Police training official says ambush left cop defenseless

Hartzell was sitting in his car when he was killed.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Sometimes it doesn't matter how much you know.
When Youngstown Patrol Officer Michael Hartzell was shot and killed Tuesday, there was little he could have done to prevent the tragedy, a police training official said Wednesday.
"You do everything you can to minimize risk, but nothing's foolproof," said Richard Mahan, director of the state Peace Officer Training Academy at Youngstown State University.
"There comes a time -- and this is a classic example of that -- when police officers find themselves in a position, through no fault of their own, when all the training, all the skills, all the education, will do nothing to keep them from paying the ultimate price."
Hartzell was killed as he sat in a cruiser on Federal Plaza West early Tuesday. Police said he had called in the license plate number of a Lincoln Town Car to find out if it had been stolen. A short time later, he was shot by the driver.
Lt. Rod Foley, a Youngstown Police Department spokesman, said an investigation is progressing and it is unclear whether Hartzell had initiated a traffic stop or if he activated the overhead lights of the cruiser. He was sitting in the car when he was killed.
Many area officers have referred to the death as an "ambush."
An ambush is "a cop's worst nightmare," defined as very sudden, very violent and leaving no time to react, said Canfield Police Sgt. Robert D. Magnuson, who wrote the S.T.O.P.S. training manual for the state academy and trains officers all over the country.
'Classic ambush'
From what he's heard and read of Hartzell's death, Magnuson said, it sounds like it was a "classic ambush."
"The one situation you can't prevent is an ambush," he said. "If you survive the first shot and have an opportunity to get away ... then you've got a chance. The ambush relies a lot on luck. Some of the officers we lose in this country every year fall into this category."
Mahan, a retired Niles police captain, said that among the training officers receive is 60 hours of training in defense tactics and subject control and 20 hours of training in stops and approaches.
"They're given a win attitude," Mahan said. "They're taught to fight and to strive to do what they need to survive."
Despite the training, law enforcement is a deadly job. From 1992 to 2001, 643 officers in the United States were "feloniously killed," says U.S. Department of Justice statistics.
Among the most dangerous situations are arrests, investigating suspicious people or circumstances, disturbance calls, traffic pursuits and stops and ambushes.
Wes Elson, Muskingum County chief deputy, said his department knows too well the effects of those tragic situations.
In July 1994, Muskingum County Lt. Mike Lutz was shot and killed with his own gun on a midnight shift as he attempted to arrest a man who had broken into a gas station.
In January 2002, the department's Deputy Robert Tanner Jr. was shot to death while investigating a suspicious vehicle.
"We're not even done with our second trial yet," he said, and appeals mean they are still often reminded of the first.
What was changed
Among changes made after Lutz's death, the department initiated two-officer patrol cars and had a minimum number of patrol officers on each shift, even if it meant paying overtime.
"We doubled up ... after the second incident, not so much for safety, but for support," he explained.
One-officer cruisers are becoming the norm across the country, Elson said. Besides being a manpower issue, officers overwhelmingly prefer single-officer patrols.
In Mahoning County, most cruisers are one-officer patrols because of recent layoffs.
Defiance County Sheriff David Westrick, president of the Buckeye State Sheriffs' Association, said changes in procedure are made if it can help.
"Every one of these incidents is studied to see if anything can be done in the future," Westrick said. "But you can never negate all that because there are bad people out there and they're bent on destruction and hurting people."
Though Hartzell's last moments remain unclear, police officials say a traffic stop is one officers may face hundreds of times.
Training tells officers to keep in a defensive posture at all times, said Mahoning County Sheriff's Major Michael Budd.
"Traffic stops are very dangerous," Budd said. "... There's no such thing as a routine traffic stop. The threat level is always there."
Bad situation
One of the "cardinal sins" of a traffic stop is allowing people to exit the stopped car and approach a cruiser, Budd said.
"You're in a confined area with very few places to go," he explained. "It makes you vulnerable."
To prevent such a situation, he said, officers will first yell at the driver and use a cruiser public announcement system. If that doesn't work, they must assess risk.
They also try to maintain a "reactionary gap" of 20 to 30 feet between themselves and drivers.
If a driver uses force, an officer will use pepper spray or a baton; if a weapon is pulled out, an officer will draw a gun.
Patrol officers also radio their location to dispatchers and call for backup; ideally, they try to outnumber citizens three to one.
In state academies, officers are also taught several ways to put drivers at a disadvantage during stops, said Garfield Heights Police Lt. Nick DiMarco, president of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio.
"It's unfortunate," he said. "You can make 1,000 or 2,000 traffic stops and they all work out good.
"It's always a refresher when an incident like this happens, but it's part of the job, unfortunately."
viviano@vindy.com