Natalia was just done with her evening shift at the hospital and grabbing a glass of port wine to sit back and relax on her bed while turning on the TV. One of the patients that arrived earlier that day at the hospital, was convinced he was being followed by the FBI and his entire family was being held hostage.
Natalia happened to walk into the area at the time of his arrival. He was sweating and panting. She noticed there was a wristband of a psychiatric hospital on his left hand already. The man was 6 '5 with a heavy stature. Natalia was 5 feet and somewhat muscular for her height. She got an eerie feeling and decided to call for help on her walkie.
She approached him and said "you are okay, you're in a hospital, we're here to help, could you hold on for a moment." She had her arms stretched out with her hands spread open. She then reached for her walkie and asked for back up, "I need an additional officer in the ER entrance, I have a man from another facility, not complying and refusing to check in or leave. He claims his life is in danger."
The operator responded, "Can you give us a 10-21."
Natalie let out a sigh of annoyance and replied "10-4."
The next moment her colleague Arthur had arrived. She gave another sigh, but this time of relief.
He said, " I heard your call on the radio, so I had to come."
Natalia walked around the man and whispered to Arthur, "he looks like he might do something, I have to call control center. Thank you for showing up man, I appreciate you."
"Aww thanks, when it's you, you know I have to cover my homegirl." replied Arthur.
Natalia smirked and reached for the phone to dial.
"Hey, what's going on?" said the operator.
Natalia repeated the same thing she said over the radio and added that she thinks it's best to call 911. She explained that the man was irrational. Just then, she overheard the man ask Arthur "Is that a gun?" Natalia looked at the walkie he was pointing at.
"What's the guy's full name?" asked the operator.
"His name is Edward, I didn't ask his full name. He has a tag from Clover Psych hospital, Isn't that enough for now?" responded Natalia while trying to look at the full name from a few feet away as Arhur was replying to Edward's question "No it's not a gun, it's a radio."
"It's for the police when they ask, just trying to get all the details." the operator informed Natalia.
"Uhh , Cortez, Shit. I have to go!" Natalia said quickly while dropping the phone and to aid Arthur.
Edward had attempted to grab the radio and when Arthur blocked him, he reached to grab him. Arthur lost his footing at the sudden movement and fell back with Edward directly on top of him. Natalia rushed over and tried to pull Edward off, but the man was too heavy. Both Edward and Arthur were fighting for control over one another. She then thought back to her K9 care days and remembered during a dog fight, to try to cut off the breathing with choke hold so the large dog releases the other. Natalia also recalled when Mitchell, her other patrol officer, taught her a choke hold on humans.
"Now Natalia, you are short with little hands. That means you need to use your entire arm around like so. Don't hold for too long, just enough for them to go limp. And don't ever use it unless it's absolutely your last call." Mitchell's voice echoed into her mind.
I guess this could be a last resort and I hope I don't get in trouble if I'm caught, thought Natalia. Immediately after she positioned her small arms around him. It took 3 seconds for the man to release Arthur and Natalia kicked herself backwards still holding him, but slowly releasing him from her grip as she fell on her back with the man just barely on top of her. He was breathing hard trying to catch his breath. A few moments later, a few more RN's arrived and held the man down. The Charge RN, Thomas was on duty and asked Natalia if she was okay. She nodded while trying to get back up.
After the incident, she walked over to her car and changed her uniform to a clean set she had in the trunk. Later that evening she made a phone call to her Operations Manager, Charles.
"Yes Natalia, what is it now?" answered Charles while taking in a deep breath.
"Well, your supervisors and operators need to stop the bad habit of asking the boots on the ground to call control right after backup is requested. They keep delaying the process and putting us in danger of physical assault like what happened earlier. They need to go back to their training where they send back up first, then ask questions. I called it in, no one was dispatched. Arthur showed up out of his own accord and had I not been attentive while on the phone, he could have been injured. I get it, they want to know what's going on, but we both know that getting all the details is secondary to handling the situation first. Back up was only sent out after the guy was already attacking and on top of Aurthur. Why do we have radios and codes if your operators don't know how to use them effectively? What's the purpose of all that training and retraining if the supervisors don't follow up on retention or applying it in real life scenarios. I'm sorry Charles, I know you've addressed it before, but maybe your supervisors have gotten too fucken lazy to respond to incidents themselves that they don't even see how poor of a job they are doing." Natalia takes a deep breath and slows her pace, "I can't cover officer shifts for other supervisors if they keep putting me in situations like this. I know, I make mistakes too, but they are small and not royal fucks like theirs. That's why no one wants to hold over or early in for them. My people don't feel safe working for other supervisors and they cover their shifts only because they know I'll watch out for their best interest. Even Cindy, the one everyone else thought was useless, is doing great under my command. So maybe it's not the officers, but the lack of leadership these other supervisors have."
"Are you done?" Charles asked in a low tone.
"For now, yes. I apologize for my tone of voice. The incident from earlier today was my last straw." replied Natalia with an even lower tone.
"I agree, the supervisors from other shifts don't respond to the incidents as much as they used to. But we both have to admit not all officers can be trained with the same attention you give yours. Some just can't be trained well and they need to get out. Unfortunately, we have to give them an opportunity to redeem themselves. As for today, thank you for handling it the best you could, even though the camera caught something questionable on how you were able to pull the guy off. BUT, the client didn't say anything about it. I'm sure you know what I'm referring to. Those aren't our approved moves during the de-escalating training."
Natalia's face got red and held her breath for a few seconds before answering, " I used reasonable force to pull him off and it might appear different, but in my defense I'm 5 feet."
A chuckle came from Charles as he breathed in and said, "Innocent until proven guilty then, I hope you aren't teaching your officers the same tactics."
"They have been taught the material provided by the company and advised properly, you can feel free to test them anytime." Natalia replied sheepishly.
"Well, do you have any suggestions in mind to help on the issues you brought up? I know you have more to say." said Charles with a grin.
"Well, since you asked, I think Supervisors should be required to respond to all incidents. This helps gather all information they need for a full report and for them to take command of the situation. Operators should be asked to get into the habit of using radio communication and reminded that the finer details can be obtained after everything is handled. Maybe assigning training on our course modules every week or two. This way the officers stay fresh or do small drills at posts." Natalia smiled right after.
"Sounds like a lot of change for these supervisors, they might not have time since they do have other responsibilities" replied Charles.
Natalia frowned and added, "I can forward you the drill activities that I already conduct and the modules I use on my officers. These are completed during post checks and kept short. Post checks are part of our daily responsibility. Adding an extra 5 to 15 minutes for each officer wouldn't be too much to ask. I do have the more physically active shift with the least amount of help from management or number of officers. I can't afford to be relaxed during my training. Each officer has to hold their own weight."
Charles smiled wider and took a deep breath, "you know you're a pain in the ass."
"I know, and that's why you still keep me around. You know that everything you throw my direction gets handled. Even those officers you have trouble getting rid of. Once you switch their shift to mine for whatever reason it is that you give them, you know they'll quit or be better. Don't think I haven't noticed that I keep getting all the screw ups and you keep taking all my trained and capable ones. I keep track and record."
Charles laughs a little and replies, "you need to talk to your account manager on that one. He's the one who keeps pulling your people."
"Yeah, and then they quit because they see how shitty the other supervisors are. By then they are confident they can land a better job and ask me for a recommendation. By the way, I want a raise after this bullshit," said Natalia nonchalantly.
"Yeah, talk to the account manager about that too and tell him to stop hiring anyone that fills out an application." Both Charles and Natalia laugh.
"Fine, I'll go talk to him at his office tomorrow," replied Natalia while letting out a sigh. They hung up after saying their goodbyes.