S.W.A.T. December 2007 - McKeesport Police Department

STREET SMARTS
Iwas recently reminded of an incident
several years ago that was perhaps
one of the most shocking of my entire
undistinguished career at the cop shop.
We were searching for a wanted felon
at his residence. After an extensive interior
search, the only thing left was the attic.
Showing a serious lack of good sense
as a supervisor, I volunteered to ascend
the rickety ladder.
Slowly poking my head into the attic
opening, waving pistol and fl ashlight
around in dramatic fashion, I also reminded
my co-workers not to point their
weapons at the hole where Yours Truly
was standing. Within seconds I realized
that perhaps I should have sent one of
the rookies into the breach.
The attic was impossibly crowded
with clothing and boxes. I took a deep
breath and slowly climbed onto the loose
plank that served as a catwalk, staying
on my hands and knees since the nailstudded
roof was less than four feet from
Part of the L-3 EO/IR GROUP
CONFINED SPACES
BY BRENT T. WHEAT
the garage ceiling at the highest point.
There were dozens of shirts hanging
from a pipe at my left shoulder. Poking
through the wall of cloth, I was ready for
trouble.
I wasn’t ready for the suspect’s face to
appear about four inches from mine.
Fortunately, he was hiding instead
of wanting a fi ght. Otherwise, he could
have done unspeakable things to my
matchless profi le before I even had the
opportunity to soil myself. Even though
I was primed and prepared for battle, the
surprise so unnerved me that I could only
get out a strangled, “Whoooaaa! Stop.....
freeze...no, um, don’t....freeze...”
I vowed that day to pay more attention
to confi ned-space tactics.
Working in confi ned spaces is an unpleasant
necessity when dealing with
social mayhem. Miscreants intentionally
seek out places like attics, crawl spaces
and plumbing chases to hide from the
good guys. Sometimes when the trouble-
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maker is caught, he then wants to fi ght it
out. That’s not a happy place for our team.
What are we talking about in the fi rst
place? The Occupational Safety & Health
Administration says a confi ned space
is large enough that an employee can
bodily enter, but has a restricted means
of exit. Therein lies the problem: if there
is trouble, it is exceedingly diffi cult for
backup to assist. Once you are through
that opening, you are pretty much on
your own, at least for awhile.
Before someone even climbs into the
black hole, stop and consider if the risk is
really worth the benefi t. If not, are there
reasonable alternatives such as negotiation?
Unfortunately, negotiation often isn’t
going to work and someone must go into
the darkness.
We had an incident where burglary
suspects stupidly fl ed into a residential
attic on a hot August day. The responding
offi cers knew where the suspects
40 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER 2007 SWATMAG.COM