After his deadly rampage and escape and an extensive manhunt, Brian Nichols surrendered to police on March 12. Nichols is accused of killing a judge and three other people in Atlanta. Law enforcement officers can learn a great deal from the events that led to Nichols’ escape and his subsequent apprehension.
By addressing the issues and tactics that courtroom officials and CERT operators can take to minimize known or unknown security deficiencies, this article proposes immediate steps your agency can take to help prevent this type of incident from happening again.
No Monday Morning Quarterbacking
At every point in this timeline, the tragedies could have been prevented-or at least minimized. While in hindsight it doesn’t help to point fingers or identify a scapegoat (let’s leave that up to the general media feeding frenzy: They don’t understand the challenges law enforcement officers face every day). But in our own community, we can derive several lessons from this tragedy. Any day, like the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, your agency could face a similar emergency situation. So you have to be ready.
Challenging Assumptions and Tackling Thorny Issues
The Nichols incident should force your agency to challenge your policies and procedures regarding prisoner transportation and courtroom security. The fact is, over time we get complacent operating according to “SOP.” While comforting in its routine, rigid adherence to SOP can dull our senses and reduce our ability to see-and solve-weak links in the chain of custody.
Potentially more threatening is the knowledge that inmates obtain-and share-about the way they “can expect” to be transported and secured in your courtrooms. That is actionable intelligence. You can bet inmates are comparing notes, probing to find-and potentially exploit-your weak areas.
So the first thing you have to do is change things up. While you have to keep in mind staff and inmate safety and security, don’t be a slave to your SOP. Vary your routines, your timing, and your routes. Challenge your policies and procedures. New routines and routes will help keep staff in the proper mental mindset and introduce new tactics and techniques in prisoner transportation and courtroom security. By implementing simple alterations in your schedule, you minimize the chances you’ll have of facing The Deadly Moment.
“The Weakest Link”
The transport and movement of inmates from one location or another is considered the weakest link in the chain of custody of an inmate. Regardless of how many restraints that we put on an inmate the simple fact is when in inmate leaves a secured facility, the human factor goes into affect. In the training session I lead, I borrow a phrase from the military: Fail to plan, plan to fail.
When an inmate leaves your facility, you must have in place a number of failsafe procedures and response protocols. In keeping with the recommendation above-that you change things up-you can have a number of different failsafe procedures that you use on a rotating basis. These failsafe procedures may be broken down into the falling categories:
Level 1: Discourage Escape Attempt
This procedure is designed to discourage an inmate from attempting to escape. This level relies largely on security searches of the inmate(s) and specialized restraints. The latter include the High Security Transport Handcuffs, Hiatts New Color Coded Restraint System, or the Maxi Mitt™. Twenty-four hours before transport, the inmate should be placed in a “clean room": An area that limits inmates’ access to officers. At the same time, officers should tag the inmate with a color code denoting their escape threat: White-lowest risk of attempting escape; Yellow-moderate risk; Red-highest risk of attempting escape.
Level 2: Slow or Stop Inmate Escape
Level 2 calls for the deployment of a CERT Unit or 2 - 3 appropriately protected CERT Operators who have been trained to handle very specialized inmates in any environment. For maximum protection, these CERT Operators should wear special body armor like the HAWK Protection “Operator™", a multi-threat vest that is soft-body armor. The operators should be armed with at least one Less Lethal FN303 with the SE525 Green Laser System (by ALD Company).
This protection and equipment will help ensure that if an inmate chooses to initiate a threatening action, he or she must see-and realize-the response will be immediate and overwhelming force. This is a vital “force intimidator” factor. (For a complete detailed list of a HRIT Team Operator please write to training@certops.com to request your secured list).
Level 3: Rapid Recovery of Escaped Inmate or Fugitive
In the worst case scenario-and you should train for this-your best attempts fail, and an inmate escapes during transportation. In this case, your department must have in place a pre-planned and rehearsed inmate recovery program. For example, in the Atlanta incident, a software programs like the PD-OnScene package would have been a critically helpful component in managing the incident’s command post operations. PD-OnScene and similar software packages are designed to help coordinate and keep accurate track of every piece of information that is transmitted through radios.
With information constantly changing, such software helps manage these operations. Additionally, inmate recovery packs are another tool agencies should integrate within their response and recovery plans. Both on disk and hard copy, inmate recovery packs contain all information and most recent photo of inmates. These pictures are normally taken the same day as the transport.
One of the techniques that I teach in recovery operations is to do a double back sweep of affected parking area. This sweeps through the parking area and surrounding environments no matter what: All floors and parking areas are meticulously searched for clues.
Level 4: Minimize Collateral Damage to Outsiders
Administrators should implement this procedure to minimize collateral damage to outside parties. This step includes locking down floors, buildings, parking lot areas and surrounding businesses. Procedures such as a 100 percent ID check immediately to include the accounting and locations of all business employees in the surrounding areas.
SOP’s Commandments ... Not Suggestions
Many times we get tired of being told to follow procedures. As mentioned above, there are times when SOPs can hinder officer safety and/or adversely affect security issues concerning inmates. It is critical for administrator and team leaders to regularly review and check the working efficiency of SOPs; make sure SOPs remain practical and consistent with current safety and security guidelines. Leaders have a responsibility to review SOPs procedurally as well as check them practically to see if changes are necessary. You can’t afford for your SOPs to become stale or routine.
Many times SOPs are used like a cookie cutter and not tailored for a specific facility. Sadly, many are just plain old copied and replaced in department title. As mundane as they, SOPs are rightly viewed as a critical link in our work survivability. Agencies should regularly review and inspect their SOPs. It’s a good idea to bring in an outsider to help with a small department or division audit.
Right Mission, Right Person, Right Training
Officers who deal with suspects on the street often have a number of tools that they use to help them subdue these subjects. These officers train for these missions. Conversely, I have found that the opposite is true for many corrections personnel. As the Atlanta Incident demonstrates, our skills need to be just as honed as those of our “street” counterparts. Often these positions in the court or transport are detailed as perks: 9 to 5 hours with weekends and Holidays off.
Atlanta shows that this duty is not a perk.
These positions must be filled by very competent officers-both physically and mentally fit-and who understand the seriousness of this duty. These officers must be able to deal with sudden mental changes and the unpredictable violence associated with these emotional swings.
In the case of Brian Nichols, you had a powerhouse of a man (a former linebacker) being guarded by a smaller female officer. A simple duty roster shift (assigning a more imposing officer to guard Nichols) could well have prevented Nichols from his deadly assault and rampage. Bottom line: You want to make sure that you have personnel who can handle suspects or inmates like Brian Nichols.
Transportation, court appearances and other suspect/inmate movements bring out every emotion. From fear of going to jail for any period of time to hate for the plaintiff, confusion over the judicial system, from suicidal behavior to explosive angry revenge driven mindsets. These positions require the officers to be mentally responsive, physically able and mentally prepared to handle sudden and explosive actions from suspects and/or inmates.
Intelligence: The Preemptive Solution
To their detriment, many departments often neglect the importance of intelligence and counterintelligence. What looks like one thing to one department could mean something to another department. For example: Earlier in the week, Brian Nichols was caught with two shanks. Internally, this looks like contraband and possible motive to shake down his cell. From a transport view it would look like tools for an escape attempt or to be used on an officer for a hostage situation or inmate on inmate or staff killing.
From a court officers’ view it would have been seen as a potential court security problem. As such, it would be brought to the judge along with a recommendation for additional security around the inmate. Regardless of the intelligence gathered, it is essential a system be in place so that agencies and officers can view and share this information.
The Bottom Line:
This article was not intended to point the finger at any one agency. The suggestions and recommendations herein were made to turn lemons into lemonade. We have many lives that have been shaken and affected by the incident in Atlanta, and we want to make sure a similar incident doesn’t happen again. So we’re sharing tips, tactics, and techniques.
In that spirit, and to honor the memories of our fallen comrades, we should take what we have learned and use it to train others. We must face our own complacency. We must be willing to make the necessary changes to ensure the safety and security of our respective staffs, our agencies, and our facilities.
I do not want to close this article without conveying this last message. Regardless of what happened, the men and women of the Fulton County Sheriff Office and the surrounding law enforcement communities in the Atlanta and state of Georgia demonstrated why we have the best law enforcement agencies in the world.
Authored by:
Senior Team Leader Joseph Garcia
U.S. C-SOG
U.S. Corrections Special Operations Group
POB 5445
Williamsburg, VA 23188
757.345.2700
www.uscsog.com
