Tactical
Response
As the challenges for law enforcement
officers become more dangerous, what do
you need to do to get home safe?
Stories by Mitchell Krugel
sustenance – water, coffee, fruit, snacks and hugs – that helped law
enforcement from 50 states and a few other countries endure the
110-degree heat, humidity and even rain.
And when it was all said and done, there was an overwhelming
sentiment had by all.
“The thin blue line exists across all 50 states, and we were fortunate to be part of everybody connecting at a time when we were all
feeling the same pain,” surmised Berkeley Heights Local 144 Delegate
Pat Moran, who joined Hulse, Haase and Vernon Township Local 285
Delegate Keith Curry on the second leg to Baton Rouge.
Response Scenario
President Colligan put out the final confirmation to go on Sunday,
three days after the Dallas shooting, and Kovar, First Vice-President
Pete Andreyev, Hammond, Dello and Werner prepared to fly as leaders of the PBA Delegation. By Monday, Hulse and Haase had the trailer and truck loaded and took off, not knowing at that time when the
funerals would be scheduled or when they would be coming back.
Haase has been a keeper of the PBA trailer for nearly as long as
there has been one, and taking it to a law enforcement funeral has
been an all-too-familiar foray. But foregoing vacation? That’s the
above-and-beyond the PBA hoped to bring to Dallas and Baton
Rouge along with the trailer village.
“That’s what people like Andy do,” Hulse noted. “It’s not always
something that fits into the plans we make, but when it comes to
helping fellow officers, there are people like Andy who will drop everything.”
Making the call to go was never a question as Colligan indicated.
He had seen a parking lot full of trailers – or canteens as they are
also known – during the 2014 funerals for New York City Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. “Boston came with clam chowder. New
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July 7, 2016 reverberated through American law enforcement as the day
that perpetuated a change in policing perhaps forever. A sampling of such
came through dispatch at the Raritan Township Police department recently.
“Occasionally, an officer on duty will flush a toilet and you can hear it over
the radio,” Raritan Township Local 337 State Delegate Meg Hammond began.
“That was something dispatch never used to check. Recently, though, somebody flushed and it came over the radio and dispatch went through each car
to make sure everybody was OK.”
Now to say that the ambushes in Dallas and Baton Rouge that left eight
officers dead is further sending law enforcement down the tubes is contrary
to the response departments and their officers are making to the current
landscape and challenges of law enforcing. And a quick tour of thoughts and
ideas from members and experts will present some ideas and tips to deal
with all the crap, ideas and tips that confirm what NJ State PBA President Pat
Colligan proudly states: “I think New Jersey has the best trained law enforcement officers in the country, maybe even the world.”
The angst that manifested with the attack in Dallas on July 7 and then in
Baton Rouge on July 17 – not to mention others in Kansas City, San Diego
and Berrien County, Michigan during July – has been percolating for more
than five years. Recently-retired Lacey Township Chief and Local 238 member
Dr. David Paprota suggests that elected officials on all levels and from all political parties should have seen this coming when they created an anti-public
employee sentiment as far back as 2009. The events in Ferguson, Missouri in
August 2014 certainly elevated that disdain for law enforcement to a national level and national exposure.
That would be courtesy of an increasingly sensationalizing news media
fueling a call for more scrutiny of police response fueling a need for body
cameras fueling a climate to put every officer’s action under the microscope
(the public’s and the department’s). Law enforcers want to be more forceful
and brave, consistent with their nature to serve and protect. But the question
becomes is that even practical in today’s world? Or allowable?
“The dilemma officers are facing comes from being more challenged by
a public that has developed a disrespect for their authority, placing them in
dangerous situations which causes them to be more cautious and elevates
each interaction in the mind of the citizen,” Dr. Paprota continued. “You direct
someone to show your hands on a basic car stop at night, which is a reasonable safety measure that otherwise law-abiding citizens might take offense
to. So the response might actually elevate the encounter.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 33
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