The police pursuit remains one of the most scrutinized, dangerous and fast-paced events encountered in law enforcement today. If you're sitting in your living room and watching a pursuit on television, you're glued to the TV until it ends. If you're a police officer involved in a pursuit, you experience some of the most memorable moments of your career—a call you'll never forget, a pure rush of adrenaline that is, at times, indescribable.
But if you're a field supervisor, you don't get to merely observe or participate you hold the responsibility of managing the entire event, from initial escalation to conclusion. You must think in terms of the totality of the situation with respect to the law and departmental policy, threats to the safety of participants and pedestrians, and potential litigation.
This article addresses the need for more and better pursuit-management training for field supervisors. Many administrators and supervisors live with anxiety about pursuits. They pose questions that should not be ignored: Will it happen in my city? Will it happen on my shift? How will it end? Will the outcome be tragic? And if they're not thinking about these questions, they should. These questions can serve as the foundation for pursuit-management training that will actually lessen their anxiety. Yes, it will happen in your city, and it will happen to you.
So, how do we prepare or strategize for this event? We must train, and we must train as a team. Managing a pursuit requires a team effort just as any other critical-incident response. Just as all available units respond to a silent robbery alarm at a local convenience store, we must handle a pursuit as a team in which the members are familiar with their responsibilities.
We've grown quite adept at managing contained crises, but when an incident is moving and fluid, we tend to get amped up and lose our focus. The principles of successful pursuit management don't have to be confusing or abstract. If we keep it business, we keep it professional and increase the likelihood of a safe resolution.
Train with Your Team
Field supervisors must take the initiative and assert themselves when managing their pursuits. The supervisor must make the time to mentor, coach and train officers on pursuit initiation, intervention and conclusion. Don't be afraid to address the real issues and the dynamics of human involvement. Discuss the realities of pursuits with your teams. Locate good case studies to reference, and debrief with tools such as videos, broadcasts or the first-hand account of one of your own pursuits. Talk with your team about your plans for intervention.
It doesn't matter how short or long these discussions or briefings are, just start having them. Five minutes a day in a squad room doesn't sound like much time, but it will impact your officers. Design table-top exercises or scenarios for your team to work out and operate. Put together team-building and group activities for your team. Be there for them and get involved in the training process. Make sure you and your team know what the mission really is.
Bottom line: Start the process, and it will grow.
Know Your Department s Policy
Review your department's policy with your patrol team. Make it a point to review, debrief and construct pursuit scenarios with your team before a pursuit occurs on your shift.
Draw from the experience of your team. You'll find that many members of your team are familiar with elements of policy you may have forgotten. Work directly with your team to find answers to questions that arise. Don't hide your intent to monitor or intervene in the pursuit activity when necessary. Your team must know your role within the pursuit-management process and know it's your job. For most agencies, policy dictates your management of the pursuit.
Bottom line: There should be no surprises when the pursuit starts.
Know Your Team
A pursuit is a critical incident that's mobile, uncontained and fraught with activity that can change without notice. Maturity and self-confidence are key elements team members must display when they're involved in a pursuit.
Get to know your team members levels of experience and abilities. Observe them in all types of high-risk situations. Identify and address your team's deficiencies. Their control and calmness during the critical incident, or lack thereof, will dictate if and when you intervene during an ever-changing incident. Remind them that your decisions are made to achieve the team's goal: to protect the general public and ensure safety for all.
Learn to Listen
Train your team to broadcast the specific and necessary information your department requires as well as any additional details that can assist with your decision making during a pursuit. Practice radio communication to instill good muscle and mind memory.
Your team must know you are listening, assisting them as a resource and providing competent management of the pursuit. Learn to recognize changes or nuances in your team's radio communication that may indicate a pursuit is escalating to a higher level of intensity. Too much radio silence can indicate something has gone wrong or the situation has taken a turn for the worse. If you miss something, ask for the information when appropriate. A well-trained officer and patrol team will repeat the information and ensure you have the information to manage.
Manage the Pursuit. Don't Let It Manage You.
Build your confidence and expertise along with your patrol team. Your exposure to policy, training and patrol-team building beforehand will allow you to take responsibility and operate as a support, not just a participant out of obligation to your rank. And you don't need to go it alone. Pick the brains of other supervisors who have been in your shoes.
Never sit in your car and cross your fingers, hoping the pursuit will end. Don't view the event as a bother; consider it an avenue of learning and a chance to enhance your knowledge. Every pursuit you manage builds your personal resume of experience. Don't run from it. Engage, support, manage and succeed.
Don't allow yourself to become involved in the pursuit and attempt to manage it at the same time. As a supervisor, your job is different now. You must be there for your team when it's time to make that important decision.
Make decisions, and then continually re-evaluate your decisions. Your management may prevent the most dreaded outcomes. There is nothing wrong with changing your mind or canceling the operation all together. Your team should be well aware a termination order could come from you at anytime. Extenuating circumstances and dangers may be more apparent to you than to your officers operating within the incident.
Finally, don't forget your responsibility to crime-scene containment and preservation. You and your team must work smarter, not harder.
Document All Appropriate Information
Don't hold anything back when it comes to articulating in writing your decisions for authorizing the pursuit and directing activities or intervention during the pursuit. We all make mistakes and suffer small defeats when they occur. But that s how we learn. Document the events, debrief the circumstances and apply what you learned the next time you manage a pursuit.
Remember: Our job is to apprehend criminals. The method of management governs the way we do our business. Review all reports, and then review them again. Every pursuit is different and will require various forms of documentation and solicit varying critiques. Appropriate documentation from everyone involved will assist with re-training issues and legal issues.
Bottom Line
These tactics sound like I approach pursuit management as a business. I do. Our job is business. As supervisors, we must keep our own adrenaline rush to a minimum and continually re-evaluate our emotional response to the incident in order to make appropriate and necessary decisions. Yes, it sounds boring to categorize high-risk law enforcement operations as business, but when we lose sight of our objective, we lose the fight.
Don't allow a pursuit to cause you anxiety and frustration. A proactive strategy of preparing and training with your team will increase the likelihood of a successful outcome. You will no longer be in pursuit of management. You will be able to manage the pursuit.
Pursuit Training & Resources
The International Association of Chiefs of Police's Pursuit Model Policy
www.theiacp.org/documents/index.cfm?fuseaction=document&document_type_id=1&document_id=586
Pursuit Decision Making
www.hi-risk.com/pursuit_decision_making.htm
Pursuit Case Law updates, videos and law enforcement training
www.pursuitwatch.org/
The Police Policy Studies Council
www.theppsc.org
www.theppsc.org/Staff_Views/Ashley/reducing_the_risks_of_police_pursuit.htm
California Specific
California's roadways probably have more than their share of pursuits, and the state certainly has more than its share of attorneys. As a result, some of the most progressive studies and legislation have evolved in the state. While the following may not specifically apply to your state, the information can prove very valuable.
Law Enforcement Executive Alert by the California POST Training Network (CPTN)
This 10-minute Web video articulates new pursuit requirements with regard to the new California Senate Bill 719.
http://movfactory.com/executivealert/
New POST Pursuit Guidelines
www.post.ca.gov/vehicle_pursuit/default.asp
Chico Police Department case study that initiated changes and guidelines in California's legislation regarding pursuit policies.
www.kristieslaw.org
Sergeant Timothy Long is a 17-year law enforcement veteran assigned to the Investigative Bureau of the Long Beach Police Department in California. He develops and conducts departmental training courses as well as public sector seminars. Currently, he s working toward completion of the POST Master Instructors Development Program, constructing a course for Pursuit Management for Field Supervisors.