Calibre Press: Naked Subjects Are No Joke

From Calibre Press

Some of the most dangerous people you can encounter are naked offenders. Officers sometimes treat them like a joke, but if someone is naked in public and not drunk or making some radical political or social protest statement, chances are high they’re in the middle of a full-blown psychotic episode and potentially a deadly threat.

More likely than not, these people are in a delusional state and may perceive you as a threat. They’re usually beyond your ability to influence verbally. They have a heightened capacity to resist OC, impact weapons, even a Taser.

If you don’t acknowledge nakedness as a danger cue and you don’t approach the situation with a strong officer-safety orientation, you’re placing yourself at great risk.

Here are one trainer’s suggestions for handling naked subjects. Please feel free to share your own thoughts, tips and experiences:

— Make a strong show of force at the outset by having multiple officers respond. At some point, sheer manpower may be necessary to overwhelm, subdue and control the offender. The more officers you have present, assuming they’re tactically astute, the safer the subject and the officers alike are likely to be. If your agency has a mental health communications team, a member of that unit ideally should be among the first to arrive.

— Stay away from the subject initially. Cops tend to want to close distance, but people in the midst of a paranoid or schizophrenic episode need greater space. Moving close puts you at greater risk because it heightens the subject’s agitation and fear.

— Ideally, get some object or barrier between you and the subject which can slow him down and buy you time in case he tries to launch an assault.

— Try tactically to construct a generous perimeter so he doesn’t feel compressed and crowded in upon, but at the same time can be contained.

— Unless there is immediate danger, attempt dialog. However, you’ll probably need an unconventional “intervention strategy” in order to break through his psychosis to a better level of rationality. If you’re the primary contact officer, try loudly clapping your hands as a potential way of having the offender focus on you, momentarily distracting him from his psychosis and snapping him back to reality. With a calm face and gentle demeanor, you may then be able to engage him in conversation, build rapport and coax him into cooperation and compliance. However, this may not work. There are no guarantees. But it may open a brief door for intervention…which, be cautioned, may close again without warning.

— Simple commands that clearly direct specific desired action—get on the ground…drop the knife, etc.—have the greatest chance of influencing the subject. If you can’t break through to some level of rationality, they may prove useless, but they should be made if time permits. Vague commands that lack a specific direction, like, “Don’t make me shoot you,” are totally useless in these encounters because the subject, in the confusion in his or her mind, won’t be able to figure out what behavior you want.

— In some instances, you may be able to win compliance from a naked subject who is not actively violent by offering him water to drink. Because naked emotionally disturbed people typically have a high level of dissociation from their bodies, they tend to overexert, especially in hot weather, and dehydration may occur. What’s most important about the water, though, is that your effort to provide it may be seen by the subject as a non-threatening attempt to reach out to him. He may be able to frame in whatever rational component is left of his mind that you are a helpful intervener, rather than fitting you somehow into a negative, paranoid ideation. Still, there are no assurances that trying to deal in a helpful way with the subject’s basic biological needs will be successful. They may be too far gone to reach in that way.

— Ultimately, force may be necessary. Given the high risk of injury with unpracticed group hands-on methods, the unpredictability of aerosol and electronic weapons, the incapacity for meaningful dialog characteristic of psychotics, and their known capability for explosive violence, deadly force may be necessary. You should be mentally and physically prepared for that possibility from the start.

Thoughts? Experiences? Additional tips? We want to hear from you! Add your comments below or e-mail them to us at: editor@calibrepress.com