A study of “preventable” deaths among LEOs wounded in felonious attacks suggests that a new protocol for emergency “combat care” designed specifically for law enforcement may be necessary to augment the military model currently emphasized in police circles. “Potentially fatal wounds suffered by cops tend to be different from those suffered by soldiers,” says Dr....Read More
Not that you need more stuff to hang on your duty belt, but here’s an addition you might consider: a pouch you can reach with either hand that contains a one-handed tourniquet. If you or another officer are wounded and bleeding badly, it could make the difference between life and death. Although a number of...Read More
Is it true that an old standard of first aid training—attending to Airway, Breathing, and Circulation (bleeding) in that order when treating injured parties—is now obsolete? In a report about downed-officer rescues published in Force Science News [Transmission sent 3/16/09], Dr. Matthew Sztajnkrycer contended that when caring for downed officers, ABC should be reversed to...Read More
Looking for guidance on a protocol for Excited Delirium calls? A recently updated training bulletin from San Jose (CA) PD might be a good starting point. “It’s the closest thing to a policy on the subject that I’ve been able to find,” says Wayne Schmidt, executive director of Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, the organization...Read More
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck, right? Not always. Especially when “it” is “excited delirium,” the complex phenomenon currently regarded in law enforcement circles as the likely cause of many in-custody deaths. What appears to be the often-irreversibly fatal physical and mental meltdown...Read More