This article was in the daily clips I receive from the Police Executive Research Forum.
I expressed this concern a couple years ago here in the Chief's Corner. I think it is a good time for everyone to think about the importance of maintaining their situational awareness.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
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10 comments:
I would like to see how officers do this. I hope you get a lot of tips from officers around the country on what they do to stay safe.
Jenn
Police must be allowed to complete paperwork in a safe environment, I believe that is in a police station with minimal distrations. Is this problem similar to that of pilots overflying the airports?
It's a sad state of affairs when police officers can't fill out paperwork in a public location. Yes, they need to be aware of risk, but to require them to fill out paperwork, on their own time, after a shift, is overkill. We need to make sure that the technology used in reporting is efficient so as to limit time spent on reports. I'm sure you are already doing this.
256
i like the idea of the officers being safe while completing these reports, because as you have said in the past, it does consume a person's mind when doing them. this makes it hard to always realize what's going on around you. some have suggested that the station would be a better place for this. my only concern for that is when this should be done. after the shift? during the shift? i would rather have officers in their cars ready to respond to a call rather than be at a desk at the station. either way there are advantages and disadvantages to both. but in the end we are talking about officer's safety, so it is a decision that must not be taken lightly.
One report of the final shootout w/ this dirtbag from Tacoma that killed the four officers I heard indicated that the officer was in his vehicle "doing paperwork" regarding a stolen vehicle he had stumbled upon, when he noticed someone approaching his vehicle from behind, on the driver's side. Made my blood run cold.
Thank god that officer was looking around as he worked - it saved his life most likely...
And clearly the shooter was trying to repeat his earlier "success" of finding an officer at a pretty vulnerable position.
Chief, I agree it is important to maintain situational awareness. For example, when I type my reports on night shift, I usually back into an enclosed and empty parking lot. That way I can see whoever is approaching from a distance.
But I think it is overkill to say officers can't type up their reports in the field. I also think that to have "policy" saying you can't get out of your car without radioing your location is too restrictive. Sometimes I feel safer getting out of my car first and then calling in my location (I have better access to my firearm, I have my seatbelt off, my hands are not tied up on the steering wheel and the car radio, etc).
These incidents in Washington State are not the norm. They are tragic but they are statistically rare. I don't feel unsafe because of what happened, and we have to be careful not to create an environment where officers are scared to get out of their police cars.
David-
Well, I've never said never on this, I just think it has to be done pretty carefully. As I indicated in my 2007 post, I think at present only short reports should be done from the patrol car.
Departments should provide, and officers should find, some other more private locations for officers to complete more extensive reports--the kind that would have them glued to the tube--for both ergonomic and safety reasons.
I think you can do some good training on these subjects, to teach officers how to think about good places to be when they need to use their in-car computer for some research or report-writing.
Go write reports in the cemetery. No one to hurt you there.
Seems to me that in light of budgetary woes plaguing municipalities around the country, (see Lincoln Nebraska), any measures to save costs would not be off the table. I can attest to the fact that I have spent many, many gallons of cruiser fuel travelling from calls for service to a substation to complete an online report only to find that the one or two pcs are in use, then moving on to another location in search of that sometimes elusive idle computer terminal. To be able to climb into my car and do the report there (many times in a reasonably safe neighborhood setting) would save the city money and me the time to be more productive by doing something other than driving somewhere to do a report. I work the day shift, so the likelihood of someone sneaking up and ambushing me are probably decreased, however let's face it. Policework is a dangerous occupation, that's why we get paid the big bucks (insert laugh track here). I say let the individual officer decide what is safe. I have full confidence in my own ability to be as safe as practical. The Washington incident, as pointed out earlier, was and hopefully will continue to be an extremely rare occurence. Probably much rarer than the motor vehicle accidents that could happen as a result of a patrol officer looks away from the road onto his MDT screen to read the call. Lancaster County deputies enjoy this capability. Guessing that drive time is part of the reasoning behind it. By all measures, LPD is an extremely small and efficient department. The odds of any significant and useful increase in dept size are long. Providing us the tools to maintain that efficiency are critical while looking to the future.
3:15-
Paying the monthly charge for unlimited data to Verizon for a fleet of a couple dozen patrol cars for Lancaster County isn't quite the same for 125+ units for LPD. We are working on some high speed access points, though, in the 4.9 Ghz licensed public safety spectrum. Patience, please. If and when we have high bandwidth access, training and preparation will still be important to avoiding officer safety risks--not to mention the ergonomics of the patrol car, which will never equal an actual workstation. Doubt it? You have never seen our worker's comp claim report, have you?
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