# Terrain analysis: From Corrections to Patrol



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Behind the Bars*
with John Stanley

Several months ago I made the transition from custody sergeant to patrol sergeant. One day I was working the largest (with nearly 800 sworn employees) jail in the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, the next I was working one of our smallest patrol stations (with fewer than 50). Needless to say, the resources available to me changed dramatically. 
I went from supervising thirty deputies on one floor who were overseeing approximately 800 inmates to leading six to ten deputies patrolling 8.5 square miles in an area home to nearly 90,000 people. Those thirty deputies I supervised at Men's Central Jail were also only a fraction of the personnel assigned to work each shift. So backup was only a stone's throw away. Now, if we need help, it is coming from other Sheriff's stations and local PD's. Doing more with less is the nature of patrol. But there is another distinct disadvantage. On many different levels, when you work patrol you always play your games as the road team. It is just the opposite in a jail.










Perhaps the biggest advantage to working inside a jail, however, is that you own the real estate. Unlike patrol, you are always the home team. You know the terrain and all of its nuances better than your opponent. You control the points of ingress and egress. You know where the choke points are. Your staging areas and command posts are normally predetermined. This is a tremendous tactical advantage and one that is often must be addressed anew each time a major incident occurs in the field. 
One of the most important things a leader needs to do before attempting to deal with a tactical incident is conduct a terrain analysis. Military leaders have been aware of this for thousands of years. At the beginning of his thesis _The Art of War_, Sun Tzu identified five factors that must be studied: two concerned leadership, a general's knowledge and his ability to maintain unity of command; one dealt with logistics; and two (Heaven and Earth) dealt with terrain.(1) The effective use and appreciation of terrain analysis can even be found in the Bible.(2) The terrain analysis lessons of centuries were reduced by military thinkers to a five part process known by the acronym KOCOA. The KOCOA analysis considers: key terrain, also referred to as critical terrain; observation and fields of fire; cover and concealment; obstacles; and avenues of approach and escape.

Full Article: http://www.policeone.com/police-pro...-Terrain-analysis-From-Corrections-to-Patrol/


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