I think we can all agree that working together as a team to get the mission accomplished — with maximum efficiency — is a good tactic.
Why do we still see street officers responding to an officer-needs-assistance call and when they arrive on the scene everyone just piles on and start fighting the basic rules of common teamwork goals? Get the job done with little effort and maximum control cuff and move out of the area.
What we end up seeing is one officer pulling left, one pulling right the other trying to get the subject up and another trying to get him down. We end up seeing a lack of teamwork.
Instead, using teamwork, one officer starts giving commands.
“Get the head, Get the feet, get the hands, and arms and lets’ cuff him and get him out of here.”
Easier said than done you might say.
Well not really. When you work together, get them down on ground, secure the head (watch your hands by the mouth), and another grabs the feet, Cross them over and apply pressure toward the head. Another officer takes hands arms applies cuffs. Additional officers deal with crowd, family, and/or friends of the subject. Cuff and go. Get them out of area as soon as possible.
The more time it takes to get subjects cuffed and off to HQ, the more time for the crowd to swell and get involved. The people don’t want to take on professional-looking police officers — conversely, what gets them agitated is bad looking police work and unprofessional behavior.
Get the job done as fast as you can and get the subject out with least amount of force possible and as soon as possible. When the additional manpower gets on the scene, work as a team and try to keep your emotions contained. I know it’s not easy and I do know we don’t train as a team unit often, but it is the direction we should be moving in.
Of course one-on-one situation all bets are off, you must fight the best you can and you must fight to win.
Be safe, be ready, be professional, and mission accomplished.