5 policemen were injured in the line of duty in less than two weeks – and one theory is that those injuries could have been avoided if the officers were equipped. But we aren’t talking about guns because most of them were armed. We are referring to effective search and arrest tactics which is what seventeen officers from Eastern Division have been learning for the past 3 days. After two days of theory – the officers put what they learnt into practice in a dramatic fashion and our cameras were there.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This morning a team of heavily armed police officers descended on this Gill Street address. The officers took charge of the building and searched an apparent suspect at gunpoint – who they later detained. But that suspect is actually a police officer, the house is an abandoned building, and this morning’s search was just a test.
Insp. Amin August, Trainer
“This is a scenario after two days of training in the handling of firearm, both the recognizing the different parts of the firearm and the safe handling and manoeuvring in close quarters, combat with the firearm.”
17 officers are participating in the training. Sr. Supt. Miguel Segura says mistakes – like allowing this detainee to sprint for freedom – can be fatal on a crime scene.
Sr. Supt. Miguel Segura, Deputy OIC - Eastern Division
“Basically we are trying to instill in these young officers safety, safety, safety. First of all the first day is theory and practical in knowledge of a firearm; how to handle the firearm, safety procedures. Why? Because when they execute their jobs, we want to know they will be doing it safely not only
for them but also for the citizens. So when they execute their job, safety is paramount so basically this training is to build confidence with them that whenever they respond to any calls of the citizens, safety is paramount. They will execute their job and we will minimize those incidents of casualties that could occur.
We have seen cases that when they cordon the area, people like to get into the area. The media, we must respect the cordon. We have had cases of a person coming in and the police letting him go through the house that is being searched. What happens now? This person holds a firearm and shoots the police officer. We have cases that these people do not respect so police officers need to know this is your crime scene, respect it, and you need to contain it until you finish conducting the search.
If you make some mistakes, it may cost the life of the officer by not doing proper searches in some conspicuous places and also they may leave some evidence behind, when you do searches, dealing with the persons. Once you have subdued the person and you have him in custody, there is no more further things to use unnecessary force but the point is doing the professional response, reaching there, executing the search, and once everything is under control, they go back.”
And like they did this morning - Segura says that legally heavily policemen heavily armed can storm into your home if there is reasonable suspicion of drugs or guns. He says the difference however is in the approach.
Sr. Supt. Miguel Segura,
“Under the constitution, a person home is his castle however when you execute searches, based on the legal warrant for drugs or firearms, or a person pursued by hue or cry, if he commits a crime within the view and you need to execute, you can go into the house. The point is once we have the legal aspect to execute a search or to pursue an individual, we need to do it within the ambit of the law but the objective of this training is for safety, security – not only for the police but for the citizens who live nearby.
We need to understand also justifiable force because as you mentioned, we are the good guys, we work within the rules, the bad guys don’t have rules, but the professionalism that we are instilling in them is to build confidence that any scenario they should have, they could work and operate as a team.”
The officers are from the different branches of Eastern Division.
