NCJ Number
230158
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 57 Issue: 12 Dated: December 2009 Pages: 50-54
Date Published
December 2009
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Since police teams serve search warrants repeatedly at the same location or complex or have responded to the same residence more than once for an armed, barricaded, or suicidal suspect/subject, this article discusses the intelligence that should be gathered for possible future use by teams making a return operational visit to the site.
Abstract
The article focuses on the types of equipment the team should have for conducting post-operational intelligence gathering, the types of photographs that should be taken, and how they should be organized and filed for future use. The required equipment consists of a laptop computer with a large/stable hard drive (minimum of 30 gigabytes) with a DVD or CD burner, a quality digital camera (minimum of 3 megapixels), and additional memory sticks/flash cards (minimum of 1 gigabyte). Once the scene has been secured, the post-operational intelligence gathering can begin. A tactical operator should take the photographs, because he/she knows what is tactically required for future use. The first and second photos are the most import; they are taken of the address. The first photo should be of the full address, which is written on the back of the "Site Photographic Record." This establishes that the following photos are of that specific scene/search warrant/incident location. Subsequent photos are then taken in the order of the predesigned intelligence data form. This includes not only the numerical address of the building, but also the approach to the primary point of entry (POE); the primary POE; and the door/lock of the primary POE. The number of each photo is recorded on the form. The "Site Photographic Record" becomes part of the Tactical/SWAT operational/after-action report for retrieval at a later date. The article describes how post-operational data and pictures should be organized for later retrieval.