Officer, I was on my way home after an early morning bar raid when I spotted a fugitive I will call Homer staggering out of a Speakeasy. Homer was a bad motor scooter and there was paper out on him for Discharging a Firearm Within City Limits. This is not a good thing for a parolee to be doing while under my supervision for multiple armed robberies and recklessly endangering, so, to make a long story shorter, I cornered Homer, told him he was under arrest, but, when he reached into a jacket pocket, I pulled my gun and ordered him to kneel down and put both hands above his head. Which is exactly when I heard “Freeze, Asshole!” from behind me, and, surprised, I muttered something like, “Huh?” and turned around, toward the voice, fortunately keeping my firearm pointed at Homer.

Turns out, the voice had come from a uniformed police officer, who later told me he almost squeezed off a round or two as I turned. It was his partner, who recognized my face, who yelled at him “It’s a P.O. It’s a P.O.!” who probably prevented me from getting shot. The officer who didn’t know me later told me that, if I would have turned and pointed my gun in his direction, he probably would have fired. Maybe because of this experience, I believe this scenario to be a must for all law enforcement agencies whose officers do not wear uniforms or whose officers are permitted to and/or required to carry off duty.

I know of at least 5 officers who have been accidentally shot and killed by other officers in scenarios just like the ones I present here:

The scenarios I suggest are all realistic. I would usually present the officer-students with written scenarios first. During class time I would present them with the scenario and have them discuss what they would do in the below scenario with other members of their teams. During the dynamic scenario, though, I would have officers confront suspects in different degrees of resistance and in certain scenarios, when the cover officer noticed a weapon on the “suspect’s” person, pull down on the “suspect” and order him or her not to move, etc. Maybe out of 20 scenarios, on one or two of them I would arrange for a uniformed “officer” to approach from behind the plain clothed officer and bark out: “Stop right there, you. Drop the gun. Do it now!” Often, the first and natural reaction when surprised, even after officers had discussed this possible situation in a classroom setting, is to turn toward the voice, pivoting their torsos and bringing the muzzle of the gun with them.

Of course, I would stop the scenario right there. Do it again. Discuss the situation, maybe even demonstrate the correct response. This time, without exception, the officer will hear the officer’s commands, keep his or her gun pointed at the suspect, and say to the officer while raising one hand, fingers open, his or her entire body still facing the Bad Guy, down range:: “Sir, I am on the job. My badge is in my rear left pocket. With your permission, I will get it for you. I will put my gun down, if you still wish, but I ask you to cover this suspect. He is armed.”

Words and action to this effect, depending, of course, on the situation. I would always script the officer and the Bad Guys, videotape the scenario, and make sure the undercover or off duty officer left that training confident how to react when surprised from behind by another officer who sincerely thought of him or her as a Bad Guy robbing a civilian.

This is another situation where officers get shot by friendly fire. All the factors I spoke of earlier come into play. High stress, anxiety, auditory exclusion, exacerbated by the officer chasing a suspect from one room to the other, through varying degrees of darkness. Add to this scenario, the fact that the officer may have his or her gun drawn, which escalates the possibility of a disarming as the firearm enters doorways ahead of the officer who is chasing the Bad Guy and, of course, the fact that other officers are on the scene, officers who are also undergoing survival stress, meaning they probably cannot hear well, are undergoing tunnel vision, an inability to focus, have little depth perception and, because of the loss of peripheral vision, have little or no night vision.

In this scenario, what usually happens is, when a Bad Guy crashes through a doorway officer’s perceptions, which are 400% retarded because of combat stress, the senses’ ability to “catch up” with the image is delayed (plus, often, the suspect does not have a gun drawn. He is too busy trying to elude capture. It is often only the officer who has a firearm out and pointed often at other officers on the scene), so, ironically, the first figure other officers can “see” is the plain clothed officer, who often has his or her badge out alongside his or her gun and is racing through the building into an opening where other officers are anticipating danger.

Too often the pursuing officer gets shot. Worse, when one officer fires other officers fire in a sympathetic startle response, if their fingers are on the trigger instead of along the slide. Can hardly blame them once you understand combat stress, the primitive brain and the Autonomic Nervous System. You try it. Have someone running towards you when you have been told there is an armed and dangerous Bad Guy on the loose, a small, gold or silver badge alongside a gun. I bet all you will see is the black mouth of the gun, too. Not the badge.

In RSBT (Realistic Scenario-Based Training), I recreate this situation. Darken the room and have the suspect burst through a door where a team of officers is situated. Depending on the situation, I use inert training guns or air guns. The Bad Guy comes through the door and now comes the officer, but now he is holding his badge at chin height (any higher might obscure whatever vision he or she might have of the suspect) and is shaking it up and down and yelling “Police, Stop!” Trained officers will almost always be able to distinguish the badge from the gun, if it is situated at another eye level, and, even more so if it is moved up and down, side to side. I will build up the officers’ stress levels by rendering the scenario on video, creating noise, etc.

The newsletter venue is limited in space. I will add more scenarios in future issues. Allow me to conclude this article with a potpourri of training tips in teaching officers survival motor skills (Survival Motor Skills are defensive or preemptive skills or techniques designed to preserve and protect human life). I will elaborate in future articles.

The elbow is an important personal weapon and I want to discuss its use in conjunction with the firearm. The genesis of this article came after I watched the Paladin Press film: MARTIAL MARKSMANSHIP featuring Michael Janich and Stafford. The film is an excellent exposition of both the development of Point Shooting and Modern Pistol technique and it advocates the necessity of bring empty hand skills into firearms training. However one of the drills they demonstrated bothered me. In this commonly taught drill, the shooter uses his non firearm arm and brings it back to cover his head > think Elvis slicking back his hair, then using the elbow driving it into the static range target and either shooting or drawing and then shooting. It is used to simulate an attacker throwing a punch. Let’s examine what we are teaching with this drill. We are teaching our students to meet force with force. The stationary range target receives the impact from the elbow and because it is inanimate does nothing else but get shot.

The real world might be different. This drill seems to believe all attackers will be Nicole Kiddman, but what happens if you run into Bill Romanowski? Do you think the elbow strike will have an incapacitating effect on an adrenalized opponent? With the firearm drawn, we only have one hand/arm to use for defense and weapon retention and with the arm bent back to cover the head it becomes difficult to counterattack and provides your opponent with an effective lever to control your center. If we teach this drill we should also teach shooting from the supine position on the ground and weapon retention on the ground to deal with UTM (Ugly Tangled Mess [I have longed to add a 3 letter abbreviation to the language and this is it.]) one is sure to find oneself. Football regularly demonstrates what happens when bodies collide. In the law enforcement situation you now add a firearm and things go bad from there. Wouldn’t it make sense to teach avoiding you opponents attack by moving off the line of attack as quickly as possible? Square range drills don’t cut it in this regard. Try the drill using an airsoft gun with a human opponent and then evaluate the effectiveness of the drill. Additionally, what are the legal implications of shooting? Are we defending a fist attack with deadly force? What circumstances would justify shooting? Training can not cover every possible situation but corresponding discussion about the circumstances justifying the application of deadly force should accompany range drills to give them context.

Now consider the horizontal elbow, the non shooting arm has the thumb side of the hand near the center of the chest with the elbow parallel to the ground. The arm holding the weapon has the firearm close to the rib cage with that thumb near the pectoral muscle for weapon retention. If an opponent closes, the non firearm hand is cocked to deliver a brachial stun or a chin jab and it can be used to move your opponent or to move yourself off the line of attack. This is a position for counterattack rather than defense. Again, try this with an air soft pistol and evaluate the options this gives you.

Here is a fantastic survival learning principle. RAM, or, Reasonable Arc Of Movement, can be used as a guiding principle in training as well as in realistic and dangerous situations to keep officers out of harm’s way. Although I learned the principle from the great George Thompson of Verbal Judo fame, I was able to transition it into my Advanced Arrest Techniques and STAR (Survival Techniques Against Resistance) training programs. Here is how you can use this principle in your training system:

Let’s use a felony car stop as an example of how RAM can be used train your officers in safe, effective tactics: Create a need for the skill by discussing and/or showing a video on any number of car stops – which easily rank among the top of officers’ most dangerous tasks – including the tragic Constable Lunsford (Texas, early 90’s) stop of three men transporting thousands of dollars worth of drugs in their trunk. Lunsford allowed the men to move freely around him and the car, and, as he turned his back on the men – who you can clearly see and hear on the tape planning the attack behind his back – to look into the trunk, he is attacked, disarmed, dragged off the road and shot at point blank range with his own gun.

I know this is oversimplifying a tough scenario, but considering the limited venue of this newsletter, allow me to present the same scenario using RAM. Performing to perfection, the officer carefully strides from his cruiser to the car, observing all the while any movement inside. As he passes the trunk the officer places his hand on the lid and presses downward, assuring that no assassin is lurking inside, waiting for him to pass to pop up and shotgun him.

As the officer reaches a spot at an angle behind the driver, he indexes his firearm and says the following: “Good evening. I am Trooper Smith and the reason I stopped you is you blew through that stop sign about 4 miles back. Going pretty fast as a matter of fact. All three of you, I want you to listen up. You understand, if you cooperate, you won’t get hurt. Right? Ok, for your safety and mine, Driver, put your hands on the steering wheel and keep them there. You in the passenger seat. Let me see both your hands on the dashboard. Do it now. Thanks. Okay, you, in the back seat. Put both hands on the head rest in front of you. Do it now.”

When it comes time to retreat to the cruiser to check the car out or to have the trunk opened, the officer can use the same type of instructions again. What the officer is describing to the suspects is what the reasonable arc of movement he/she/they are allowed and still be considered cooperative. You have already advised them that they will not be hurt if they cooperate, and, at one point, you use the phrase “for your safety and mine,” which clearly describes to the bad guy(s) and to witnesses what they should and should not do and still remain safe while not threatening the safety of the officer(s). Looking back at the Lumford scenario, if he would have used RAM to describe to the three men where they could and could not move, he most likely would have had two of the men frozen in a safe position inside the vehicle and only one man – probably the driver – opening the trunk and following all instructions. If one or more of the suspects tried to leave the vehicle after being clearly told they could not – for your safety and mine – the officer should know that the suspect was now a Bad Guy and was violating RAM and that officer could reasonable “know” he had pernicious intent. For me, if I was the officer, I would disengage move to cover and quickly pull my firearm. RAM and planning before I even made the car stop would save my life.

Another example of applying RAM in training is Tactical Handcuffing. Let’s say I have the Bad Guy seated and I want to make sure he doesn’t try to stand up and rush me. I will use the principle of RAM to build in a Threat Recognition Signal so the officer can recognize the upcoming movement and can take preventive measures. The way I did this was to have a seated Bad Guy stretch his feet out and touch his heels to the ground; I also directed him to put both hands straight out, his thumbs down. I would precede all verbal directions with a clear and authoritative pre-command of “Sir, for your safety and mine---“ so the Bad Guy, witnesses and my fellow officers were all aware that any movement other than what I am commanding him to do will be considered resistance or worse. I also include in my training strategies for the arrest team, so that my pre-command would also be a signal for the other officers to move into a pre-planned position to speed cuff. If the suspect turns into a Bad Guy and tries to jump up, my experience is he or she will have to slide his or her feet toward his or her center and also move his hands closer to his or her body (especially if there is a weapon involved) before standing up. With good training, plenty of relevant scenarios, most of the trainees immediately react to the Bad Guy’s movements, even if they are barely perceptible, and in a heartbeat capture the Bad Guy’s hands and arms and ground him out, completing cuffing on the ground. If there is no resistance, the contact officer instructs the subject to lean forward and bring his hands behind his back, and, of course, the team moves in and he is cuffed almost the instant his hands pass his ribs. One more note: if the subject is seated in a chair that is flush against a wall, the arrest team must stand at Level II, which is as high a relative position they can acquire. The subject is directed to look to his left and bring his other hand toward the officer standing at Level II on his right. The officer then cuffs the subject, rotates the thumb to the outside – the same as if the suspect was standing – has him rotate in the chair (“For your safety and mine, sir, do not stand. Stay in the chair and bring your other hand to the small of your back.”) and top loads the second cuff onto the suspect’s un cuffed hand.

I urge use of force instructors to use some of the principles like RAM and Dynamic Simulation to bring their trainings to life. To make officer safety a must.

Back in the 1970’s when I was in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Anne Arundel County Police Department in Maryland; the general consensus was that women police were not effective in obtaining confessions from rapists. The logic was that since rapists hate women, female police could not develop a rapport with them. I proved the critics wrong, and was able to elicit scores of confessions from female-hating sex offenders. My technique was that I encouraged them to brag about their crimes. Most rapists are obviously self centered and egotistical. I learned early that if I acted interested in their behavior, and complimented them on their sexual prowess and their clever planning, I couldn’t shut them up. Of course, my intention was to get them to confess so that it would be easier on the victim in court. I also wanted to get them off the street and into prison.

I had been fortunate to have attended the FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit and The University of Louisville Southern Police Institute for Sex Crime Investigation. My mentor happened to be an FBI agent by the name of Robert “Roy” Hazelwood. Roy knows more about sex offenders, profiling and lust murderers than anyone in the country. He has written several best selling books on the subjects. He remains a good friend and colleague. I used to take my unsolved cases down to Quantico, VA for Roy to examine. He would “profile” the suspect for me. I would give him copies of most of my sex crime investigations so he could conduct research and discuss the cases in training sessions throughout the country and at the FBI Academy. Throughout the years, Roy and I learned a lot about the behavior of these offenders. I’d like to share some of my knowledge and dispel some of the myths associated with the crime of rape and its prosecution:

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Part II of Bonnie Lowe Welsh’s Monogram on Sexual Predators Will Be Proudly Included in the Next Magic Bullet.
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I proudly announce that the first two PPCT Instructor Seminars of 2006 were filled with officers from around the world. Wilson Borough Police Officer Calvin Siegfried hosted a PPCT DT Instructor Seminar, one of the first such trainings ever held in Easton, Pa. Thanks to the able and skilled assistance of Northampton County Probation Officer and DT Instructor Bernie Mikulski, the training was highly successful. Wilson Chief Of Police Richard “Rick” Nace kicked off the training in which three of his officers were participating , including Siegfried, Christian Meehan and E.B. “Bud” Shull. Other officers included former West Virginia University lineman, Officer Greg Outten, Colonial Wmsburg (Virginia)PD; Officer Ethan Flick of the Supreme Court of the United States, Washington D.C.; Military Officer Jamison Gilbert, stationed somewhere remote in the Pacific Ocean; Martial Arts instructor Jennifer Larsen, Lighthouse International, Stamford, Connecticut; and Recon and Surveillance Specialist Christopher Walker of Resistance Control traveled all the way from New Zealand to participate. Officers from less exotic locales included David A. Marino, Bushkill Township PD; Charles Meek, ISP Security, Easton; John Kempter, Fernwood Public Safety, Bushkill; Joseph Kizer, Nazareth Police Dept; Brian Kirchner, Bethlehem Township Police Dept; Bryan White, Falls Township PD, Fairless Hills, Pa.; Jason Fulmer and Christopher Benton, both of the City of Bethlehem Police Department.

Eight Health Care Professionals, Security and Police Officers took part in a Violent Patient Management Instructor Seminar at Harry McCann’s Bucks County Law Enforcement Training Center in Doylestown, Pa. from February 7 to 9. Six outstanding VPM instructors emerged from the class, including Health Care Professional Darlene Sizemore and Airline Security Instructor James Sizemore, both of Anchorage, Alaska. The Seminar was hosted by Springfield Township Police Officer Michael McDonald. Mike excelled again in this program, earning his fourth PPCT Instructor Certification (DT/GAGE/VPM and SHARP). Finally, but certainly not least, were an excellent contingent of officers out of the Manchester, New Hampshire Police Department. Sgt. Thomas Gallagher and Officers Brandon Murphy and Nate Boudreau, not only demonstrated outstanding VPM skills and techniques, they took time during break with some of the students and aided them in picking up some of the nuances of the skills. Along with McDonald, the three New Hampshire officers worked hard with the two Health Care Professionals from a Fort Washington hospital who chose to drop out after two days, stating that they wouldn’t be able to teach the “intrusive physical techniques” to their staff.

DO YOU HAVE A STORY, AN IDEA, A CONCEPT THAT CAN HELP OTHERS GO HOME EVERY DAY?

Action Fighting Arts and the Fighting Firebird invited you to contribute a story, article, feature or advertise your training in its monthly newsletter. The Firebird personally knows a lot of you out there who have innovative ideas and/or field experience when PPCT and/or other training programs have either worked or failed. Our readers (and I) can learn a great deal from those experiences. Plus, writing about your experiences and ideas can be fun and fulfilling, just as can seeing your thoughts in print can be.

Thanks to Rachel Goldstein, the founder of Artists Helping Children, for her help on art work and other features.

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