Beware of “target of opportunity” moments

February 09, 2009 08:22 AM •

It’s important to use extra caution when patrolling territory contested by rival gang members. If personnel permit, you want at least three officers involved in gang contacts: one to serve as Contact Officer for dealing with the suspect(s), one to serve as the primary Cover Officer, watching the Contact Officer and the known suspect(s), and the third working as a secondary Cover Officer, watching the surrounding environment for threats.

The importance of this strategy was illustrated in an incident in the Midwest involving tac officers who stopped to question a known gang member. As they attempted to deal with this individual, two members of a rival gang, standing in a nearby alley, fired shots at the police car.

Officers fired back, hitting one suspect in the leg. A squad car responding to the scene was then fired on by other rival gang members.

Moral of the story: when it comes to gangs, you not only have to worry about the suspects you’re immediately concerned with, but also about their friends and their enemies, any of whom may seize upon your presence in the hood as a “target of opportunity.”

Officer Safety

Scott Buhrmaster

Scott Buhrmaster is Vice President of Training and Editorial for Police1.com, which was awarded the “Quill & Badge Award” for Excellence in Journalism by the International Association of Police Unions. He is also the Publisher of Police Marksman magazine and has served as Contributing Editor for Law Officer magazine. He has been a member of the law enforcement training community since 1989, when he began work as Director of Research with Calibre Press, Inc., producers of The Street Survival Seminar.

Throughout his tenure at Calibre, Buhrmaster was involved with virtually every aspect of the company’s officer survival training efforts, from the planning, creation and marketing of the organization’s award-winning textbooks and videos to developing and securing training content for the Seminar. In 1995, he was named Director of the Calibre Press Street Survival Newsline®, an Internet-based officer survival training service he helped found. In less than five years, Newsline readership grew from 25 officers to more than 250,000 in 26 countries, making it one of the most popular training vehicles in law enforcement history. His efforts now focus on providing training and information to the nearly 400,000 officers worldwide who visit Police1.com every month.

Prior to joining Police1, Buhrmaster, who also serves on the National Advisory Board of the Force Science Research Center and stands as an active member of the American Society for Law Enforcement Training and the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, was President of The Buhrmaster Consulting Group, an international consulting practice for the law enforcement training sector and the publishing industry. Scott may be reached at buhrmastergroup@comcast.net.