Critical Incident Response: The Objective

Law enforcement is under more scrutiny than any other time in history. In particular, it’s the decision making of patrol officers that tends to get the most attention. One way of making better decisions is by consciously asking ourselves, “What is my objective and what do I hope to accomplish?” 

As law enforcement officers, it's often our decision to fight, chase, shoot or otherwise engage that tends to make headlines. The practice of making sure we have a clear and legally defensible objective can mean the difference between failure and success.

The objective is the specific goal we intend to accomplish in a given situation. Law enforcement officers are routinely called to scenes that are tense and uncertain. We often deal with family members who are upset with each other, mentally ill persons, drug users and armed individuals. These situations are rife with potential problems for us so having a clear objective in mind helps guide our thinking and response. One way to determine the objective is to follow a logical algorithm such as the one that follows. 

Understand

In trying to determine the objective we must first understand the situation. A simple way of figuring that out is to ask ourselves “What do we really have here?” and “What’s the crime?” Also being able to name an incident such as “This is a misdemeanor noise complaint situation” vs. “This is a possible kidnapping.” can put the incident in perspective for us. We risk a lot to save a lot, and risk a little to save a little but we first have to know what it is we’re dealing with. 

Conceive

We try to expose an objective that is... (continue reading)

About Me: My name is Scott Savage and in addition to currently serving as a law enforcement officer in California, I founded the Savage Training Group. Most law enforcement officers are frustrated by a lack of high-quality training classes. That's where the Savage Training Group comes in! Our expert instructors teach advanced courses that help officers advance their careers, become experts and save lives. To see what we've prepared for you, go to https://savagetraininggroup.com/

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