PolicePosts

Training points:

1. Communication is critical: Not having a plan guarantees crossfire scenarios. Officers should leverage the gift of time and distance. Slow things down, prepare an arrest team, and call out suspects one-by-one from behind cover. This prevents officers from rushing the vehicle while occupants are still inside, not having appropriate cover when clearing the vehicle, and the all around disjointed nature of this approach.

2. Even when a vehicle is “pinned”, there’s the possibility of a determined suspect breaking through. Any occupied vehicle not totally disabled is still potentially dangerous to officers.

3. Turn off the sirens: This creates an added obstacle to communicating with other officers and the suspects. It could easily be cited by the suspects as the reason they didn’t comply with your commands.

Backstory: A man who fled from Arlington County Police was taken into custody this evening after striking several police cars. The vehicle block was performed in the 800 block of Army Navy Drive in Crystal City as the suspect tried to leave a parking garage, where he was arrested. At least two cruisers were damaged during the chase.

Training points:

1. Lethal coverage is critical when deploying a non-lethal tool like a taser. This scenario highlights how ineffective tasers can be and how critical it is to be prepared to transition to another level of force. A determined subject can close distance quickly. There’s often little time for one officer to transition from one tool to another. There must be a backup officer prepared to take that action.

2. Officers must not only account for an armed subject to close distance and attempt an attack but also the possibility the subject gets close enough that simply throwing the weapon can cause significant bodily harm. Cover, time/distance, and rapid decision making are critical.

Backstory: On Thursday, April 4, 2024, just before 5:30 a.m., Riverside Police Officers responded to a domestic violence call in the 3400 block of Chestnut Street.

A female adult victim had been battered and struck with a claw hammer by 59-year-old Shawn Palacat. While speaking to the victim, Palacat appeared from his apartment and approached the two officers with a large kitchen knife.

One of the officers gave commands to Palacat to drop the knife but he did not comply. The officer then drew and deployed his taser at Palacat. Palacat swatted the taser probes and wires then advanced toward the officer and raised the knife up to attack him.

The second officer then fired his duty handgun at Palacat, striking him. Paramedics arrived and performed life-saving measures until he was pronounced deceased at the scene. The weapon Palacat confronted officers with was a large kitchen knife, approximately 12 inches in total length with a black handle.

“I’m pressing charges…”

Training points:

1. When there’s sufficient backup on scene, officers have a few options when searching a subject’s belongings. The contact officer can conduct the search while the cover officers keep their attention fixed on the subject, however, the contact officer should step back away from the subject. This allows for the officer to focus on the search and not have to telegraph a potential attack. The contact officer can also pass off the belongings to one of the other officers to conduct the search and continue engaging with the subject. This facilitates continued rapport building and continual assessment of the subjects behavior which may lead to indicators of criminal activity.

2. Officers should train to conduct as extensive of an assessment of an individual prior to ever going hands on. This includes conducting a visual sweep of the subjects waistline, the area under and around the subject if they’re sitting, and in any area within reach where someone may have concealed a weapon or contraband.

3. In this case, the officers immediately recognize the “45”, the elbow flare that is consistent with someone reaching for an object from the bellybutton/top of hoodie pocket to the lower pelvis/pants pocket the arm creating a 45 degree bend at the elbow.

Backstory: Baltimore Police released officer body camera footage of a South Baltimore shooting that left a man dead and a detective hospitalized.

Officers questioned Anthony Ferguson, 39, about having a weapon as he sat on the steps of a building in the 3400 block of South Hanover Street in Fairfield.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said officers were investigating a call on May 24 about a person of interest after shots were fired earlier in the week.

He said during a Wednesday press conference at police headquarters that Ferguson fired at least 15 rounds at people but did not hit them.

The video shows officers searching Ferguson's backpack as he started backing away and pulled a gun from his waistband, firing three rounds, police said.

"It was a Springfield 45 semiautomatic; it did have an extended magazine on it, which can carry anywhere between 27 and 29 rounds," Baltimore Police Deputy Commissioner Brian Nadeau said.

Public court records indicate Ferguson had a long and violent criminal history that included multiple gun and drug charges. He also faced a manslaughter charge.

What you do matters.

Backstory: NYPD cops talk distraught subject down after threatening to jump off the Washington Bridge.