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Updated on 09/17/2003 |
INFORMATION AND ARTICLES ON SAFETY TRAINING SESSIONS AND VIDEO SELECTIONS
LAW ENFORCEMENT RISK MANAGEMENT USING HOLISTIC APPROACH By Michael Brave, President, LAAW International Law enforcement risk management (LERM) includes assessing and responsibly managing foreseeable risks, providing risk transfer mechanisms, providing training and resources to all agency levels, carefully managing the aftermath of potentially liable events, and managing any liability exposures flowing from an incident. LERM should manage risks associated with the three most identifiable areas of law enforcement losses: third party liability, workers’ compensation (injured officers), and employment practices claims. The program should also address the risks and issues associated with officer safety, criminal prosecution, complaint avoidance, officer morale, political cooperation, community perception, media cooperation, and special-interest group teamwork. In other words, a holistic approach to LERM must incorporate the entire law enforcement agency, with consideration for any outside entity that interacts with the agency. For each foreseeable action, LERM takes a proactive and preventive approach to the incident in several stages: 1) before the incident; 2) during the incident; 3) after the incident; 4) after a litigation has commenced; 5) after an officer has been injured. Example One Illegal Search Risk can be managed during the brief detention of a person for a frisk or entry into a home or vehicle for purpose of a search. Ask any law enforcement officer the ten (yes, there are 10) legal ways to enter a vehicle to search it, and when each applies and when it does not. Most officers, if not all, will fail to be 80% correct in answering. Example Two Physical Use of Force Officers may be confronted by persons who are resisting arrest, suicidal, in mental distress, creating civil disturbance, barricaded, or in domestic violence situations. Officers must be able to control these situations without causing or incurring injury. Technological innovations have provided additional techniques in place of physical force. Laser aimed, electro-muscular disruption devices (EMD) are over 90% effective, do not cause severe injury, are not dependent on psychological intimidation, and do not contaminate an area or cause continuing pain. These two examples need training and must be have guidance from the law enforcement agency policies and procedures. A holistic approach will focus not only on avoiding the potential negatives of an incident, but also on the effectiveness of the officers. If officers do not fully understand their authority, then they may be reluctant to take enforcement actions. The agency policy and procedure statements can improve officer effectiveness by including:
reports Supervisor Oversight Corrective Action, if needed Far too many agency resources are wasted by attempting to control the aftermath of incidents rather than by proactively stating the approved methods. USE OF FORCE TECHNIQUES Orange County, CA Sheriff’s Office
Type of Force 1999 2000 2001 2002Chemicals 300 263 221 64Physical Force 78 75 52 29Firearms 5 13 4 0 Canine 62 60 48 29 Impact Weapons 27 21 13 5 EMD 0 3 228 201 Reduction in Deputy Injuries Number of Injuries — 120 42 24Text and Chart summarized from Public Risk, Vol. 16, No. 2; February 2003 |
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