By Chuck Remsberg
Police1.com Senior Contributor
Some SWAT operators and patrol officers clearing rooms on building searches favor the “button hook” technique, which allows them to enter a room by wrapping quickly around the door jamb and minimizing their exposure in the “fatal funnel.” They’re counting on startling and overwhelming any suspect who may be inside.
One of the concerns with this technique, according to three experienced scouts with the Los Angeles County (Calif.) SD’s Special Weapons Team who conducted hands-on training exercises recently for the Assn. of SWAT Personnel-Wisconsin, is that the button hook “propels you into unknown territory.”
Once you’ve made the turn across the threshold and are in the room, “you’re committed,” says one of the instructors, Mark Schlegel. “You may suddenly find yourself confronting a suspect who’s in an ambush position, and you’ll be at a disadvantage because you’ll be forced to make instantaneous decisions while filly exposed in the room.”
Schlegel and his teaching partners, Rick Rector and George Creamer, favor clearing much of the room and processing that information from outside the doorway before making entry, if possible. Their preferred technique is “slicing the pie.”
Assume a three-officer cell is moving down a hallway approaching a bedroom doorway on the left, with another uncleared room farther ahead.
In a continuous, fluid motion, the first officer “pies” across to the opposite (right) side of the bedroom door with his gun up, ready for an encounter that might originate from inside the room. The second officer moves with him but his concentration is down the hallway, protecting the team from a threat that may emerge down range. Officer No. 3 stays on the left side of the door, monitoring what he can see inside the bedroom from his vantage point.
By the time the first and third officers make entry, they may have been able to visually clear 75% or more of the room, thereby significantly minimizing the unknown risk they may confront there.
“If a shooting occurs while slicing the pie, you’re at a greater distance from the threat than with the button hook and have the opportunity to make better decisions,” Schlegel says.
Particularly if you’re holding a shoulder weapon, being able to shoot proficiently from either your strong or support side will allow you to widen your perspective into the room while exposing yourself to less visibility by anyone inside, Schlegel points out.
He strongly encourages the use of marking cartridges during practice “to impose reality in training.” You’ll see the advantages and disadvantages of each technique and “you’ll learn to used controlled-speed movement and maintain a good shooting platform during room entries or get your butt shot off,” he predicts.
[Schlegel and his partners conduct instruction in street-tested SWAT techniques nationwide for all sizes of departments through their independent training organization, FTF Tactics, LLC. For more information, check www.ftftactics.com.
