HayesGreener
Ronin
We hear the news of officers feloniously killed all too often. Two officers were killed last night in Kentucky.
My frame of reference on Law Enforcement spans from 1969 to the present. Here is my summary of the evolution of officer safety trends in that time. Please keep in mind that there are about 17,000 law enforcement agencies and more than 800,000 officers in the U.S. so these observations may not reflect what happened in every agency. I speak from the perspective of having been street cop, SWAT officer, trainer, and police administrator. I always look for mistakes that were made as a way of avoiding future deaths.
When I first entered the field in 1969 there were about 250 officers killed. Anarchists were running amok and blowing up banks, the Black Panthers were ambushing officers on principle, and narcotics traffickers were heavily armed and dangerous. Violent movies and television of the 70's reflected, though often inaccurately, the violence on the streets.
Law Enforcement agencies and the Feds were looking for ways to diminish the threat to officers. A tremendous amount of money was poured into research for such things as developing effective handgun ammunition, communications services, instant data systems, less lethal devices, vehicle design, and body armor. It seems ironic following the Obama administration that the Federal Government had once conducted studies to develop the most effective handgun cartridge. (The FBI continues to do so today).
Grants were made available for higher education for police officers. The need for special training and equipment for high-risk situations resulted in a trend toward SWAT teams nationwide. Developing police leadership became a priority. Works such as Pierce Brooks' Officer Down, Code 3, and Joseph Wambaugh's The Onion Field, incidents such as the Newhall Incident and the FBI Firefight in Miami ignited a wave of officer survival training that swept the country throughout the 80's and 90's. Caliber Press produced a series of books and training programs beginning with Street Survival: Tactics for Armed Encounters became required reading in many police academies. The value of these works was that they took a clear-eyed look at mistakes that were made by officers who were killed and injured in lethal encounters. In most incidents errors were found that contributed to officer survival failure. It is hard to be critical of the actions of those who have been killed in the line of duty, but if you don't do an critical after-action analysis you are bound to repeat the same errors. One of the most glaring mistakes seen repeatedly involves the approach to danger.
Firearms training took on new importance, body armor became standard, SWAT teams continued to professionalize, and agencies continued to look for equipment that would reduce the risk to officers. National police organizations set a goal to reduce the number of officers killed to less than 100 annually.
Not everyone liked what they saw happening in their police departments. SWAT-like uniforms, armored vehicles, and military type weapons and tactics made some feel like the police were becoming like occupying armies. Some police administrators even thought Officer Survival training was scaring the hell out of recruits and making them believe there was a bad guy behind every door. Most law-abiding citizens supported the police but detractors saw these officers as jack-booted thugs in the making, despite the trend toward Community Oriented Policing in the 1990's. But one thing could not be denied: the number of officers killed in the line of duty plummeted to less than half. In response to criticism that we should not be placing so much emphasis on training in the use of force, I am convinced that the more proficient officers are with their weapons, the less likely they are to use them unnecessarily.
By 9/11, officers who had ridden the wave of changes in training, tactics, and equipment had matured. Many senior command officers had been SWAT officers, or at least had undergone officer survival training. When post 9/11 funding was made available for equipment and training, they knew what they wanted and needed. The level of equipment and training reached levels never seen before in many communities. Patrol rifles became commonplace in response to mass shooter protocol changes. And the number of officers killed continued to fall. A mindset of officer survival was set in the police culture and was a spoken priority of police leaders.
So along comes the Obama Administration, BLM, and the anti-police crowd in general. For 8 years law enforcement was slammed over the use of force, armored vehicles, and their hard stance against crime and criminals. Almost every agency was impacted in some way by the Camden Beer Summit, the Ferguson Effect, the Baltimore Effect, George Floyd, and on and on. Police make mistakes and should be held accountable. But it seems the media was intent on disproportionately magnifying police mistakes while ignoring the millions of good deeds and thousands of lives saved by the police every year. Police tactics, training, and equipment were tempered by pressure from uninformed influencers. More training was conducted to emphasize the warm and fuzzy side of policing at the cost of officer survival training. There seemed to be a systematic dismantling of the officer survival mindset at the same time the police and communities were becoming polarized.
In almost every instance of officer murders, I have to ask, "what was that thug doing loose on the streets?" Violent criminals need to be locked up and left there for the protection of everyone.
The line between the social and tactical aspects of policing becomes blurry, especially when leadership is confused. Timidity has to set the stage for more tactical misjudgments and mistakes, and officers often fear taking enforcement action as they were trained may result in prosecution of the officer. I fear that the trend of increased assaults and murders of officers is fueled in part by diminished emphasis on the tactical realities of the approach to danger.
Modern police must find the balance between the martial aspects and the social aspects of policing but must never shirk the absolute duty to protect the officer on the street so he or she can do the job of protecting the community.
My frame of reference on Law Enforcement spans from 1969 to the present. Here is my summary of the evolution of officer safety trends in that time. Please keep in mind that there are about 17,000 law enforcement agencies and more than 800,000 officers in the U.S. so these observations may not reflect what happened in every agency. I speak from the perspective of having been street cop, SWAT officer, trainer, and police administrator. I always look for mistakes that were made as a way of avoiding future deaths.
When I first entered the field in 1969 there were about 250 officers killed. Anarchists were running amok and blowing up banks, the Black Panthers were ambushing officers on principle, and narcotics traffickers were heavily armed and dangerous. Violent movies and television of the 70's reflected, though often inaccurately, the violence on the streets.
Law Enforcement agencies and the Feds were looking for ways to diminish the threat to officers. A tremendous amount of money was poured into research for such things as developing effective handgun ammunition, communications services, instant data systems, less lethal devices, vehicle design, and body armor. It seems ironic following the Obama administration that the Federal Government had once conducted studies to develop the most effective handgun cartridge. (The FBI continues to do so today).
Grants were made available for higher education for police officers. The need for special training and equipment for high-risk situations resulted in a trend toward SWAT teams nationwide. Developing police leadership became a priority. Works such as Pierce Brooks' Officer Down, Code 3, and Joseph Wambaugh's The Onion Field, incidents such as the Newhall Incident and the FBI Firefight in Miami ignited a wave of officer survival training that swept the country throughout the 80's and 90's. Caliber Press produced a series of books and training programs beginning with Street Survival: Tactics for Armed Encounters became required reading in many police academies. The value of these works was that they took a clear-eyed look at mistakes that were made by officers who were killed and injured in lethal encounters. In most incidents errors were found that contributed to officer survival failure. It is hard to be critical of the actions of those who have been killed in the line of duty, but if you don't do an critical after-action analysis you are bound to repeat the same errors. One of the most glaring mistakes seen repeatedly involves the approach to danger.
Firearms training took on new importance, body armor became standard, SWAT teams continued to professionalize, and agencies continued to look for equipment that would reduce the risk to officers. National police organizations set a goal to reduce the number of officers killed to less than 100 annually.
Not everyone liked what they saw happening in their police departments. SWAT-like uniforms, armored vehicles, and military type weapons and tactics made some feel like the police were becoming like occupying armies. Some police administrators even thought Officer Survival training was scaring the hell out of recruits and making them believe there was a bad guy behind every door. Most law-abiding citizens supported the police but detractors saw these officers as jack-booted thugs in the making, despite the trend toward Community Oriented Policing in the 1990's. But one thing could not be denied: the number of officers killed in the line of duty plummeted to less than half. In response to criticism that we should not be placing so much emphasis on training in the use of force, I am convinced that the more proficient officers are with their weapons, the less likely they are to use them unnecessarily.
By 9/11, officers who had ridden the wave of changes in training, tactics, and equipment had matured. Many senior command officers had been SWAT officers, or at least had undergone officer survival training. When post 9/11 funding was made available for equipment and training, they knew what they wanted and needed. The level of equipment and training reached levels never seen before in many communities. Patrol rifles became commonplace in response to mass shooter protocol changes. And the number of officers killed continued to fall. A mindset of officer survival was set in the police culture and was a spoken priority of police leaders.
So along comes the Obama Administration, BLM, and the anti-police crowd in general. For 8 years law enforcement was slammed over the use of force, armored vehicles, and their hard stance against crime and criminals. Almost every agency was impacted in some way by the Camden Beer Summit, the Ferguson Effect, the Baltimore Effect, George Floyd, and on and on. Police make mistakes and should be held accountable. But it seems the media was intent on disproportionately magnifying police mistakes while ignoring the millions of good deeds and thousands of lives saved by the police every year. Police tactics, training, and equipment were tempered by pressure from uninformed influencers. More training was conducted to emphasize the warm and fuzzy side of policing at the cost of officer survival training. There seemed to be a systematic dismantling of the officer survival mindset at the same time the police and communities were becoming polarized.
In almost every instance of officer murders, I have to ask, "what was that thug doing loose on the streets?" Violent criminals need to be locked up and left there for the protection of everyone.
The line between the social and tactical aspects of policing becomes blurry, especially when leadership is confused. Timidity has to set the stage for more tactical misjudgments and mistakes, and officers often fear taking enforcement action as they were trained may result in prosecution of the officer. I fear that the trend of increased assaults and murders of officers is fueled in part by diminished emphasis on the tactical realities of the approach to danger.
Modern police must find the balance between the martial aspects and the social aspects of policing but must never shirk the absolute duty to protect the officer on the street so he or she can do the job of protecting the community.
These two officers are heroes. The baby is home doing well. 
