(NewsNation) — The deaths of four officers in North Carolina who were killed in a shootout Monday reminded the public of the dangers law enforcement agents face when they serve warrants.
U.S. Marshal Thomas Weeks, correction officers Sam Poloche and Alden Elliott and police officer Joshua Eyer were shot and killed Monday as they approached a home to serve an arrest warrant for Terry Clark Hughes Jr., who also died Monday. Four other law enforcement officers were wounded in the three-hour standoff.
As the officers were engaged with Hughes, another person inside the home also opened fire on the officers. Eventually, two individuals came out and were taken into police custody.
While Monday’s attack was one of the deadliest on officers, law enforcement across the country has faced several life-threatening situations while serving warrants in recent years.
Experts say because law enforcement may not know who is inside a house and what their intentions are, these can be among the most high-risk situations officers face on the job.
A dangerous part of policing
Despite the high level of training a law enforcement officer receives, there are still a lot of unknowns when serving warrants, Anthony Cangelosi, a lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told NewsNation.
“It’s a very dangerous exercise or event in any law enforcement officer’s life, particularly if the individual knows he or she is wanted,” he said. “One of the things we always say is, ‘If someone’s in there, and they really want to hurt us, the odds are on their side.’”
While no officer wants to induce a dangerous confrontation, it’s not clear if that’s what the other person wants, Cangelosi said.
He said that no matter how hard they train, officers can get caught in “tunnel vision” in potentially deadly situations.
“The law enforcement community trains for not getting into tunnel vision and to stay aware of the possibility that there still might be other threats out there, but training is one thing, real-life scenarios is another,” he said.
“When your heart rate just goes up so high, your training could be lost in that split second.”
Dangerous encounters while serving arrest warrants
In February, a man shot and wounded three D.C. police officers attempting to serve an arrest warrant for animal cruelty. The suspect started shooting at the officers from inside his home and then barricaded himself for more than 12 hours before surrendering later that day, reported NewsNation affiliate D.C. News Now.
A Florida officer was shot and wounded while serving a warrant on a suspect in a carjacking and attempted murder in January, according to Miami news outlet WPLJ.
In Indiana, a sheriff’s deputy was shot in the leg while serving a warrant, the IndyStar reported. The shooting occurred as three deputies served a felony warrant to a person in a tent in the woods in Clay City, about 70 miles southwest of Indianapolis.
Milwaukee officer Matthew Rittner, who was on the police force’s tactical team, was fatally shot while serving a search warrant on a suspected gun and drug dealer in 2019.
Rittner left behind a son and a pregnant wife, reported Milwaukee news outlet WTMJ.
“It’s not his fault. It just breaks my heart. He didn’t deserve it,” his wife, Caroline, told the outlet.
How can officers protect themselves?
While there is no surefire way to avoid tragedies like the officers in North Carolina due to the nature of the work, training and protocols are drilled in to avoid as much injury as possible, Cangelosi said.
He said that when officers serve warrants on potentially dangerous individuals, they should try to collect as much information on a suspect as they can before executing a warrant.
Cangelosi added that it’s important to survey suspects for days to determine what threats they could pose and who else is around them.
Law enforcement can try to catch the suspect off guard by the time of day they choose to serve a warrant, he explained. Early mornings usually catch suspects off guard.
“The law enforcement community is always training, based on scenarios like this, to make ourselves and everybody else safer,” he said. “Most officers don’t want a gunfight. That’s the last thing we want.”