There has always been a connection between military and law enforcement; many former service members choose a career in law enforcement after they leaving the military.
Some of the best cops I have worked with have prior military experience, and they really shine during critical incidents.
How can we apply the lessons learned in combat to critical incident response?
The answer is not in the specific tactics. Although there are some tactical similarities during an active shooter response, the day-to-day tactics are different for police officers.
The real applicable lessons that can be learned are in planning, mindset, and post operational debriefs.
Elite military units are experts at planning operations. They not only plan for the task at hand but have contingency plans for when an operation does not unfold as expected.
When I worked with the LVMPD SWAT team as a K9 handler, we had briefings similar to military briefings to plan an operation and any contingencies. Some examples of what a complete briefing plan would contain are:
Identifying everyone’s roles and what mission-oriented tasks that need to be completed.
Providing suspect information and others who may be present during the operations (victims, kids, pets etc..)
Contingency planning such as a downed officer or injured citizen.
This type of planning shouldn’t be specific to SWAT briefings. Patrol officers can conduct quick briefings while enroute to a call or prior to approaching a residence to make contact. Creating these habits will result in a smoother response to any call for service.
Another aspect of military training is a focus on mindset. Elite military units are experts at navigating stressful situations with the correct mindset to be successful.
Law enforcement is not as consistent with a mindset-focused response; there is a stigma when talking about fear or anxiety in the law enforcement community. If we are not having honest conversations about the emotions felt in the moment, how can we create the proper mindset for intense calls?
Training for a resilient mindset is imperative for any agency responsible for sending officers into danger.
Lastly, some of the best teams that I have been a part of participated in candid debriefs after every single operation. It didn’t matter if you had rank or not, these briefings were the opportunity to identify mistakes and learn from them.
I was present when a SWAT officer called out the tactical commander for a communications issue during an operation. And the commander agreed about the mistake and put safeguards in place to ensure it didn’t happen again.
No operation is too small to debrief. A small lesson learned may fix a big problem during the next incident.
Patrol officers should be debriefing as well. After every shift, officers go into the station, finish reports, and try to unwind from the shift they just completed. This is a perfect opportunity to take some time and rehash what happened on the calls during the shift. This allows everyone the opportunity to learn and be better during the next shift.
There are great opportunities to learn from other similar professions, like the military units described above. The planning, mindset, and debriefs can help our first responders have successful outcomes during their day to day operations.
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