Foot Pursuits And Haystack Needles

The frequency of convenience store robberies heated up every December, almost like clockwork. There’s probably empirical data or some fancy research-based reason for it all, but I just figured it was because bad guys needed to afford Christmas presents and drugs.

‘Tis The Season

It was a dark, damp winter night, and like many of the Decembers that had come before, it was robbery season. Our mission was simple, but not easy: find a robber and catch him in the act. Instead of working our ever-mounting case load, we had been ordered to find the proverbial needle in a haystack. So that’s what we did. We picked a spot at random and parked a short distance away from one particular stop-and-rob. We were in plain clothes and driving an unmarked car just waiting to pounce — or fritter away yet another shift of this nonsense — either way.

We hadn’t been parked there all that long before two men came walking down the dimly lit sidewalk.  They were headed for the convenience store we were watching that was situated in a congested neighborhood of triple-deckers lining both sides of a one-way street. The marquis sign awkwardly protruding above the store had missing letters and the few remaining ones had been rearranged to spell Crips. The storefront windows were plastered with cigarette, booze, and lottery ads — like a patchwork quilt made up of things that were all bad for you — which made it impossible to see inside.

Disbelief And A Hasty Plan

We sat still, watched, and waited to see what these two would do. When they got to the door, the first man pulled open the glass door and walked in while the second man paused, reached up to the knit cap on his head, and then pulled it down over his face. It was a ski mask. In the blink of an eye his mask was on and he had disappeared inside the store.

In startled disbelief, we asked each other, Did you see that!? just to be sure we hadn’t imagined it.

I grabbed the mic and called in a possible robbery in progress. We made a hasty plan, got out of our vehicle, and took up positions outside the store’s entrance.  We didn’t want to go in and endanger the clerk and whoever else was in there. We decided to wait until he came out and then take him down outside. There was only one way in and one way out. We were so getting officer of the month if we pulled this off.

The Dilemma

Seconds felt like hours until someone finally emerged from the store. Something inside me hesitated, unsure if that was the guy I had seen in the ski mask or not — he certainly wasn’t wearing it now.  Calmly, my partner asked the guy if we could talk to him. The guy took one look at the badge around my partner’s neck and took off running. My partner gave chase.

Now I was in a dilemma. Was that the bad guy, or was he still inside? Do I run after my partner to back him up at the risk of leaving the store uncovered, or do I hold my ground to maintain cover on the store and leave my partner to fend for himself? I had half a second to decide.

Lucky for my partner, I liked him. I chose Option A, gave chase, and called in our direction of travel. I also directed Dispatch to send an officer to the store in case the robber was still inside. We chased our man west two blocks and then north one block. He ran through the side door of a three story apartment building and up the interior stairwell trying to get home. My partner tackled him in the stairwell as I paused to grab the address and got there in time to get between them and his angry family who came out to see what all the commotion was. We had our man and Patrol had the store — but more on that in a minute.

Decisions, Decisions

As it turns out, my partner had lost his flashlight and radio during the chase, putting him in a dangerous position. Had I left him to fend for himself I would have left him without a way to see in the dark or to communicate with Dispatch. In short, I would have left him in a very bad situation and that most certainly would have been the wrong decision.  Why had I even had to think about that?

Foot pursuits happen. Losing or damaging essential gear in the heat of battle also happens. In fact, it’s more likely than not that it will happen to you. When it counts, you will not rise to the level of your expectations, but you will fall to the level of your training and your preparation. Here are a couple rules of thumb to consider:

1. One is none, two is one.

Have a backup flashlight, a second set of handcuffs, and spare magazines on you at all times. If you want to get super tactical, you could carry a backup pistol as well. I’ve never done that myself, but it’s something to consider. Gear gets dropped or broken, malfunctions happen, and batteries die. You can count on that.

2. Never leave your partner.

You can’t be two places at once, so use your wits to prioritize and mitigate the risks you face. That means delegating secondary tasks to others via the radio, like sending units to the store, or through pre-planning like in an operations brief or while you are sitting together in a car. Your partner is your first priority, barring any unusual, life-threatening circumstances. Do not leave them.

3. Be prepared to fight on your own.

My partner was an all-star college wrestler and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu connoisseur. He could handle himself any day of the week, and on that day, he had the guy wrapped up like a pretzel in a matter of seconds. Since you never know how things will turn out, be prepared to go hands-on by yourself. That kind of preparation is not something you do the night of, its something you must commit to long term.

4. Decide ahead of time.

Seconds count. Heck, fractions of seconds count. Having to make unnecessary decisions in the heat of the moment is a good way to slow down your thought processes and disrupt your own OODA loop. Deciding what to do ahead of time and planning for contingencies will save you critical seconds so you can focus on executing the mission.

Oh The Irony

The ironic part of this whole story is that the guy we chased was not the robber. He didn’t even have a warrant — he was just the kind of person who figured he probably did. As for the store, it didn’t get robbed either. The guy with the ski mask was an 18 year old kid trying to be funny in front of his friends.

So much for finding a needle in a haystack or the fame and fortune of Officer of the Month.  Maybe next time.

__________________________

– What would you have done in my situation?
– How did your last foot pursuit go?
– What could you have done differently?
– How can you better prepare yourself for the next one?
__________________________

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