Staying In Control During Conflict

It ain’t easy…  When the brain has been hijacked by events and the most powerful chemicals in existence, those your own body manufactures and secretes under stress, are coursing through your veins, it isn’t easy to maintain control and make sound tactical and use of force decisions.

Indeed, all too often this factor, coined by eminent use of force expert attorney Michael Brave as the “officer’s legitimate anxiety factor,” and referred to by the Supreme Court as “circumstances that are tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving” in the landmark Graham v. Connor case, is forgotten by investigators and agency administrators.  They rather substitute their own Monday morning opinion based on 20/20 hindsight (which the Supreme Court further warned against in Graham).  Instead the SCOTUS – Supreme Court of the United States stated that forced is to be judged at the moment it occurs.

So oftentimes an officer is oftentimes damned no matter what he does.  He is human and subject to the same frailties as any other homo sapien.  The SNS prepares us for fight or flight but if uncontrolled can render us overwhelmed.  The same system which makes us faster and stronger can leave us like a deer in the headlights or, making very poor cognitive decisions.  The same system that causes us to tunnel/focus on the suspect’s apparent handgun, as an example, can cause us to miss a badge around his neck indicating he is a plainclothes law enforcement officer.  The same SNS can limit our ability to process and deliver tactical options leading to a “performance loop” wherein we do the same thing over and over again on a suspect, i.e. pepper spray, Taser, hit with a baton, which may not be working on him, or fail to see signs of compliance from a suspect.  So the officer has impaired cognitive and physical abilities based on the actions of a resisting or attacking suspect or a hot call such as a man with a gun.  He then gets judged from the standard of a non-stressed officer instead of from the perspective of a reasonable officer on scene in like or similar circumstances.  No allowance is given by supervisors for the realities of these chaotic circumstances and the resultant fight or flight responses.

Taking Control of Yourself

Experience helps a lot with dealing with the effects of the SNS response.  If you’ve been on hot calls before and are forced to deal with the cognitive impairment of fight or flight you are far ahead of things.  “Siren hype” can be mitigated if you run hot on a regular basis.  Busy street cops or sheriffs have the opportunity to get used to running hot and controlling their body and brain’s responses.  I say “have the opportunity” because just you work in a busy city or county doesn’t mean you’ve been able to control these responses.  Some people never do get used to the impact of the SNS response on their system regardless of how busy their patrol area.

Remember that the Sympathetic Nervous System is preparing you for battle.  It is the performance edge that we all experience, regardless of experience, to some extent or another.  It’s just that we want all of the good the SNS gives us, and none of the bad.

If you patrol in a quieter town or city (and God Bless you if you do, these are not bad places to work) you can give yourself an edge in performance by engaging in “when/then” thinking.  Constantly think what you would do, how you would respond “when” you respond to a robbery call at this bank, a B&E at this business, a pursuit which started here and now.  When you interact with suspects and citizens envision what control techniques or what tactics you would use.  These when/then games are a way of staying mentally sharp and prepping your body/mind for when a real threat, high risk call or hot call occurs.  You have pre-planted options in your brain and reduced lag time if the suspect does turn and throws a punch or the suspect does draw a gun, flee in his vehicle or attempts to assault you.

Using visualization “soft-wires” the brain for violent encounters or tactical decisions as well.  Scientists have recorded electrical activity in muscles involved in different athletic events when visualization is being practiced.  In your mental practice see yourself in control, feel the emotions involved and envision yourself taking and operating in control.

I recently had dinner at a Christmas party with a friend who is a genuine law enforcement hero.  He responded to an active shooter incident and put the suspect, who had killed multiple innocent victims, down with accurate fire from his patrol rifle.  In a recorded interview this officer *name withheld because he does not like the attention, stated, “My biggest message is for other police officers especially in small towns.  You know officers in big cities they’re dealing with a lot of violence quite a bit and they stay sharp and they’re aware of what can happen.  But also in the suburbs too…this kind of stuff doesn’t happen too often but guys need to realize wherever they work, if you’re wearing this uniform you might get that call one day.” 

This officer performed amazingly despite and to a large part because of the SNS response.  He was pumped up enough from the performance enhancing effects of fight or flight but able to respond within those effects and win the day, stopping the threat.

Breathing – autogenic or tactical breathing – in for a four count, hold for a four count, exhale for a four count, hold for a four count is an age old method of dealing with fight or flight.  It has to be practiced and developed as a habit in stressful situations to work (that’s not to say that if you find you have slipped into SNS that you start tactical breathing to take control or mitigate the effects.  As a 12 ½ year veteran of my agency’s SWAT team I began using the verbal cue “breathe to reduce your stress and focus on your task” years ago as we were moving toward a target location to execute a search warrant.  I have found breathing helps control my stress and pain even after major surgery (used autogenic breathing and visualization extensively post-surgery for my knee replacement last year).

Engaging in regular dynamic training and confrontation simulations get you used to the brain and body responses you’ll experience and, if structured properly, gives you the mental and physical tools to win.

Wrap-Up

Chaotic situations can lead to chaotic responses in your brain and body.  If the best trained can be caught off guard and slip into adverse SNS responses.  Focus and breathing and experience with these chemical, physiological, psychological and physical changes and responses can allow you to be faster, stronger and think better, faster and more tactically. 

Supervisors, investigators and agency management would do well to attend confrontation simulation training so they can see and experience firsthand how these SNS changes impact performance under stress and the resultant memory impairment.  Unfortunately too many have forgotten what it was like to respond to a hot call, chase a suspect through darkened streets, or try to control a resisting or attacking suspect.  Training can help them make more sound assessments of their officer’s performance in a stressful encounter or call.

Training the body and brain to use the SNS to improve performance is the key.  Getting and staying in control can happen.  We just need to understand the how’s and why’s of the impact on our performance and the methods to harness these powerful human responses.