Employing Returning Combat Veterans as Law Enforcement Officers

[FarCenter]

The battles in Iraq are being fought not in the desert but in the streets of Baghdad and
other Iraqi cities. Moreover, U.S. military and coalition forces are engaged in both rural
and urban conflict in Afghanistan in which our commitment remains open ended.
Veterans returning from the Vietnam War could easily distinguish their combat
environment—mostly jungle, farm, or open terrain—from their urban or suburban
policing environment. In the case of returning combat veterans from Iraq or Afghanistan,
their combat environment and their policing environments may appear surprisingly
similar. Military operations on urban terrain pose a great challenge as, among other
issues, opposition forces blend in with the population making distinctions between friend
and foe difficult. This urban-warfare environment is similar to our country’s urban
policing environments, except that the rules of engagement are different.

Troops must make instantaneous decisions when confronting resistance in the urban
combat setting, and it is very possible that such combat experience enhances their
decision-making abilities in the domestic policing environment. However, the
environments in which service members work are quite different from the environments
in which law enforcement officers work. Sustained operations under combat
circumstances may cause returning officers to mistakenly blur the lines between military
combat situations and civilian crime situations, resulting in inappropriate decisions and
actions—particularly in the use of less lethal or lethal force. This similarity may cause an
operational or reactive issue that could result in injury or death to an innocent civilian.

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/pdf/IACPEmployingReturningVets.pdf

[Cid_B]

1. There's no one better...

Give em a ROE and watch em operate within it...

[elleng]

2. Right