sighting in on: Attic Tactics
Using a tactical mirror to visually clear an attic space is a crucial step.
lows them to cover 360 degrees of the room as quickly as possible while scanning for threats. An attic completely negates that technique. T ere’s no way to get two people up into this kind of environment quickly. In fact, there’s no way to get one person up there quickly. Not even the most youthful and agile of offi cers can do it. With my body’s ever-expanding heartland, it’s defi nitely not an option. What to do? Here is one technique: As the offi cer moves up the ladder, he/she must slowly turn while elevating his/her pistol’s sight plains a little at a time like the threads of a screw. After that level is cleared, move to the next rung up and repeat. After reaching the surface, be aware that many attics don’t have fi nished fl oors. T ere’s a possibility that an offi cer will be able to completely clear the area visually without the need to actually walk around up there. If not, he/she must continue upward until fi nding some kind of footing. Hold the area until the second offi cer can make his/her way up. Finish clearing any previously unobservable areas as usual, with- out putting your foot through the plasterboard.
Striking Gold
Now, what to do if you locate a suspect prior to completely making entry? T e tendency seems to be to go up and get them. T at’s what cops do. We catch bad guys. T en, there’s that whole discretion/valor thing that tends to get lost on the bravado brigade. T e wise thing to do is to cover the attic entrance and call for more resources. A barricaded subject is a tactical team problem. Obviously, not every department has a SWAT team in-house. However, it is likely most departments have access to tactical support in some manner, if even that means waiting for one of the state law enforcement agencies’ teams. Hopefully, all departments already have a protocol in place to cover such a situation. It not, there’s no time like the present to develop one. How long will it take for them to respond? In this instance, it doesn’t matter. Wait.
Redundancy My department trains with an excellent team from another jurisdic- tion. A few years ago, they were asked to search a residence for suspects on behalf of a smaller agency. Of course, they obliged and after a careful and deliberate operation, declared the residence all clear. As
25 The Police Marksman Sep-Oct 2014
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investigators were processing the scene, a suspect literally came out of the wall. He’d been hiding in the attic and had slid down between the studs and the plasterboard of two interior walls. Who would have thought to look there? Try as we might, sometimes, life just drops a ceiling fi xture on us. If there’s a lesson to be learned here, it’s the value of redundancy when it comes to offi cer safety. One might look at this plan and think it’s more redundant than a penguin wearing a tuxedo. T at may be true, but all it takes is a little extra time. We’ve all heard the expression, “Time is money.” In this setting, time is cheap and expediency is expensive. PM
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