In debriefing incidents, especially those times when it went bad and the officer had time to think before s/he acted - but didn’t, a failure to follow the First Responder Philosophy (FRP) was often the problem. Many correctional officers learn the FRP but fail to apply it to duty related incidents. They probably can still rattle off the ten main points of the FRP but fail to apply these concepts to emergency situations in their duty assignments.
Before leaping into the fire in a situation where you should have known better, ask yourself these simple questions taken from the ten points of the FRP:
1. ARRIVE
What have I stumbled into and do I need help right now?
2. ASSESS
What type of emergency do I have, i.e., disturbance, medical, fire, or miscellaneous emergency like the flooding cell block that needs to be responded to immediately to avoid thousands of dollars of damage?
3. ALARM
Have I notified the control center of where I am and what is happening while I still can?
4. EVALUATE
Is this a set-up? Are their hidden dangers that I didn’t initial see?
5. ENTER
Does it make sense tactically to enter the area of the emergency at this time or should I wait for more help? Remember that you will be questions as why you did or didn’t enter. Base your answer on your training and experience, policy and procedures, and past practice.
6. STABILIZE
Do I have enough help on the scene stabilize both the subject and the scene?
First Responder Philosophy points 1 – 6 deal with deal with responding to the emergency while points 7 – 10 have to do with following through after the emergency. Answer these questions 1 – 6 first but make sure to deal with the remainder of the questions 7 - 10 as soon as possible. Officers often win the battle but lose the war because they relax too soon. It’s not MILLER TIME (time to relax) until the report is done and the incident has been debriefed and you are walking out of the locker room at the end of the shift. All ten points of the FRP must be covered properly to keep you safe.
7. INITIAL MEDICAL ASSESSMENT
Has everyone, both staff and inmates, been evaluated and treated, as needed, for injuries?
8. LONG TERM MONITORING
Have the inmate’s Special Needs been dealt with in terms of long term medical needs, mental health needs, and security safety considerations like movement by at least two staff members while in special restraints?
9. COMMUNICATION
Has everyone that needs to be communicated been contacted, i.e. control center, supervisors, command staff, medical, mental health, maintenance, etc.?
10. DOCUMENTATION / DEBRIEFING
Have all the documentation been completed in terms of hand written or electronic log book entries, reports, specialized forms, unusual incident reports, etc. and has the incident been debriefed to “improve future performance?
For more information about the First Responder Philosophy, check out Responding to Correctional Emergencies
