By the time he made it to the parking lot John had already switched gears – he had his game face on.

An hour later, when his partner hit the lights and siren and pushed their police car to the limit, John spoke into the radio when assigned a priority one domestic call in an area not unlike where he lived.

“Ten four, we’re only a few blocks out.”

————

Gunpowder.  Strong and fresh.

Other than the cries of a young child there was silence.  There was no time to wait.

John signalled to his partner and the two men buttonhooked through the open doorway.

————

Blood and brain matter were speckled across the wall.  The smell of copper hung on everything, heavy and wet.  The crying child was sitting on the floor next to the body of a woman, a widening pool of blood engulfing them both.

Sweeping his arms with the arc of his gun and trying to take in everything at once, John’s gaze stutter-stepped on a man sitting on the couch. He was very much alive, the proof of which was the chattering of metal on teeth as the muzzle of a gun the man had stuffed into his mouth trembled with the decision on whether or not he should pull the trigger.  The man’s eyes were huge and tears slipped down his cheeks.  He shook his head slowly from side to side, a faint keening from his chest making the hairs on the back of John’s neck stiffen.

————

Police! Drop the gun!

For several moments John hung in the tenuous balance between saviour and enforcer. Having never trained as a negotiator John suspected he was about to get a crash course on the subject.

Drop the gun!

All he got in response was a cement stare.  The man had quieted and was watching him. It was unnerving.  Seeing the man had no intention of putting the gun down, John switched his approach without even realizing it.

Let us get to your baby, make sure she’s okay.

The man looked at John, looked to the body on the floor, and then back to John.  The man’s lips pulled back in a grimace but the muzzle stayed rooted firmly in his mouth. Slowly, he nodded.

Thank you, we just want to make sure she’s okay.  Please, put the gun down.

Under John’s watch his partner made a wide berth around the man and towards the toddler. The child’s face screwed up into a scream, her chubby cheeks red with the stress of sitting beside her dead mother.  John’s partner used one hand to scoop her up into the crook of his elbow, and then he shielded her with his body as he retreated back out of the room.

She’s okay, she’s going to be fine.  But I really need you to put the gun down, okay?

Time slowed.  John gave himself over to the line of tension between himself and the gunman, telling the man he was there for him, feeling like a broken record for the number of times he told the man to put the gun down.  What did real negotiators say?  Did they have a cheater book of subjects to broach when faced with a person seemingly intent on blowing their brains out?  John saw the man’s thumb in the trigger guard and wondered how sensitive the trigger was.  And just above that, the man’s eyes pleaded with him to make everything go back to the way it was.  Sorry man, it’s much too late for that, is what John thought.

It’s okay, everything is going to work out, is what he said.

Moments ticked by.  A touch on John’s arm let him know he had other officers there to help, but his attention was on the man in front of him.

The man finally wrenched the gun from his mouth, badly cutting his lip.  Not once did he point it at John or the other officers; John would have shot him if he had.  The man wailed; he was sorry, so sorry, he hadn’t meant to kill her, he had only meant to scare her, he couldn’t live without her, now he should do everyone a favour and kill himself.

It’s okay, I know you didn’t mean to, just put the gun down, please.

Finally, the man did.  The gun made a hollow sound on the coffee table and the man fell back into the couch cushions, his entire body spent with the reek of defeat.

John couldn’t hear what else the man was saying over the rushing sound of his own heartbeat but he murmured words of reassurance to give himself the second he needed to snatch the gun up and place him into handcuffs.  Later, John’s arms would ache from holding his own gun up, but for now, John had the strength of a bull and he half-walked, half-carried the despondant man past the body of his wife.

————

Outside, John helped place the man on an ambulance gurney.  A short distance away his partner was checking on the little girl but John could not bring himself to look at her, to make her loss more real.  It was sad enough without actually seeing the little girl’s blond curls and seeing the shadow of her mother. John watched other officers escort the man away and then his thoughts turned to his own wife and the friends still at the barbeque.  He knew they wouldn’t believe him if were he to call and tell them what had happened in the last hour and a half, and he was sure they wouldn’t really comprehend how much this call changed everything.

How he would never be able to rid himself of the sight of the man calling his dead wife’s name even as her blood congealed on the carpet at his feet, her hair in a halo around her destroyed face.  The little girl sitting in the pool of blood, her diaper soaked through, a handful of her mothers shirt in her tiny fist as she screamed her fear into the air.

How reality seemed to slip for a moment – he had cherished the softness of his wife’s hair against the back of his hand when he leaned in for a kiss, not knowing that an hour later he would be negotiating with another husband who had shot his own wife in the face.

John took a moment and took several deep breaths to keep from becoming overwhelmed. Then he walked over to where his partner was waiting at their police car and the two of them leaned back against the trunk.

Neither of them said a word.

They didn’t have to.

SIGNS & SYMPTOMS

Behavioural

• Any change in normal behaviour
• Changes in activity level, appetite, sexual interest
• Withdrawal, irritability, anger, inattentiveness
• Breaking the ‘rules’ or adhering to them without flexibility
• Absenteeism, procrastination, poor performance
• Increased anxiety
• Sleep problems

Physical

• Fatigue
• Low pain threshold
• Muscle tension or pain
• Changes in breathing (hyperventilating)
• Cardiac and circulatory changes
• Dry mouth
• Excessive perspiration
• Blurring of vision
• Stomach and digestive problems
• Exacerbation of existing problems (spine and back problems, migraine headaches, arthritic and rheumatic conditions, asthma, skin disorders)

Cognitive

• Indecision
• Denial of problem
• Depression
• Pessimism
• Feelings of loss of control or isolation
• Overly sensitive
• Hypercritical
• Memory loss
• Poor concentration

This list is not exhaustive, but a guide to help people suffering from critical incident stress understand what their bodies are going through, and to assist them with their recovery.

Today, I’m going to cover some things to consider if you have been involved in a critical incident.  The list of ‘do’s and don’ts’, compiled with the assistance of the ICISF, are suggestions only – all with the intention of educating those suffering from critical incident stress that what they are feeling is NORMAL. 

It should be noted that critical incidents are not experienced only by those in law enforcement.  Any event outside the range of normal human experience can happen to anyone, such as witnessing or being the victim of a violent crime.  The following is information we give our police officers after they have been involved in a critical incident, but can be applied to anyone:

SUGGESTED POST-CRITICAL INCIDENT DO’S AND DON’TS

DO:

• Do expect the incident to bother you
• Do maintain a good diet, cutting down on caffeine and sugar
• Do exercise
• Do remind yourself that post-trauma symptoms are normal
• Do spend time with family and friends
• Do get extra help, if necessary

DON’T:

• Don’t drink alcohol excessively
• Don’t use legal or illegal substances to numb post-trauma symptoms
• Don’t withdraw from family and friends
• Don’t think you are ‘crazy’
• Don’t think you are the only one affected (if it was a large incident)
• Don’t have unrealistic expectations for recovery

• There are several reasons for the ‘do’s and don’ts’.  By eating right, you give your body the nourishment it needs to help you recover.  Exercise releases endorphins, making you feel better.  If you numb the symptoms by drinking too much or taking some other type of drug, you are only delaying the onset of symptoms and your ultimate recovery. 
• You don’t have to start doing marathon sessions in the gym, or forgoing your usual glass of wine with dinner.  All you have to do is to remember to look after yourself, because you’ve just gone through a pretty horrible experience.

Hopefully, you will never have to put into practice the tips I’ve provided above.  Tomorrow, I’ll provide a list of symptoms that may be experienced after a critical incident – again, knowledge is power. 

Formed in the mid 1990’s, the Vancouver Police Department’s Critical Incident Stress Management Team (CISM, and formerly called the Trauma Team) was created to address the need for officers involved in serious incidents to receive some type of peer support.  While there are a number of psychologists who assist with the team, the CISM Team is comprised of police officers, and there are several different functions the team fulfills.  As I’ve been a member of the CISM Team since 2003, I can give you an idea of how the team functions.

First off, our mandate is to ‘Do No Harm’.  We are a group of police officers who are ready and willing to listen and help other officers who have been involved in a critical incident.  We are not psychologists, and we are not mental health professionals – we are simply there for peer support, and to give the effected officers information on how their minds and bodies may react after the incident.  Knowledge is power, and by doing this, we prepare officers to be better able to cope with the fallout of a critical incident. 

Our second mandate is confidentiality.  Whatever is said during a debriefing or a defusing stays in the room – if there is no confidentiality with people’s raw emotions, then the team becomes ineffective. 

Third, the CISM Team works closely with a number of psychologists and we go through extensive ongoing training.

Some facts about critical incidents:

• Critical Incident – a cataclysmic event that serves to overwhelm one’s normal coping mechanism.  An event that is outside the range of a normal or usual human experience.
• Critical Incident Stress – The body’s normal response to an unnatural situation. 

The Vancouver Police Department has identified the ‘Big Ten’ critical incidents most likely to cause stress:

• Line of Duty death
• Line of Duty serious injury
• Suicide of a co-worker
• Disaster or multi-casualty incident
• Police involved shooting
• Accidental  killing or wounding of a civilian
• Significant events involving children
• Prolonged incidents ending in failure
• Excessive media coverage
• any other powerful event

So let’s say a group of officers is involved in a call where the suspect is killed.  Everyone involved in the incident is brought together before they are allowed to go home, and the CISM Team conducts a diffusing.  The primary function of the diffusing is to see how everyone is doing, to give everyone a chance to see how their co-workers are, and for the team to pass on some coping tips.  The Team gives the involved members a handout outlining possible stress symptoms they may experience, and points out that all the symptoms are normal. If anyone’s interested on the symptoms, I can do another post with the list.

Then, at a later date (within a week), the same group is brought together again for a debriefing.  This time, a psychologist is present, and the debriefing is conducted at a location other than the police station.  It’s important to remember this is not an operational debrief, this is a check to see how everyone is coping.  Also, if one person says they are not coping well and are not sleeping, it may help the next officer who is feeling the same.  It’s all about ensuring the officers know that their bodies are having a NORMAL response to an UNNATURAL SITUATION. 

All members of the VPD’s CISM Team are trained through the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc..