ABSTRACT
Underlying everything that first responders and critical incident managers do is the concept of risk mitigation. We start this chapter with a close look at risk mitigation because risk pervades everything else that follows in the subsequent chapters. Understanding risk and risk mitigation is the bulwark of critical incident management. As stated in Chapter 1, risk mitigation is something that is done before, during, and after an incident. It is the fourth “phase” of the FEMA model that is really not a phase. Risk mitigation is something that all persons and organizations do on a daily basis, even if most of the time we are not consciously aware that we are doing it. The key to understanding risk and risk mitigation starts with seeing it in action in the routines of the day in the life of one person. In this chapter, we will break down the concept of risk into its basic elements so that we can better understand how it affects every aspect of critical incident management—and as we will see in Vignette 2.1—how it affects almost every aspect of our daily lives as well. As you read this story, take note of the number of times that the main character does things to mitigate risk in a day of her life. Consider whether her actions are intended to minimize the probability of something adverse happening, or whether her actions are taken to minimize the effects of the bad thing if and when it should happen. Finally, as you read this vignette, categorize the mitigation actions into three phases: preparedness (the things we do before an incident), response (the things we do during an incident), and recovery (the things we do after an incident). Understand that the boundaries between the phases are sometimes blurred, and that the things that we do in the recovery phase are likely to overlap into the preparedness phase for the next cycle. For optimal learning effect, it is recommended that you write on a blank piece of paper three separate columns (labeled before, during, and after), then list each of the risk mitigation actions under the most appropriate column. A Day in the Life of Officer Annette Williams
As was with every night, Annette Williams tucked her five-year-old son into bed. She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. “Bobby … Daddy will read you a story tonight … I’m running late for work.”
Five-year-old Bobby replied, “I love you mom … be careful tonight.”
“I’ll see you in the morning little buddy … sweet dreams … I love you much. Daddy will be here in a minute.” With that, Annette walked out and closed the door behind her, making sure to leave a slight crack so that the hallway light could peek through. She made her way to the master bedroom, where her husband lay on the bed watching TV. “OK Dad … you can take over now.” She handed two children’s books to him, “He wants The Gingerbread Man tonight, but take Hansel and Gretel with you in case he asks for a second story.”
Fred Williams took the storybooks from Annette and held her in his arms for a minute. “Be careful tonight.”
“I will. I’ll call you if I’m running late. You may have to get him ready for school if I get a late call.”
“No problem, honey. I’ll take care of it. I think I can figure things out.” With that, Fred Williams … Firefighter Fred Williams … smiled and kissed his wife Annette … Officer Annette Williams one more time.
Annette walked to her closet where her ballistic vest hung. She pulled it over her head and secured the two Velcro straps snuggly across the front. After putting on her police uniform shirt, Officer Williams then strapped on her gun belt that contained an empty holster and compartments for handcuffs, a flashlight, two pouches of 14-round magazine clips, a baton ring, and a small pouch for two latex gloves. She then unlocked a small safe where she kept her loaded weapons and grabbed her semiautomatic service weapon and placed it into the holster. Officer Williams then grabbed an ankle holster with a two-inch, five-shot revolver that she used as an emergency backup weapon. She strapped the holster to the inside of her left ankle and tightened the Velcro straps to make sure it would not slip off during the night. She then pulled the pants leg down so that it would fully cover the secondary weapon. Officer Williams was ready for another night’s work.
Officer Williams walked out of the front door of her residence and made sure to lock the top bolt. She knew that her husband would later set the burglar alarm from the inside once she left. Before Williams got into her take-home marked police car which was parked in the front driveway, she made sure to walk around it once and check for any damage, or anything else that someone may have done to it while it was parked unattended. She knew that there had been some vandalism incidents in her neighborhood lately, and there had also been some recent threats to police officers, so she was especially wary. Once she was sure that the vehicle was safe, she got into it and started the engine. Earlier that morning when she returned from the previous night’s work, Williams had made sure to back in her police car so that it was facing the street and she wouldn’t have to back out of her driveway in the darkness of the evening. That way, if she had received an early emergency call in, Williams’ police car would be ready to go and pointed in the right direction.
Officer Williams drove her police car to her assigned patrol area. Since it was a busy Friday night, there would be no roll call scheduled. Since there was no need to drive to the police station, Williams radioed the dispatcher and checked herself into service at 11:01 pm. She was ready for the first call of the night.
It was a fairly typical Friday night, with the typical domestic disturbances, loud music calls, and bar fights. There were over 20 calls holding from the afternoon shift, and Williams and her squad mates quickly handled the backlog, so that by 1 am there were no more calls holding, and only a few sporadic new calls were being received at the 9-1-1 center.
Williams had not eaten dinner with her family that evening and she decided to grab a quick bite to eat during the brief lull. Being that it was a busy night of the week, she opted to go through the drive-thru of a fast food restaurant and order a hamburger and fries to go. As she approached the drive-thru, Williams made sure that no other cars were in front of her in the line in case she got an emergency call and had to leave in a hurry. She didn’t want to put herself in a situation where she would be blocked in by other cars. Williams ordered her food and a minute later picked it up at the takeout window. She drove several blocks until she found a large empty shopping center parking lot where she decided to park and eat her dinner. Williams was an experienced officer, and she remembered several incidents where officers had been ambushed from behind while they were writing reports in their police vehicles. She figured that being in the middle of a large parking area with no other cars around her would give her sufficient time to react to anyone trying to sneak up on her.
Officer Williams quickly gobbled down her hamburger and fries. She had learned to be a fast eater. It’s one of the necessary bad habits that police officers pick up. It was a good thing that she finished quickly because she and another one-man unit (Unit 3111) received a call for another loud music complaint from the dispatcher. Williams acknowledged the call and advised on the radio her starting location, so that the other responding unit could get an idea of her distance from the call and the time it would take her to arrive. This was a standard safety practice that most seasoned police officers used. When two one-man units respond to a call from two different starting locations, it’s important that they both have an idea of how long until the other unit will arrive on the call. That is because invariably one will arrive at the call before the other. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if the two responding officers arrive separately, but more often it is best if both officers arrive at the same time and approach the situation together.
While enroute to the call, Officer Williams observed a male wearing a motorcycle helmet and a long trench coat walking on the sidewalk in the direction of a 24-hour convenience store. This immediately set off alarm bells in Officer Williams’ head. There had been several armed robberies of convenience stores in her district by a male wearing a motorcycle helmet and carrying a sawed-off shotgun under his trench coat. This was completely unrelated to the call that she and the other one-man unit were en route to, but in Officer Williams’ mind, this was possibly a much more pressing matter. Immediately Officer Williams grabbed her radio mic and raised the dispatcher: “Unit 3115 … request a delay … I think there may be robbery in progress at the 7–11 at 74 and Coral Way. I have a male subject wearing a motorcycle helmet and long trench coat going into the store now. Have Unit 3111 cancel the call he’s en route to and respond to my location and go to Tac-4 frequency.”
Instead of approaching the front of the 7–11, Officer Williams continued to drive half a block past. She did not know if the subject had seen her, but if he did, she wanted to make it seem like she had not seen him. Williams knew that the subject was already inside the store, and if she approached him now, it could lead to a confrontation. Williams wanted to make sure she had sufficient backup before confronting the subject. She also reasoned that if she confronted the subject too soon, it may force him to possibly take hostages inside the store.
Williams positioned her vehicle in a parking lot across the street behind two dumpsters, where she had a full view of the front of the 7–11, while at the same time staying out of the field of view of anyone inside the store. With her binoculars, she could see the front door of the store, and would be able to tell when the subject came out. Her plan was to take down the subject as he exited the store and walked a sufficient distance so it would be unlikely that he would run back inside. That would be the safest approach. She then raised Unit 3111 on the Tac-4 radio frequency: “Jim, I’m set up half a block east of the 7–11, and I have a partial eyeball on the front entrance of the store. He’s in there now, but I don’t have a direct view. If you’re coming from the west, set up at the corner of 75 and Coral Way in case he runs that way. Don’t let him see you pass in front of the store. I want to take him down after he leaves.”
Unit 3111 was Officer James Hitchens. He responded on the radio, “Are there any other subjects?”
Williams came back, “That’s unknown at this time, but keep your eye out for any possible getaway vehicles.”
“I’m arriving at the corner of 75 and Coral Way now, I’ll standby here,” said Officer Hitchens. “Did you see the black older model SUV parked in the alley behind the Cuban restaurant on the corner?”
“No, I can’t see it from where I’m at. What do you have?” asked Williams.
“I can’t tell if it’s occupied or not, and the head lights are off, but the rear brake lights are on. I think someone may be crouching down inside the vehicle so I don’t see them, and is accidentally hitting the brake pedal with their foot.”
“OK … that may be the getaway vehicle … we’d better get some more units here. I’ll go back on the main frequency and see if we can get more backups.”
Officer Williams raised the dispatcher and advised of the possible getaway vehicle that Unit 3111 was surveilling, and she asked if there were more units in the area that could assist. Within seconds, two other one-man units arrived in the area. They had been listening to the radio transmissions on Tac-4, and had started heading in the direction of the 7–11. Officer Williams had a solid reputation among her squad members, and everyone knew that when she called for a backup, it was always for a good reason. As the other two units arrived in the general area, Williams observed the subject exiting the front door of the 7–11. On Tac-4 Williams advised: “OK … standby … he’s coming out! He’s walking fast westbound. Not yet … let him get past the open businesses … we’ll take him down close to the vehicle, where the concrete wall is. Watch for crossfire … I’ll come up from the east. Jim … approach from the west and take the vehicle. Jeff (Unit 3112), come up behind me from the east … but hold up … not yet … not yet … OK now!”
At that precise moment, the dispatcher raised Officer Williams: “3115, we’re now receiving a silent holdup alarm at the 7–11 at Coral Way and 74. Are you OK?” Williams heard the dispatcher, but was not able to immediately answer her because she and Units 3111, 3112, and 3114 were in the midst of taking down an armed robbery subject and a possible accomplice in the getaway vehicle. All four police cars swooped in at precisely the same time, and surrounded the subject who was still walking toward the SUV. At first, it appeared that the subject looked as if he wanted to run, but he had nowhere to go. A row of stores were to his immediate north, and a concrete wall to his west. The four officers surrounded him in a semicircle and his only two other options were to shoot it out, or to surrender. At gunpoint, Williams and two other officers ordered the subject to drop the gun that he appeared to have hidden in his waistband. Cornered, with no place to run, and in no mood to fight, the subject dropped what was later identified as an illegal sawed-off shotgun. Within seconds, the subject was handcuffed and briefly patted down for more weapons.
Meanwhile, Officer Hitchens approached the SUV and saw that it was indeed occupied by another male subject. Hitchens ordered the subject to exit the vehicle, and he too was handcuffed and placed under arrest. Subsequent investigation revealed that the subject in the motorcycle helmet and trench coat had indeed robbed the night attendant at the 7–11. It was also verified that the subject in the SUV was related to the robber, and that he was there as a getaway driver. It was a good job by all involved. Two armed robbers were in custody, and no one got hurt. Robbery detectives later interrogated the two subjects and were able to clear a number of robberies that they had committed over the past few weeks in the district.
Hours later, after completing all the required paperwork, the subjects were transported to jail. Officer Williams made sure to check the backseat of her cruiser to ensure that the subjects had not dropped any weapons or contraband while they were being transported to the jail. This was a routine practice that all officers did after having prisoners riding in the caged backseat of their police cars. Both subjects had been searched carefully prior to be being placed in the backseat cage, but it was a good idea to look under the removable backseat, just in case. Williams looked, but found nothing. It was now almost the end of the shift, and her sergeant wanted to meet her to sign all her reports. Before she met her sergeant on the road, she decided to fill up the tank of her police car at the shop. Williams wanted to make sure that her vehicle was fueled up and ready to go for Saturday night’s shift.
Officer Williams had had a good night of patrol. She never did make it to the loud music call that she and Unit 3111 had been dispatched to. But that’s OK. Someone else eventually handled the call. Williams’ shift ended at 7 am, and by 7:30 am, she was already home. As she always does, Williams backed her cruiser up on her driveway … so that it would be ready to go the next night of work.
Annette came in the front door and was met by her firefighter husband. “Hi sweetie … how was your night?”
Annette responded, “Pretty good … got a couple of bad guys robbing a 7–11. Other than that … another typical Friday night. How about you? Sleep good?”
“Yep … like a baby.” Fred looked over at Annette, and he could tell that she had had a long night. “Uh … listen honey … I’ll take Bobby to school today. You stay home and get some sleep.”
“Aw … thank you honey … I appreciate that. I’m really tired today.” Annette went to her room and took her sidearm out of the holster and removed the five-inch revolver from her ankle holster. She placed both weapons into the small safe in the closet and locked it shut. She then removed her ballistic vest and hung it up to air out. She would go to bed and fall sleep soon thereafter. Later that afternoon she would pick up her five-year-old son from school, and then start cooking dinner for the family. After that, she would get ready for another night’s work that was yet to come before she could rest on her days off, Sunday and Monday.
