Domestic Disturbances: officer safety and calming techniques

foreign [Music] law enforcement officers are expected to do a wide variety of jobs ranging from enforcing traffic laws to dealing with suicidal persons to handling domestic disturbances people turn to the police because most law enforcement agencies have 24-hour availability the mobility of patrol cars a relatively short response time and the ability and authority to deal with violence foreign domestic disturbances are one type of job that many police officers dislike first because they are dangerous and second because persons and domestic disturbances are unpredictable often highly emotional or irrational and hard to calm down you have heard that in recent years disturbance calls have resulted in an unusually high number of police officer injuries and fatalities so when responding to a domestic disturbance your first consideration would be officer's safety and then getting the upset or emotional disputance calm down police fire emergency how do you know they're fighting they're shouting and throwing things are they in the house yes they're in the house what's their name they live at 1149 6th Avenue East what's your name and address no I won't tell anyone you phoned it when the call is received dispatcher generally tries to get as much information as possible if the call is hot or cold how many people are involved if a weapon is involved who is complaining an observer or one of the persons involved in the fight and the complainant's name state of mind and a callback number but all too often as you know minimal information is available can you tell me do they know if you're calling no I don't think so okay okay I'll send the squad and they'll talk to you can you tell me what color their house is uh yellow with a red door okay and what color is your house greenish yellow okay we'll send the squad bye now Squad 26. 26 go ahead first East and 7th Street domestic disturbance 1149 6th Avenue East husband wife disturbing the name is Paulson be advised this was reported by a neighbor who heard loud noises coming from the house not known if any weapons are involved [Music] [Applause] the reason most guys don't like to go on them is that they're unpredictable you never know what's going to happen when you get there every Everybody acts different when you go to a domestic you know about 10 of them you don't have any problem with you can just walk in and people see you come in they calm down and you talk to them a little while and they agree to just about everything you tell them when you walk out and you got 10 that you go in there and there's absolutely nothing you're going to do you usually end up either taking one or both of them out of the house with you probably the other eighty percent of the ones that you have to spend time working with the people I would rather go to an armed robbery where I know what what's taking place I know what's going down at the time that I'm going there so I'm prepared for it I have myself geared up for that action and going to a domestic you don't really know what you're getting into so you're trying to gear yourself to all different facets of what could take place so you're constantly on edge when you get to the door you're you're committed when you walk into their house you're on their territory but it's a dangerous situation you'll probably want to avoid driving past the dispatched location park at least one house away and notify dispatch of your arrival if you're working solo and can get a cover unit wait for them to arrive that's it's the second one down the one with the orange door most of the time before you start your approach to the place you'll survey the situation for useful information look around the location for unusual circumstances listen for sounds of activity that might be important to you [Music] okay I'll take the front okay I'll go up on the right after having surveyed the scene plan your approach with your partner or cover officer approaching the house can be a dangerous part of the call an old-timer once told me that too he said when you go to these calls especially domestic situations and you don't get that sick feeling in your gut as you're walking up to the house if your stomach doesn't tighten up a little bit and you better get out of the job because you're either gonna you're gonna get it your partner is going to get it or somebody's going to get hurt to maintain a low profile and maximize your security a triangular approach to the front door usually works best [Music] [Music] before knocking at the front door listen for a few seconds from The Sounds inside the place you'll get an idea of how many people are involved and what potential there is for violence knock matter of factly and wait to have the door open for you you'll want to be safely at the side of the door when it is opened what just one more goddamn time you do that I'm Gonna Knock You on your ass real cool yeah don't you put on the paper or something just be quiet for a minute no you cannot what is this you call a goddamn police come on in oh Christ why don't you put in the goddamn papers before you get too far inside there is a lot of important information to look for the location of the occupants in the room those seen and those not immediately seen the hands of the occupants their emotions and their potential for violence weapons and potential weapons throughout the room there is a Temptation once the door is open to enter immediately and get to the disputants but this slight pause to size up the situation before entering can be very important safely inside the residence it can be a tough job to calm down the disputants many officers have several ways of calming upset people if they are getting physically violent with each other to get them calmed down they must first be physically separated some disputants respond to repeated calm direct instruction from the officer sometimes these people respond to the uniform and the calm controlled Behavior the officer demonstrates and sometimes they don't sometimes allowing the disputant's personal space helps calm them down forcing them into a corner or touching them unnecessarily may upset them even more many disputants can be contained in a particular area by using an open armed motion like herding cattle the spread arms present a visual barrier which the disputant is reluctant to cross so you won't have to touch them and violate their personal space unnecessarily another technique for calming upset people is to request a small favor Christ by making a small request which they are likely to Grant the disputin's attention is diverted from the fight and you have a chance to interrupt their upset emotions and their dispute when it works it's beautiful to watch with the right request it can accomplish both physical and visual separation with a minimal amount of force five dollars calm down here we can't take anybody out there we find out what the problem visual separation has proven very useful and calming upset persons when visually separated disputants cannot maintain visual hostilities it is hard for two people to keep an argument going when they can't see each other when visually separated the disputant is forced to deal with the intervening officer and not the other disputant if one upset person can be moved just around a room partition the disputants will be visually separated while the intervening officers can stay in visual contact with each other I don't like that for a while I'm trying to talk Jesus Christ I am I'm a very reasonable person but look at this huh how reasonable is that another big help in calming upset persons is to get them seated seating helps reduce physical tensions first and then emotional tensions it's hard to keep up a full head of steam when seated in a comfortable chair when seated the disputin has restricted motion and you have increased safety if the disputant is going to get up you'll have some advance notice because he'll lean forward in the chair I don't know are they stable do you buy that make it no finally disputants can be calmed down by distracting them the purpose of the distraction is to momentarily divert attention from the other disputant and the fight once diverted from the conflict you can get started on your business yes you know he hasn't even had his morning cup of coffee he hasn't been home the whole night have you talked to him about the reason for him not being here you know I don't promise I think I think it's important that we all talk about it then get both sides of the story you should understand his side you should understand settle down on Jones when you talk a little bit yeah I've been fighting like this often sometimes shoes it's not it's not a big deal it's just uh I don't know she got a little upset she starts throwing crap around when she gets started she doesn't stop right Mr Paulson I think that we've come to a rational understanding are you calm down you think we can go in the living room now and sit down together some kind of solution for the problem at the moment would you be willing to try that when the disputants are calmed down you'll want to get them seated for the interview place them far enough apart so you'll have time to get between them if they should heat up again if one officer feels certain the dispute won't flare up again he might sit down a safe distance from the disputants the partner should remain standing and be alert for changes in the situation what do you want the living room is usually the safest place for the interview the bedroom has some obvious and some hidden dangers oh [Music] foreign the bathroom has a variety of lethal dangers and a door that locks [Music] the kitchen is a warehouse of potential weapons [Music] thank you two are settled down enough now so we get to talk about this a little bit you are Judy right can I call you Judy is that okay what's the problem here what the what's going on what caused this fight okay the problem is is that John lost his job six months ago and since then I've been having to work my little ass off of the hospital just to pay the rent and it's ridiculous yeah you mean I want to know what happened today what started the fight today why did we get it during the interview the focus is on what the immediate problem is not on what happened four or five weeks ago or four or five months ago last last night he took me to work and I could tell he hasn't been home since I mean the bedroom all your shaving juice exactly in the same place I don't want to hear it we were going to go on a picture we can discuss this some other day let's discuss it some other time yeah right it's two o'clock and the day is shot okay well how can what can we do to resolve the situation right now hey I'm not leaving if that's what you've got in mind I'm standing right here I live here the frame of mind you're in now you can't stay together no so what are we going to do so when do you want to leave well I'm not leaving I pay the rent I've been here all day John you want me to leave possible solutions are identified for the immediate problem all right I'm gonna go up and get a new shirt this one's a little bit uh worn am I a partner go up there with you John what for I can get my own shirt I don't need any help getting a shirt Well we'd rather do it that way if you don't mind wow in my jacket you're sitting on it [Music] I'll call you later going to call him in a couple hours [Music] when the situation has been resolved and there is agreement on the action you expect the disputans to take you should make a safe exit [Music] [Music] before walking away from the house stop a few seconds and listen just in case there is trouble while walking back to the car keep an eye out for other possible safety threats although every officer has a particular way of handling domestic disturbances the experience of many officers suggests getting as much information as you can from dispatch not passing by the dispatched location parking at least one house away and notifying dispatch of your arrival before starting the approach to the house looking and listening for unusual activity or circumstances taking a triangular approach to the front door stopping at the front door to listen before knocking after knocking waiting for the door to be opened for you come on in if someone says come in don't you don't know what surprises they'll have waiting for you when they do open the door you'll pause slightly looking as far into the room as you can and looking through the Crack by the hinges for the occupants emotions their hands and potential weapons or hazards in the room once inside the techniques for calming down the disputants physical separation visual separation blocking disputin's view of each other either with your body or more effectively by blocking their view of each other with a partition while at the same time maintaining eye contact with your partner when possible allowing them personal space instead of touching them keeping them contained by presenting a visual barrier like using the cattle herder motion instead of holding on to them and seating helping them reduce their physical tensions and restricting their motion while increasing your safety and some other techniques for getting the disputants calmed down too calm direct instruction and requesting a small favor please intervening in domestic disturbances is not an easy job no one can guarantee a successful conclusion to the next intervention but being aware of these safety issues and these calming techniques can improve your professional response to this crisis situation