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

STREET SMARTS
were located after one of them accidentally
put his foot through the ceiling. Call
it a “clue.”
Our SWAT team assembled while negotiators
tried to talk to the suspects.
They weren’t speaking, so we closed off
the vents and pumped several thousand
cubic feet of OC gas into the attic. Surprisingly,
the men still didn’t surrender,
and we were unsure if perhaps they
hadn’t already succumbed to the heat.
It turns out the men had buried themselves
under loose insulation and were
taken into custody without a fight. The
team, however, didn’t fare as well, as
several of the officers went down due to
heat exhaustion and dehydration.
There were many good lessons to learn
from that exercise.
First and foremost, there need to be a
plan and personnel in place if someone
gets into trouble. In the dynamic environment
of an incident, it’s impossible
to understand all the safety issues before
sending people into a potentially dangerous
space.
Therefore, you need at least an ad-hoc
emergency response plan. There could
be dangerous gases, high or low temperatures,
exposed electrical lines, sharp
metal edges, biological hazards such as
bird droppings or the possibility of becoming
stuck in a tight space. Now, add a
potentially dangerous person to the mix
and you can see why entering a confined
space is such a dicey proposition.
At minimum, there should be one person
standing by to assist for every person
who enters the confined space. If two officers
must enter a hot attic, there should
be at least two officers downstairs, ready
to rescue their friends if things go badly.
The person entering the space should
strip down to essentials. Lose all that
neat—but potentially entangling—gear
hanging all over your body. Like cavers,
take at least two light sources, since your
primary light may fail at the worst possible
time.
Take it slowly, because there are too
many places to search simultaneously. For
once, I’d suggest an unhurried entrance,
even though this flies in the face of the
“fatal funnel” concept. I believe that,
while there is a chance of being shot, there
is a greater likelihood of falling, knocking
yourself unconscious or otherwise
doing serious damage to yourself. Then
you’re in no position to protect yourself.
If you find the object of your search,
what do you do? Since they will probably
be restricted themselves and likely
lying down, order them to show their
hands. You then need to figure out an
exit plan. Backup is handy if available at
this point.
Obviously we can’t handcuff the bad
guy in a confined space unless we plan
on lifting him out. The best plan is to
crawl out backward first, so that you can
keep an eye on the suspect without being
within arms’ reach. You must also
communicate with the support team that
people will be coming out shortly. Don’t
surprise them!
When selecting personnel to enter a
confined space, make sure they are ready
for the challenge. If there is a battle, they
will have to solve the crisis by themselves.
Moreover, if there is a lethal confrontation
in such a space, only one person
will come out. You definitely want a
meat-eater handling that problem.
Or an expendable rookie. §
42 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER 2007 SWATMAG.COM