Defensive Seating

We just finished a class regarding officer survival. The class was geared more to how to survive in a firefight and the mindset you must have in order to survive. You get to hear the facts that the majority of cops are killed when they are alone, usually shot with a hand gun and usually within 10 feet.

The class presented information regarding the different awareness levels of being a cop. It is important for those applying with any law enforcement department that you can never be oblivious as to what is going on around you. You must always be searching for potential threats, exits and must be aware of the people around you and their behavior.

I have found that with a girlfriend, and this new found knowledge, it has become customary to have discussions with your significant other about where to sit when you go to restaurants. What I mean by this is, as a cop, you always want the defensive seating arrangement. Meaning you want to sit with your back to a wall and hopefully in a position that will allow you to be looking out at the customers within the restaurant. This would also include the entrance to the restaurant, giving you line of sight to all that are coming and going.

Now, every time I go to a restaurant, I notice that my girlfriend takes “that” seat. In which case, I ask her to move. This usually results in “The Look.” Those of you with a significant other probably have been the recipient of “The “Look.” I have been told that over time, significant others will start to learn about “The Seat,” therefore avoiding the public rendition of "The Look."

Crowd Control

We had a class about riots and crowd control the other day. I have included some pictures. But it is important to note that in order to be good at crowd control, it helps immensely if you have experience as a member of a marching band. As a secondary note it will become instantly known to all if you were lucky enough to have been born with any rhythm or as in most of our cases……not.

The idea behind crowd control is trying to maintain order, or to reestablish order, during a riot. There are many slow movements with the need of many officers being in synch (or rhythm if you prefer). The hard part of crowd control is people are yelling at you, throwing anything they can find at you, and as always, trained officers must maintain professionalism at all times. The picture below is the recruiting class practicing the movements and commands. It was fun in a practice mode, but until I do it for real, I really won’t know if the fun will transfer over. Probably not.