It’s a simple exclamation, yelled as loud as you can: “ONE VOICE!” But it can have an immediate positive effect at a chaotic scene, according to trainer Gary Klugiewicz, an expert in verbal tactics and a consultant to PoliceOne and Corrections1.
Klugiewicz described this gambit at the annual ILEETA training conference.
“We’ve all seen enforcement situations where multiple officers get caught up in a ‘cluster’ state where they’re working inefficiently or even against each other instead of employing team tactics. No one is really in charge and the suspect is not being controlled,” he says.
“You arrive and see what’s wrong and what needs to be done. If you shout out ‘ONE VOICE!,’ you focus everyone’s attention on you and create a momentary pause in the action. Then you can issue instructions necessary for getting the job done.”
He cites an incident that occurred after a high-speed pursuit. Multiple officers swarmed the suspect vehicle and tried to pull the offender out of the driver’s seat.
“No matter how hard they wrestled him, they couldn’t get him out,” Klugiewicz says. Then an additional officer who ran up to help realized that the suspect’s seat belt had not been unfastened.
“That’s a perfect One-Voice moment. Because you’re less emotionally involved, you see the problem that others are missing in the adrenalin frenzy, you grab everyone’s attention, and then you talk them through the solution. It slows things down and gets everyone working together.”
Klugiewicz says he learned the tactic from a psychiatric nurse who used it effectively in a mental health facility when staff efforts to restrain out-of-control patients sometimes degenerated into chaos.
“It’s easy to get caught up in the insanity of the moment, to freeze up or freak out and lose sight of what’s really needed,” Klugiewicz explains.
“The situation becomes a free-for-all, with everyone yelling and lots of contradictory commands and actions. One Voice means ‘I see what you should be doing and I’m taking control of the situation.’ ”
The technique works in training and on the street, particularly in physically and emotionally charged encounters like bar fights, domestics, and excited delirium calls, Klugiewicz says.
“Officers usually know when they’re in a cluster. They are looking for someone with solutions, someone who sees the big picture and can take over and lead them by assigning tasks.”
One Voice can be asserted regardless of rank, Klugiewicz says, and it should be yelled more than once to be sure everyone hears you. The key is understanding what’s needed. “You need to have a plan in mind before you open your mouth,” he says.
Gary Klugiewicz can be reached at: gtklugiewicz@cs.com.
