Debrief: the tale of two traffic stop "ambushes"

I haven't done any debriefing of incidents on this website before. Now is a good time to start. Of course I'll be using The Illinois Model as a template when I give my opinions.

***

These two police car dash-camera videos have been making the rounds lately. There are plenty of opinions on the videos (and incidents), both individually and collectively. Maybe these videos will help our followers better define their personal Police Operational Philosophy.


(If the videos aren't displaying on your device, here are some links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5O_4e4hnqM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do9KYCoiQZc

In both cases, the motorist exits the car and faces the police officer. In both cases, the motorist pulls a dark item on the officer. In both cases, the officer fires his weapon...though at different times in the encounter.


In Oregon, the officer (Matt Zistel) was shot. So was the motorist. The dark item was a pistol.

In Texas, the officer (Justin Boehm) was the first and only to shoot....and miss. The dark item was a wallet. The officer got fired.

I'll let you google the two incidents for more information on each incident. There is plenty of opinion, discussion, critique, and support for both.

In the meantime, we prefer to use The Illinois Model LEOpSys as our method to debriefing incidents. We loop our "process" with:
  1. Priority of Life - threat and problem analysis,
  2. Mission - Objective - goals, based on law,
  3. Strategy - Tactics - plans and methods.
In these videos, the situation and circumstances unfold VERY quickly. Without some sort of pre-planned response, these officers were/would have been operating and responding behind the decision-making curve.

Keep in mind, police officers, by law, are not required to be factually correct; they only must be reasonable in their belief. We all know "objective reasonableness" is rarely a black-and-white decision. Even a panel of our country's ultimate judges can't agree on most topics.


***
Louis Hayes is a co-developer of The Illinois Model™ law enforcement operations system (LEOpSys) and moderates several courses rooted in its theory and concepts. He is a 15-year police officer, currently assigned to a multi-agency tactical unit in Chicagoland. The universal process he uses for case critique is the same used during planning and operational decision-making. A full compilation of articles on The Illinois Model can be found here.

***
If you like our ideas, follow us on Twitter at @TheILModel, "like" us on Facebook at The Illinois Model, or join our secure group on LinkedIn. 

Comments

  1. Unknown10/8/13, 11:33 AM

    so the question is how do we fix both of these problems?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lou Hayes Jr10/14/13, 9:40 AM

    Dave, I believe the answer lays within our Model's "Strategy-Tactics" tier. Even for a simple car stop for a minor traffic violation, there are stabilizing strategies....like maintaining distance, using cover, good positioning. I'm not going to compromise tactics on an open forum like this, but will email you a couple more points. But will close with these questions to all readers: do you or your officers see traffic stops as an "incident" that can be strategized with either stabilizing or action-based plans? If not, why not? And what are you doing in training to develop slower, more stabilizing strategies for these daily car stops?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Presentation Hack: Your Last Slide(s)

Image
I've written before about introductory presentation slides . When the audience is filtering into the room, I prefer to play a few minimalist slides on a looping show over the typical static slide jammed with titles, organizations, names, events, and logos. (Many of you have circled back to me after having used this trick to share your successes with it! Thanks for trying it!) But what about ending the presentation? What tricks do I use to bring closure to a projected slide deck? How do I handle a summary or a Question-and-Answer session? First let me contrast two (2) different chronologies of the tail ends of presentations: Weaker Ending Final detail point. Grand closing (climax?) "Are there any questions?" Answer them if they're asked. Thank the audience. Awkwardly leave the platform Stronger Ending Final detail point. Brief Summary "Before I get into the final closing, what questions can I answer?" Answer them if they&#
Read the entire post here »

Presentation Hack: "For those of you who don't know me..."

Image
I've been to quite a few weddings. Not that I've been invited to more than any of you, but I have moonlighted in a few banquet halls over the years. As such, I've heard my fair share of toasts by Best Men and Maids of Honor. (And eaten my fair share of dinners in the back half.) For many Best Men or Maids of Honor, the dinner toast is one (1) of the most stressful aspects of a wedding weekend for them. Public speaking causes all sorts of anxiety - magnified by the pressure of knowing your failure might ruin your best friend's most special day of his/her life! Yikes! It doesn't take long to determine who is comfortable holding the microphone. And whether I can see the body language or not, it's sometimes the first few words that come out of their mouths that give it away. Few public speaking phrases get me to cringe as reliably and as intensely as an introduction of  "For those of you who don't know me..." This introduc
Read the entire post here »

The Generalist versus The Specialist

Image
There exists a conspiracy against the Generalist. Today's culture rewards those who Specialize: doctors, athletes, teachers, cops. Being labeled a Generalist comes with ridicule of being luke-warm, a moderate, uncommitted, or without passion. Those images are false. They are hallucinations. Time and time again, life penalizes the Specialist. We never learn from our mistakes. Striking a balance between being a Generalist or a Specialist hinges on one factor: one's confidence in the future . The equation is quite simple -- the greater the predictability of approaching problems, the more one should become the Specialist; the less foresight one has, the more benefit in being the Generalist. This axiom holds for any aspect of life: financial investment, medicine, emergency preparedness, physical fitness, backcountry camping, education, gambling, and of course....law enforcement operations. As with most of our theories, this is a spectrum bookended by two extremes. With a
Read the entire post here »