Response to the Non-Criminal Barricade

The way law enforcement officers respond to a mentally ill person in crisis is a topic of intense debate. If you are like a lot of law enforcement professionals you've considered these questions:

1. What should officers do with a suicidal person alone in their own home who refuses to exit?
2. Do officers have a legal duty to take action to try to save the subject from harming themselves?
3. When is it appropriate to disengage from a non-criminal barricaded suspect and will officers be found liable if the subject harms a third party?

In this course, we'll first answer each of those questions and discuss the relevant laws about liability, the "special relationship doctrine" and the "public duty doctrine". We'll examine several case studies, and why some officers and agencies were found liable. Through dramatic body-cam debriefs of actual non-criminal barricade incidents, you'll learn why things went wrong. You'll walk away with modern tactics your agency can use to both limit liability and prevent violent confrontations.

Each student will receive:

1. A simple three-page decision making cheat sheet to help guide your decision making regarding when to engage, disengage and re-engage.
2. A collection of non-criminal barricade policies from progressive police agencies around the U.S.
3. The specific laws you need to know to keep yourself and your agency on solid legal ground.

Your instructor, Donald Anderson, is a Sergeant with the San Francisco Police Department. Donald is an experienced law enforcement professional who regularly responds to barricade incidents as a Team Leader on the department's Crisis Negotiation Team. Donald has not only studied response protocols for responding to non-criminal barricades but is also a real-world practioner, frequently responding to such incidents. He is an experienced trainer who is passionate about helping police officers navigate these challenging incidents and saving lives.

Download a flyer for this course.