What’s a breaching tool you have that you may not think of in a desperate situation?
Your patrol car.
During an ILEETA presentation on Active Threat Response, trainer Don Alwes suggested using your cruiser to “ram your way into a building in an absolutely worst-case scenario where you need to get in fast and nothing else is working.”
One example might be at a school or strip mall structure where an active killer has locked or chained the doors against penetration from the outside. Or a building where a window needs to be shattered and cleared to effect entry.
Clearly, using a car as a “door knocker” carries risks for officers and innocent civilians alike. “But when lives are at stake, it may be necessary to roll the dice with outside-the-box thinking,” Alwes says. “With a vehicle, you can breach a larger area all at once for a more rapid entry.”
In interviews with Police1, Alwes, a lead instructor for the National Tactical Officers Association and another NTOA trainer and SWAT operator, Lt. Gregg Gaby, offered these pointers for successful breaching-by-cruiser:
1.) Know your target and what’s beyond it.
“If you’re going to do this,” Alwes advises, “be sure of what’s on the other side of the entryway you’re creating, so you don’t endanger people you’re trying to save.” Intelligence on the structure you’re attacking is important for your own safety, too. “Breaching the side of some houses, you could end up landing in the basement,” Gaby points out.
2.) Be ready to quickly exit the vehicle.
Accelerate backward at your target-point so your airbags don’t deploy from frontal impact. Keep your driver door and window open. “If the impact flexes the car frame, a closed door may be difficult or impossible to get open,” Alwes says. Ideally, you want to perform the breaching with other officers present “so they can provide cover for you until you get out,” he adds.
3.) High-speed will not likely be necessary — or even desirable.
“The desired action is backing in and pushing or punching, not ramming,” Gaby explains. “You don’t need to get up a head of steam. You just need to create a hole big enough for officers to get in.”
“The lighter the structure is, the less power you’ll probably have to use,” Alwes says. Gaby adds, “It’s hard to give a definite speed since terrain and the type of structure will dictate how much is needed. Lower-speed pushes are safer for innocent people who may be involved, and they also reduce the risk of the car becoming disabled at higher speeds due to fuel shut-off switches and physical damage.”
4.) Make the hole, then get the heck out of that hole.
“Be ready to fight as soon as you get through the entryway,” Alwes advises. “You can’t be sure what may be waiting for you on the other side. Breaching and then quickly driving back out if possible may be most desirable, so you don’t block entry by other officers.”
5.) Yes, you are probably going to scratch the vehicle.
Practicing forced-entry-by-cruiser will probably not be practical. “It will probably be a first-time experience, and each car and each building are going to be different,” Gaby says. He recommends conferring with construction professionals on “what the vulnerable parts of a building typically are that you can hit without bringing the structure down.”
He also advises discussing this tactic with supervisory personnel. “Officers and supervisors alike need to get past the psychological barrier of thinking you can never damage a cruiser without getting in trouble,” he says.
6.) Size matters, but only to a certain point.
Obviously, a vehicle bigger and stronger than your squad car is a preferred tool, Alwes notes. An armored BearCat is best, but a dump truck or even a pickup can give you an edge over a squad car. “But in a crisis, if you’re the first responding officer you’re going to have to use whatever you’ve got if the shooter has you locked out,” Gaby stresses. “If you don’t get in, lives may be lost.”
