Fire Escape, Seven-Inch Knife: Command Decisions Before ESU Arrives
At 0310 hours on a Tuesday in November you respond as the patrol supervisor to a six-story apartment building. A 19-year-old man diagnosed with schizophrenia has climbed onto the fourth-floor fire escape, is holding a seven-inch kitchen knife, and has cut his left forearm. His mother, who called 911, says he stopped taking medication eleven days ago and has been saying "they're coming for me." There are approximately 25 people on the sidewalk, several recording on phones, and a school across the street. ESU is 12 minutes away; EMS is staged two blocks out. You have four officers: one with a Taser, one with a patrol rifle in the trunk, and no ballistic shield. The man is shouting at the crowd and pacing the 18-inch-wide platform. The fire escape ladder is lowered and reachable from the alley. The window behind him is open.
1. What do you do in the first twelve minutes? State your priorities and the specific assignments you give.
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Priority order: contain, isolate, communicate, coordinate - in that sequence, not simultaneously.
Command. I announce that I am the incident commander and designate one officer as my recorder so times and decisions are captured live. I notify the duty captain and request ESU, a department negotiator, and EMS moved to a closer staging point.
Outer perimeter. Push the crowd across the street and out of the line of sight, stop pedestrian and vehicle traffic on the block, and assign one officer to the crowd and the recordings. Twenty-five spectators is a safety problem and an audience that feeds his paranoia.
Inner perimeter. Nobody climbs the fire escape. I post an officer in the alley to control the ladder and an officer inside the apartment to control the window behind him - that open window is the best approach point and the best place to keep him from retreating into the apartment with a knife near his mother.
Communication. One officer, chosen for calm, speaks from cover with a soft, slow voice: name, no commands, no countdowns, no "drop the knife" chants. Everyone else stays quiet so there is a single voice.
Force posture. Lethal cover is designated and positioned but not displayed unnecessarily; the Taser officer is placed with a clear lane and a plan for the landing zone. Less-lethal is not used to speed things up - an 18-inch platform means a fall risk and a Taser deployment can produce one.
Information. Get the mother's account: psychiatrist, prior incidents, what has calmed him before, any other weapons in the apartment.
2. He is eventually taken into custody with a Taser deployment and a laceration. What legal and reporting steps must follow, and in what order?
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Legal basis first. He appears mentally ill and is conducting himself in a manner likely to result in serious harm to himself, which is the standard for taking him into custody for a psychiatric evaluation under the Mental Hygiene Law. That is the transport basis; I do not invent a criminal charge to justify the removal, and possession of a kitchen knife inside his own home is not itself a crime. If he threatened officers or others, that is documented and reviewed separately, but the evaluation comes first.
Medical. EMS evaluates the laceration and the Taser probe sites before transport; the hospital gets the full account, including the Taser deployment and the time.
Reporting, in this order:
- My supervisor's report on the incident and the force used, written the same tour.
- The Taser deployment report and the required notifications up the chain, including the commanding officer and the force investigation unit if the deployment meets the notification threshold.
- Photographs of the subject's injuries, the scene, the fire escape, and the window.
- Body-worn camera review and preservation of every officer's footage, with a note of any activation gaps.
- Evidence handling for the knife and any medical packaging, with a property record.
- Notification to the mother of where he is being taken and how to follow up.
I do not write the report from memory three days later, and I do not let the officer who deployed the Taser draft the only account of the incident.
3. Two weeks later, what does an after-action review of this incident look like, and what would you recommend?
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Method. Pull every body-worn camera recording, the radio tape, the 911 call, the Taser download, and the reports, and review them against the department's own less-lethal and emotionally disturbed person procedures - not against a general sense of how it "should have gone."
Questions to answer. Was command announced and maintained? Did the outer perimeter actually remove the audience? Was there a single communicator? Was lethal cover designated before the less-lethal option was used? Was the Taser deployment within policy given the platform and the fall risk? Did anyone notify the duty captain promptly? Was EMS staged close enough? How long did ESU actually take versus the estimate?
Findings I would expect to surface. The lack of a shield at a barricaded-person call, whether the precinct's emotionally disturbed person training is current for all four officers, and whether the crowd-control assignment was made early enough.
Recommendations. A short training bulletin to the squad on fire-escape and elevated-position incidents; a pre-shift check that less-lethal equipment and shields are actually available; a standing reminder that the dispatcher should be asked for a negotiator immediately, not after ESU arrives; and an officer wellness contact for the officers involved, since a suicide-related call of this kind carries a delayed cost.
Documentation. The review goes to the commanding officer in writing with findings separated from recommendations, and the officers are told the outcome - otherwise the review becomes rumor.