# police stand off question.



## MIkePrekopa (Jan 12, 2010)

So in one of our practice tests in class we had an interesting question. I saw this a while  ago and have asked people I know but never get a strait answer. I am doing this by memory so I hope it makes sense. 

You are called to the scene of a bank robbery/ shoot out with police.

An officer was shot and cannot move from his position. He is still currently in the line of fire for the shooter, As SWAT guides you to him what should you do?

I don't remember the answers they gave, but they wanted you come to the conclusion you have to do an emergency drag.

To me this voids the scene safety idea. maybe its me but getting shot at doesn't seem safe. In my opinion you should stage out as close as possible while being in a safe area, then inform swat how to drag him. I trust that a swat member can understand "Put his arms strait up above his head, then grab his wrists and drag him over here." I would rather a swat member in body armor pull the guy to me than me in my polo shirt.

Maybe its me, but is swat not able to spare 2 or 3 guys for 5 minutes that they would rather put 2 unarmed/unarmored emts in the line of fire with swat escorts ?

Sorry if this doesn't make much sense. thats what i remember about it.


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## JPINFV (Jan 12, 2010)

Hahahaha... Someone needs to go watch a special on the North Hollywood Shootout.

In the line of fire? Send the police in an armored vehicle (North Hollywood Shootout ended up borrowing an armored transport) to go fetch him.


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## AnthonyM83 (Jan 12, 2010)

SWAT should generally have a procedures worked out ahead of time for this situation. If you're in actual shooting zone, whichever SWAT guys are "covering you" to retrieve the officer should be able to do an emergency drag. They have other options, such as armored vehicles or throwing them into open trunks of their cruisers and driving them away from the hot zone.


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## MMiz (Jan 12, 2010)

SWAT, ERT, etc. have procedures for handling an officer down.  Generally they will be removed from the immediate hot zone/combat and evacuated to EMS that often is standing by.  There isn't much that EMS can do that can't be done by an officer trained in first aid.  If EMS isn't standing by, it's not unusual to have police transport their own via squad car.

Even many tactical medics aren't in the hot zone/combat, but instead stage in a safe area.


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## MIkePrekopa (Jan 13, 2010)

Thats what I thought. Thanks a lot for the answers.


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## IHateHosemonkeys (Jan 16, 2010)

MIkePrekopa said:


> Maybe its me, but is swat not able to spare 2 or 3 guys for 5 minutes that they would rather put 2 unarmed/unarmored emts in the line of fire with swat escorts ?
> 
> Sorry if this doesn't make much sense. thats what i remember about it.



EMS should never be going into the hotzone of a shootout, unless they are a TEMS unit, (tactical EMS.) They have special training with SWAT teams for this kind of situation and they should be the ones going in if it is ABSOLUTELY needed. Otherwise, it should be done with an armored vehicle, or more logically, by the SWAT officers themselves.


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## DrParasite (Jan 16, 2010)

MIkePrekopa said:


> An officer was shot and cannot move from his position. He is still currently in the line of fire for the shooter, As SWAT guides you to him what should you do?


Tell the SWAT officer that you will be staying in the cold zone, when he brings the officer to you (in any way he can, remember, scene safety comes before any intervention), you will treat and rapidly transport him to a trauma center.

Some people seem to develop that hero syndrome when these situations happen, and want to go in under the gunfire and pull out the injured officer.

Let those trained in Special Weapons and Tactics use their Special Weapons and Tactics to do the job that they are trained and equipped for.  Unless you are properly trained and equipped to handle that situation, you have absolutely no business getting involved, until the scene safety issues have been mitigated.


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