What would you do in this situation?

1) Jump on the hood of the car as it passes close to you?
2) Take aim at the front tires and fire off several rounds?
3) Take cover and call for help?

Based on your selected option, here are brief descriptions that explains the outcome of each option.

1) Bad idea, this could only wind up in either a very serious or fatal accident with the good likelihood that the suspect would get away.
2) Another bad idea because you are in the downtown core and there are lots of other people around. The bullets could ricochet off the buildings and seriously harm innocent people. Also, firing into the tires while the car is traveling at high speed towards you means it could go out of control and hit you or someone else.
3) This is your best option and protects you and others from being shot at and wounded. You will have a chance to see the license plate number as well, and it also means help is on the way. The pursuit vehicles disable the car when they get a bead on where it is headed.

For some reason the car gets to the end of the street, spins a U turn and heads back in your direction. You hear the wail of sirens heading your way. Obviously the driver saw other police vehicles coming to assist you.

What would you do in this situation?

1) Draw your gun and take a shot at the vehicle because there’s more room to fire?
2) Hop into your cruiser and drive it right in front of the oncoming car?
3) Keep track of where the vehicle is headed and radio the information to dispatch?

Based on your selected option, here are brief descriptions that explains the outcome of each option.

1) Not a good option. While you may well have more room to fire, you also have more potential chances to miss a moving target and wound or kill other people or drivers on the street.
2) Not a good option. There would be no time for you to bail out of the car and the impact might kill you and the suspect, not to mention other innocent people. You can’t assume that the driver of the speeding car will swerve to avoid your vehicle. You can’t risk the lives of others, or yourself in this scenario.
3) This is your best option, as this may allow a spike belt to be set up in a different location.

Joshua Mok
Police Ready
www.PoliceReady.com

What would you do in this instance?

1) Take cover and get your weapon at the ready?
2) Return fire?
3) Call for assistance?

Based on your selected option, here are brief descriptions that explains the outcome of each option.

1) Good option, as you have to assess the situation before making any further decisions.
2) Bad decision, you have no idea who will walk into range, as this is in a residential neighbourhood.
3) Good option in combination with the first one, as you will need more than one cruiser and two armed officers to handle a drug house shoot out.

You’ve been there for a few hours and nothing has happened, then all of a sudden a neighbour runs up to you and yells that the suspect was climbing out the back window of the house and would probably head for the alley.

What would you do in this instance?

1) Immediately bolt from your position to go check?
2) Radio other cars in the area with this information?
3) Lob tear gas into the house?

Based on your selected option, here are brief descriptions that explains the outcome of each option.

1) Not a good idea. You have no clue if there is anyone else in the house that would delight in using you for target practice. The house may be quiet, but you have no idea if there is a gun trained on you or not.
2) Good option, as the other officers in the area have already surrounded the place and will be able to corner him as he flees on foot.
3) This is a so-so option. While you could do this to flush out anyone else, it is a waste of time in terms of trying to apprehend the suspect you want to arrest.

Joshua Mok
Police Ready
www.PoliceReady.com

What would you do in this situation?

1) Kung fu kick the knife out of her hand?
2) Duck and grab the child and run?
3) Draw your gun?

Based on your selected option, here are brief descriptions that explains the outcome of each option.

1) While this is an option, you’d better be sure you are deadly accurate with your kick or you will wind up with a nasty slash on your leg or other body parts.
2) This is the best option. The child’s safety is paramount. One of you could grab the child and head out the door to the cruiser to call for assistance. The other could divert the mother’s attention by taking cover.
3) Bad choice, as this would escalate the situation into something really ugly. Deadly force is only effective if you are able to kill immediately. In the time it takes to get ready to fire, the mother may have stabbed you right in the heart. Drug addicts are notoriously strong and agile when they are whacked out.

As you are running out the door with the child to take her to safety, the husband, who is just arriving home, sees you taking his daughter and tackles you. You all land in a heap on the lawn just inches from the cruiser and he pulls out a gun.

What would you do in this situation?

1) Kick him in the groin bringing him to his knees?
2) Carefully reach for your second gun in your boot?
3) Roll rapidly under the cruiser to take cover?

Based on your selected option, here are brief descriptions that explains the outcome of each option.

1) This is actually a fairly good option as it has the element of surprise attached to it. In addition, since being kicked in the groin would be excruciatingly painful, he would likely drop the gun. You would likely be able to retrieve it.
2) No, bad option. Any move like that on your part would mean instant death, as the father is in no mood to talk civilly.
3) This option has some merit, but you would also be a sitting duck while he took potshots at you under the cruiser.

Joshua Mok
Police Ready
www.PoliceReady.com

What would you do in this situation?

1) Dive for cover if there was some available?
2) Unholster your weapon and fire straight and true?
3) Holler at the people on the street to duck?

Based on your selected option, here are brief descriptions that explains the outcome of each option.

1) This is likely your best option if there is cover close by. If not, your only other option is to retreat and call for help. This ensures everyone’s safety.
2) This is an option, however in the time it takes you to unholster your weapon, you could be dead.
3) This is also an option, but it may prompt the gunman to start firing at you and if he misses, he could harm innocent bystanders.

The gunman for some unknown reason spins away from you, grabs a nearby child and uses her as a shield as he is backing away from you.

What would you do in this situation?

1) Call for backup immediately, retreat and keep the man in your sight?
2) Try to get off a shot at the suspects head?
3) Try to negotiate with the man to let the hostage go?

Based on your selected option, here are brief descriptions that explains the outcome of each option.

1) This is actually your best option, as it would then remove the danger of anyone else, including you getting shot. It would allow the hostage negotiation team to arrive and/or a sniper to be put into place.
2) Shooting at that distance would only work if you knew for certain you would hit him. The idea in shooting would also be to disable, not kill the suspect if possible. However, under the stress of the situation, there is no guarantee that you will. In the time it would take for you to draw and fire, the suspect could kill the child.
3) While you could try to negotiate with the man, as you are retreating, it would be best to leave that sort of thing to an expert negotiator. You may upset the suspect, and trigger him to do something drastic.

Joshua Mok
Police Ready
www.PoliceReady.com

Dispatch reports a call from a teenage hooker who alleges two johns beat her and stole her money and left her for dead on the outskirts of the city. She managed to get to a farm and call for help. She’s in really rough condition and needs medical assistance. She is able to give you the license number of the vehicle she was in and the first names of the two men who picked her up and beat her. She is First Nations.

What would you do in this situation?

1) Take a report, take her to hospital and pay lip service to trying to find the vehicle and the two men? After all she is a prostitute.
2) Take her to hospital immediately, call a female police officer for assistance and to help conduct a rape kit, contact dispatch to run the license plates, then pay the vehicle owner a visit?
3) Contact a tribal elder to come and pick her up and let them deal with it. After all she’s a member of a tribe that has their own police presence?

Based on your selected option, here are brief descriptions that explains the outcome of each option.

1) Not a good option. You have been sworn to protect and serve the community. While she may be a prostitute, she is still entitled to protection under the law. What the two johns did was illegal.
2) This is your best option, to collect and preserve evidence for a potential court case later.
3) Not all of this is a good option. However contacting a female tribal elder is a good idea, as it will help the young girl cope with the situation to have help from her own people. Whether or not her reservation has a police presence is irrelevant, as the crime took place off reserve and it is your job and duty to seek justice for the young girl.

Joshua Mok
Police Ready
www.PoliceReady.com

You and your partner arrive at the scene and the house is located right at the middle point of a cul de sac, and the only way in and out of it, is the road you are on. You see the teens running out of the house, jump into a car and burn rubber to get out of there pronto.

What do you do in this situation?

1) Block the exit to the cul de sac with your police cruiser?
2) Give chase through a residential neighborhood?
3) Call dispatch and ask for a roadblock/spike belt once you have an idea where the suspects are heading?

Based on your selected option, here are brief descriptions that explains the outcome of each option.

1) Not a good option. The results of a crash would mean two officers without an operative vehicle and three teens on the loose bearing arms if not some serious injuries. This is a highly volatile and dangerous situation, since it is in a residential neighborhood and innocent people could be harmed.
2) Not a good option, as this places too many innocent people at risk of being harmed.
3) This is your best option, as you are able to follow the suspects and get a good idea of where they are headed. Keep dispatch appraised of your progress so other police vehicles are able to join in the pursuit and roadblock. Chances are you may be able to have another cruiser get ahead of the suspect’s vehicle and place a spike belt at a strategic location.

Joshua Mok
Police Ready
www.PoliceReady.com

What would you do in this situation?

1) Keep on driving, it’s their problem and they’re just drunks.
2) Contact dispatch and ask for assistance and wait until it arrives and then commence crowd control procedures.
3) Wade into the crowd with your baton at the ready and shouting at people to break it up and go home.

Based on your selected option, here are brief descriptions that explains the outcome of each option.

1) Not a good choice, as you have taken an oath to protect and serve the people of your community. It may be just a fistfight between two drunks arguing over a football win, but it could easily escalate into a full-scale riot if not stopped.
2) This is your best option as it protects you and provides other well-trained officers who will be able to disperse a large crowd a lot easier than just one cop. It will also mean extra help in arresting and charging the two combatants for public drunkenness and creating a disturbance.
3) Not a good choice, as wading into a crowd on your own leaves you wide open to possible attack from anyone in the crowd. You have no real sense of the mood of the gathering, and since they are drunk, they could swing any way on the drop of a dime. Always keep your personal safety in mind when working the job.

Each challenge will consist of a brief description of a crime scenario. The purpose of the challenge is to put you into the role of a police officer at a crime scene and to test your decision making skills as you decide how you should handle each situation. Several options (typically three) will be provided for each challenge to choose from, and the options will generally represent a bad option, a good option, and a best option. Each option will also include an explanation to explain why each option are considered as a bad, good, or best option.

The structure of this Police Ready challenge is to replicate a real-life scenario that a police officer may experience during his/her career, and the different choices of options indicate how a police officer can react to a scenario in many different ways, but each action can lead to a different reaction. You may think you responded to a crime scenario in a good way, but that does not necessarily mean your action was the BEST available option in that given scenario.

Let the challenge begin! Visit our Police Challenge #1 to attempt our first challenge:

You’ve been called to respond to a bank robbery in progress. As you pull up to the bank, the suspected robbers are fleeing the scene of the crime and are carrying guns. They also have backpacks that may have the stolen money in them. The bank manager runs over to your cruiser and says the bank security guard has been shot.

What would you do in this situation?

1) Pursue the robbers on foot, weapon drawn?
2) Pursue the robbers on foot, updating other officers as to where the suspects are headed?
3) Call for back up, tell the bank manager to call an ambulance and lock the bank doors and stay put until you return and then chase the suspects updating dispatch as you chase?

Here are brief descriptions that explains the outcome of your selected option.

1) Pursuing the robbers on foot with a weapon drawn endangers you and other innocent civilians. The risks are too high to consider following this course of action.
2) This is a good option as it keeps your personal safety in mind.
3) This is the best option as it deals with all the concerns present at the crime scene, delegates some of the responsibility to the bank manager and frees you up to give chase while keeping in touch with dispatch. It will also allow you to see if the suspects ditch the backpacks and weapons as they run and give you enough information to be able to describe them. If they jump into a getaway vehicle, you may also be able to get a full or partial license plate number to run.

Joshua Mok
Police Ready
www.PoliceReady.com