Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) Near Miss is a voluntary, non-disciplinary officer safety initiative that allows law enforcement personnel to read about and anonymously share stories of close calls or “near misses,” which provide lessons learned that can protect fellow officers in similar situations.
Event Summary
Another patrol officer got a call for a suspicious vehicle in a construction site at the beginning of our midnight shift. Staff at a restaurant connected to the site thought it was odd the vehicle was there so late as there was no construction going on. As my co-worker started heading to this call in his zone, I decided it sounded suspicious enough that I would respond with him. We are a smaller department in a 50-square-mile town so we often handle calls alone.
As we arrived, our attention was immediately drawn to the vehicle in question. We approached the vehicle and cleared it, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. That is when I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. By the time I got my head around and looked in that direction, I didn’t see anything. Although I only caught a glimpse in my peripheral, I thought I saw a person looking at us before walking behind a dumpster, which I was now looking at. I told my partner and we started walking that way.
As we came around the dumpster, we could now see a male, who continued to walk away from us. He walked by some large construction materials and then took a turn. We cut him off and began talking with him. He seemed normal and calm enough, so while my partner spoke with him, I went and retraced his steps. I turned the corner where he had come from, and underneath the construction materials, I immediately noticed a small stash of weapons. It included a handgun, at least one long gun, and one or two knives. I was still close to my partner, so I motioned to him to handcuff the suspect. We did so without any incident.
The suspect never gave an explanation for why he stashed the weapons and why he appeared to be hiding out in the construction site overnight. His actions, though, led me to believe he had homicidal intentions. I also believe had I not gotten lucky and caught a glimpse of him, the suspect was absolutely going toward the guns he had stashed and could have easily ambushed and killed both me and my partner. And who knows, had he only seen one officer, maybe he would have felt more comfortable grabbing a gun and doing whatever he was going to do.
Contributing Risk Factors
- Complacency
- Lack of situational awareness
Lessons Learned
- The construction site was fairly large, but we failed to maintain situational awareness outside of our immediate area due to complacency and the assumption that a worker had simply left their vehicle there overnight.
- Remember the acronym W.I.N. (What’s Important Now?). Don’t focus solely on a vehicle’s interior. Even if someone is in the vehicle, they are in a confined space with limited mobility. Maintain focus on the surrounding area where people can easily hide, especially at night.
- In a situation like this, consider detaining the subject in handcuffs with both officers present before splitting up to retrace the subject’s steps.
- At the end of the day, no matter how routine a call may seem, always try to have back-up and avoid complacency at all costs! This can be hard in smaller departments, but it’s important to remain diligent. You just have to hope your wake-up call is a close call and not an actual incident leading to your injury or death.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR NEAR MISS
Support this critical officer safety initiative by reading and sharing the near-miss stories and lessons learned that your fellow officers have shared, and consider sharing your own near-miss experiences at LEOnearmiss.org.