This concept was developed by Sgt. Michael Johnson who recently retired from the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy inspector.
There are three rules that an officer always needs to remember when dealing with the subjects.
Rule #1: No officers are injured.
The motto that we are here to “serve and protect” our citizens begins with keeping us alive and well so we can accomplish this goal. We need to keep ourselves safe so we can protect society. An injured or dead officer has difficulty “serving and protecting” anyone.
Rule #2: No subjects are injured needlessly.
Our duty to “serve and protect” includes subjects who for whatever reason decide to physically resist our attempts to enforce the law. We will do everything reasonable to keep them physically safe. Since “no subjects are injured needless,” a subject who is injured by us, by definition, needed to be injured in order to keep him/herself or someone else, including us, safe. Once the subject is stabilized and control is established, we will get the subject whatever medical attention that they require.
Rule #3: No one is accepted/detained or released improperly.
Taking subjects into custody or detaining them needs to be legally and procedurally justifiable as is releasing someone who is in our “care and custody.” In a free society, the restriction of freedom and/or the releasing of someone in our custody for legal or safety reasons need to be carefully evaluated by the officer. Although officers can get into a great deal trouble for a false arrest, they can get into even greater legal trouble for releasing someone who should have been detained, whether that is a dangerous felon, an intoxicated driver, or a suicidal person. As we like to say, the ultimate improper release often ends up with the coroner.
