What if, from the LEO point of view.

[Omni04]

one word, flashbang


(ok a little too much tom clancy)

 

[Jonathan]

Eye-opening set of responses.

You can say that again.

Background:
It’s about 0300 in the morning, pitch black and still hotter than blazes. You’re about fifteen to twenty miles from the next officer and in the middle of a bunch of south Texas scrub brush. The area is heavily traveled by both illegal aliens and dope smugglers. Dope smugglers carry their dope in regular backpacks or large duffle bags. The militant arm of the drug cartel has spread the word that any dope smugglers that give up their dope without a struggle will be killed.

Situation:
You get a report of possible illegal traffic along a particular route, so you go to investigate. This particular route is a power line clear-cut. You decide to hide ahead of where these people will probably come out of the brush and use your night vision goggles to see if they’re coming. After about half an hour of waiting you see what looks like people walking towards you off in the distance. You watch a little bit longer to make sure and finally determine that seven to ten people are coming your way. At least half of them look like they have backpacks on and the last guy has something like a stick. You figure you’ve got one to two minutes to set up your ambush. What do you do?

...

Let me paint you into a corner here; It is your job to take those 7-10 into custody,or at the bare minimum, establish their legitimacy to be doing what they're doing. What do you do now?

That sounds a lot like a lose-lose situation. My response would be the bare minimum you describe: establish their legitimacy. The exact solution would depend on the terrain, but if you're dealing with 7-10 people who have orders to resist, possibly armed, and there is brush/cover all over the surrounding area, I don't see how a detention could be possible.

If you have night-vision goggles and a radio, it would probably be best to continue to observe them as best possible without letting them detect your presence. Call for backup and work from there.

 

[ahenry]

I guess I should clarify this some:

1) Forget backup, it’s too far away and calling for backup means you’re going to pull everybody from what they’re doing, resulting in lots of other people getting away.

2) You have to detain and most likely arrest these individuals. It’s your job, if you can’t or won’t do it you should find another job. You have to deal with this group...by yourself.

3) Shooting first doesn’t work well when these people haven’t actually posed an imminent threat to you yet.

There are some unique and intriguing ways to handle this situation (a rather common one, I might add); how would you handle it?

 

[GBTx01]

I'll Chime in my two cents...
Knowing the potential situation and that these most likely are illegals and drug mules I'd do the following: Let dispatch know my situation and location (minimum location). Find a position, that at a minimum offers me some concealment if not cover. Wait until they get close enough to ID the "stick", most likely your biggest threat. Challenge the indivuals at a distance of about 25m, looking for any sudden movements or weapons. Detain individuals. Some will probably run and some will stay. Detain those that you can and relocate to opposite side of the clear cut and wait for your transport to arrive. THis will give you some protection and advanced warning if those that escape double back. It is not a job that I envy but I am sure the adrenaline rush is high.

 

[MICHAEL T]

When their in the kill zone blow the claymores Any still alive arrest for carrying illegal explosives.

 

[Omni04]

can't you just radio in an airstrike? XD

 

[Pharley]

I think anyone approaching a Cop car after midnight with a drawn weapon is asking to be shot. Let's use common sense here.

As far as the people approaching from the side....
You should always be prepared to get yourself in a good position. This may sound odd, but if I am in a parking lot typing a report, or reading a city code, or whatever....and someone pulls up beside me or behind me...I immediately circle around and get behind them. This is especially easy at night when you can see headlights coming. Call me paranoid, which I have come across to some people, but I set the encounter up like I am most comfortable handling it.

 

[Leadbutt]

Do what I've done a number of times,put it in REVERSE and create some distance,call foe backup and then hit them with spots and ask for ID

 

[harvester of sorrow]

AHENRY, if your NVG's are PVS7B's, you turn them around backwards so the two eyepieces are shining at them and make the scariest noise you can make, of course! Now, if you have PVS14's, you'll have to think of some other plan...

 

[ahenry]

“La chupacabra está viniendo!â€

The Chupacabra is coming!

 

[dustind]

Blast off and nuke them from orbit.

In the first scenario I would have done exactly what TheFederalistWeasel did. In the second one I would radio my location and situation, identify "the stick," and confront them at a distance. That or do whatever I was trained to do.