Understanding the Pathway to Violence is a Patrol Officer Necessity.

The pathway to violence is an important component to behavioral threat assessment. I first heard the term years ago when listening to Bryan Flannery talk about the TAPS act during a podcast interview.?

Fast forward to 2020, and Captain Brian Bixler, CTM entered into my life. Many know Captain Bixler as a behavior threat assessment heavy weight in the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP) (ATAP) community. I know him as the only captain, during my short career span, to be first on scene to an officer backup while a captain, only to throw on his duty belt and ask the officers what they had and what they need (he was more than ready to jump in the muck to support his officers in their time of need. Talk about leadership, but that’s a story for another time).

Captain Bixler was my sponsor into ATAP.?And while I’m no longer an official member, the knowledge I gained while attending their meetings and accessing their resources have proven to be invaluable.?

From academic knowledge to street application

This week my partner and I were doing some unrelated enforcement when we noticed an individual that just didn’t fit into our baseline. We almost clear the scene, but after a short discussion decided that we should check to make sure he wasn’t a danger to himself or others. The convo was more like:?

Me: “Bro, do you just get the feeling something is right?”?

Partner: “Yea dude, I’d hate to drive off and then he decides to blow his brains out or something after we didn’t take the time to stop and talk to him.”?

In that moment the decision was made. We walked up and I made initial contact with the subject. It did not take long to get deep down into an interesting rabbit hole.?

while at scene, I made a few calls and then asked our subject a few more questions.

The sanitized email correspondence below provides police leaders, field supervisors, and even peer-level leaders with a good reminder about the importance of encouraging officers to trust their training and experience, and to most of all, take that extra moment to peel the onion layer back during an incident when something seem right.?

If there isn't anything there, it's easy to simply explain your justification for the stop or detention to the individual a simply move on. But you will never know if you don't take the time to get out of the police vehicle and make the effort.

To put it simply, I am a small cog in a big wheel. However, my partners and I working patrol make up a component of the police structure that results in the most public contacts of the organization. It is our responsibility to utilize the plentiful resources we are blessed to have at our disposal. This profession is the equivalent of a team sport with every officer, detective, sergeant, and others in the organizational structure playing important roles to achieve the same goal: providing a service to our communities that results in reduced crime and the associated fear within our community.

Officers equipped with an understand of the pathway to violence can help to identify individuals who may be moving towards a point of crisis and direct the appropriate resources to that individual to mitigate the likelihood of the tragic events we have seen all too often on the news over there years. Such knowledge and application can have an incredible positive outcome for the subject involved and the community at large.

— Email correspondence —

Det. [redacted]

Thank you for taking my call this afternoon.?

The following information is related to incident [redacted] and AFDR# [redacted].?

While conducting 41.18 LAMC violation enforcement, my partner and I observed the subject sitting on the curb near a known problem location [homeless] encampment.?

My partner and I observed that the subject looked visibly frustrated. We believed that the subject may be a danger to themselves or others. I asked the subject if everything was okay and that I was a little concerned for him considering where he was sitting to smoke his cigarette.

The subject stated that he was frustrated about not being able to meet with [redacted - major celebrity]. He then stated he was having trouble with his satellite link and that they always end up wanting to date someone else. I further inquired about [redacted - major celebrity] and the subject stated that she was his "sparkle."?

The subject stated that he had a moment together with [redacted - major celebrity] in [city name redacted]. He further described the connection as a "flash of light between two people." I asked the subject if he has ever contacted her and he replied that he hasn't talked with her, but that he follows her social media.?

He stated that he was previously arrested for criminal trespassing in [city name redacted] when attempting to meet her at one of her concerts. When I asked him if he knew when and where the next event was he stated from memory that the event was at [major venue redacted] on [date redacted].

I completed an FI to document the incident. A copy of the Fl has been upload to this email. Thank you again for your advisement today.?

Sincerely Officer J.?

— Email response —

Hello Officer J.,

Thank you so much for contacting Threat Management Unit about this encounter. The fact that you made such an observation about [name redacted] and followed up on it, is noteworthy. I will enter this individuals information into our TMU database as information only, at this point. I am sure this individual may become an issue as we get closer to the dates of [name redacted - major celebrity]'s concert at [venue redacted] in [date redacted].

I looked at some of his social media accounts and they definitely show his fixation on [name redacted - major celebrity]. Some of the older posts appear to be eluding to him wanting to physically harm [name redacted - major celebrity], which is obviously concerning.

I contacted her security her in [location redacted] and advised them of your contact with [name redacted]. They will be completing their own work up on him, and will be notifying [name redacted - major celebrity]’s ground security team as well. [name redacted - major celebrity] is currently in [location redacted], which is good.

Thanks again for doing such great work out there.

Stay safe.

Det. [redacted]