Patrol VS. PATROL
I electronically sit in Use of Force Boards every week, serving as the League’s observer. I also have handled hundreds of Categorical Use of Force rollouts as a League attorney starting in 1995 and currently coordinate the League’s rollout program. There is a
direct connection between what happens at the scene of a Categorical Use of Force and what I see at each Use of Force Board. Your Categorical Use of Force will eventually get there. How do they decide whether you get a “tactical de-brief” or an “administrative disapproval” for tactics?
The answer is that they analyze your every move and state ment using the PATROL structure. Unfortunately, you may not know what I am talking about. Feedback from our rollout attorneys indicate that it is not uncommon for officers they represent at Categorical Uses of Force to be unfamiliar with the PATROL acronym.
Remember that the three legs to the stool of administratively surviving a use of force are knowledge, articulation and accuracy. It only makes sense that if your tactics are later going to be analyzed at a five-member Use of Force Board using the PATROL structure, that you firstly know what it is, and secondly address each point in your statement to Force Investigation Division (FID) at the time of the Categorical Use of Force.
Week after week, I watch the captain making his presentation and recommendation to the five-member Use of Force Board by going through each letter of the acronym. Why do they do this? Because the “Use of Force Review Board Guide” tells them to.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that de-escalation is a huge factor in any use of force. It has been incorporated directly into the LAPD use of force policy, and it is in the new state law on use of force. Commanding officers in front of the Use of Force Board are directed to address the issue of de-escalation. De-escalation is defined as “the use of techniques to reduce the intensity of an encounter with a suspect and enable an officer to have additional options to gain voluntary compliance or mitigate the need to use a higher level of force while maintaining control of the situation.” Their analysis is done by looking at tactical de-escalation techniques. And tactical de-escalation techniques are defined by PATROL.
Commonly, the commanding officers go through it letter by letter explaining what the officer did or didn’t do, in each section. They buttress their opinions with videos and the officer’s statements. So let’s go through each letter and see how it works, but first keep this in mind, as it says in the guide: “Tactical de-escalation does not require that an officer compromise his or her safety or increase the risk of physical harm to the public. De-escalation techniques should only be used when it is safe and prudent to do so.” Your first duty is to make sure you and your partners go home.
P STANDS FOR PLANNING: Planning can start as early as checking out your vehicle and driving out of the station. You and your partner should talk about tactics, like who is cover, who is contact, etc. Then, if you are responding to a radio call, discuss what you will do when you get there. As you approach the scene, the Department wants to see
communication between officers. What you are going to do, where you are going, what to watch out for, and so on. If there is a PR, there should be a good discussion of what situation you may be facing and a plan of action. And after doing all this, you have to be sure to articulate it during the interview.
A STANDS FOR ASSESSMENT: Assessment is supposed to continue throughout the entire contact. You are directed to “continually assess the situation as circumstances change and new information is received.” That assessment can dramatically change the response to a situation. Is the suspect not following orders because of a desire to resist or escape, or is it an inability to comprehend the situation? Obviously, the degree and type of response would differ.
In your narrative of what happened at the FID interview, lay out your reasons for doing what you did. For instance, “the suspect looked right at me with an expression of hate,” or maybe, “I could see that he appeared to be confused and didn’t know what to do.” This gives meaning to what your next action was.
Remember the recommended interview response. “I saw-I thought-I did,” repeated over and over for each segment of the event until the incident is finished.
T STANDS FOR TIME: The Department recites the formula “Distance plus Cover equals Time.” Depending on the circumstances, taking cover, whether it be behind the nearest tree or the door of the police vehicle, provides the time to think and employ other options—not to mention, added safety. Often officers do not mention it during interviews, or they don’t express it effectively. “I took cover behind my door to protect myself and give me more time to consider my next move.”
R STANDS FOR REDEPLOYMENT AND/OR CONTAINMENT: Somewhat related to T, this requirement contemplates movement that will result in the containment of the suspect. Containment gives more time to get additional assets and more planning. The downside is that the containment must protect the public and other officers. Redeployment cannot allow the suspect to gain a tactical advantage, arm him-self or flee.
Addressing R during the FID interview might be more about why you could not redeploy or contain the suspect due to giving the suspect an advantage or increased danger to the public or officers. Talk about any actions you took to box-in the suspect if you had time to safely do so.
O STANDS FOR OTHER RESOURCES: Complying with this letter can start much earlier than is often thought by officers. Sometimes the nature of the call will tell you what additional assets may be needed. Do you need an air unit? Should a supervisor respond? Is it a man with a knife call and you don’t have a 40mm? RA? MEU? With sufficient cause, you can start the ball rolling before you even get to the scene. And, of course, if you have practiced all of the above and you have bought yourself time, think of the other assets you might need, and make the request. I have seen several situations where the requested units did not have time to respond, but the request itself clears the officer.
L STANDS FOR LINES OF COMMUNICATION: Communication comes in two flavors: communication between officers and communication with the suspect. Remember that everything probably is going to be on body-worn video and digital in-car video. This is what the Use of Force Board will be looking at. Plan and communicate as much as you can with your fellow officers, and don’t forget to communicate with the suspect. Maybe it is possible to talk to the person by cellphone or maybe the public address system. If nothing else, it may buy you time.
The Department gives a list of things to consider saying when communicating with the suspect. Give verbal warnings, use persuasion, defuse, have empathy, redirect the suspect, give advice, build rapport, ask open-ended questions, and give clear and direct orders.
Your commanding officer will probably go through each letter in front of the Use of Force Board. Often there is not time for an officer to engage in every letter during the situation, and that will be listed as justification for failing to comply. But if there is time, then failure will be a negative in the analysis, and that could lead to administrative disapproval. PATROL is discussed in at least two Department publications. Most thoroughly in Use of Force-Tactics Directive, Tactical De-escalation Techniques, October 2016, also in Training Bulletin, Volume XLVII Issue 4, Command and Control, July 2018.
According to the last complete statistics kept by the Department, administrative disapproval of tactics occurred 40 percent of the time. That is a horrible statistic for the most well-trained police department in the nation. It can only be explained by a hypersensitive judgment system, poor officer training, confusing policies or leaders who just can’t be pleased.
No matter what the cause, you can increase your chances with knowledge, articulation and accuracy. Your rollout attorney is there to help you express yourself and put your best foot forward. There is usually only one interview on the night of the incident. Do it right.
Be legally careful out there
