Domestic disturbance response: 10 tips for winning at these volatile calls

Around ten years ago, as a patrol division deputy sheriff with the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I walked up some porch stairs to knock on the door of a mobile home. Suddenly, I was tackled on the front porch by a 175-pound sheet rock hanger who was annoyed that I responded to the repeat domestic violence 911 calls to dispatchers that came in while we were enroute.

After what turned out to be an at least eight minute struggle (according to dispatch logs) on this drunk and drugged man's front porch, two other deputies (luckily they were there) and I were able to secure him.

He went to jail, after being treated in the emergency room, and we were able to go home the next morning. As a deputy on my shift remarked after the dust settled: "You know, we go to these domestics all the time here and we forget what can go wrong and how dangerous they can be. Your call was a real wake up call for the rest of us."

That deputy sheriff was right.