Police veterans urge Northwest Arkansas officers to prep for danger at all times

SPRINGDALE -- Brian Murphy and his fellow police officers weren't fully prepared for the Sunday morning in 2012 when a gunman shot Murphy 15 times and killed six others, Murphy said this week.

Murphy, then a lieutenant at Wisconsin's Oak Creek Police Department and the first officer on the scene, didn't bother opening the finicky rifle holder in his car and left the weapon in the vehicle. The next officer to arrive shouted three times at the shooter to put down his gun -- three times too many, Murphy said. Another officer used his right hand to use the radio on his left shoulder, putting his dominant hand precious moments away from his handgun.

“When you get tapped on the shoulder, that needs to be your finest hour.”

-Brian Murphy, retired lieutenant at the Oak Creek, Wis., police department, speaking to local law enforcement Tuesday

"I cannot emphasize this enough: What you do every day is what you're going to do when it hits the fan," Murphy told more than 100 officers, troopers, park rangers and other law enforcement members Tuesday, his voice raspy from that day's injuries. "You don't get to pick when bad things happen; it picks you."

Murphy spoke at a law enforcement training event in Springdale hosted by Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge for the northwest section of the state, the region's first such event. Murphy and Olivia Johnson, an Air Force veteran and former police officer, shared stories and advice on ways officers can keep themselves, their families, co-workers and the public safer.

"You are under the microscope right now, and you have been for some time," Johnson said. "You need to plug in today. Today is not guaranteed. It's not even over yet."

Their points took on particular urgency after years of multiple mass shootings, protests against police forces and accusations of racial discrimination by police around the country. Murphy's talk also touched on broader concerns about racism and hatred toward religious minorities amid white supremacist groups' support for President Donald Trump, who has publicly rejected them.

Wade Michael Page, the Wisconsin shooter, was an Army veteran who cut off ties with his family and joined the white supremacist music scene, covering his body with tattoos of a swastika and other racist images, Murphy said. But his associates eventually discovered Page once dated a Native American woman and scorned him for it.

Shortly after that, Page sold many of his possessions and bought a gun. He visited a Sikh temple in Oak Creek twice before the shooting, sharing meals with members and "reconning," said Murphy, a Marine Corps veteran.

Members of Sikhism, an Indian faith that teaches one god and service to others, have sometimes been attacked by people who mistake them for Muslims, Murphy noted. He added no one in either religion should be attacked for their beliefs.

He praised the heroism of several temple members during the attack. Two children warned the rest of the temple after Page gunned down two men in the parking lot. The temple president, Satwant Singh Kaleka, lunged at Page with a knife and held onto him until his death, buying seconds for others to hide.

Page left the temple when Murphy arrived, getting the upper hand with a shot to Murphy's face and throat, then Murphy's hand, then throughout Murphy's body. Page shot himself in the head after another officer shot him in the midsection.

Murphy emphasized several lessons for law enforcement from his encounter. First, train every day to get the details down pat, he said. Rifle holders can be tricky to open under stress, for example. He urged officers to point out colleagues' foibles, like using the wrong hand for the radio, that could become dangerous in an emergency.

Law enforcement is a less deadly job than some agricultural and construction jobs, but accidents and crimes still killed 86 officers in 2015, according to the latest count from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and officers were assaulted while on duty more than 50,000 times.

Police often want to control a situation and the people around them, but they can only control themselves, Murphy added. Officers who've been disciplined or have faced lawsuits and criminal charges for violence against suspects or others usually lost control of their emotions, he said.

"That cannot happen," Murphy said. "When you get tapped on the shoulder, that needs to be your finest hour."

Finally, Murphy told attendees to remember why they do their job and want to survive and succeed. At one point during Page's shooting, Murphy said his mind went quiet and still, almost "cozy." But then he pictured his wife. He resolved at that moment to try to get back to his car, either to wrench the rifle out or run Page over. Other police arrived about then.

Several participants of Tuesday's conference said Murphy's advice on preparedness and practice rang true, whether on patrol or in jails and prisons, which become increasingly tense if overcrowded.

"You never know from one traffic stop to the next, or one domestic to the next," said Cpl. Thomas Reed with Fayetteville Police, calling the event "excellent." "It's all about going home at the end of the day."

Johnson, who founded the Blue Wall Institute for wellness training, continued the event along several of the same themes. She advised officers to keep their most important relationships in mind even at the job's most stressful moments and maintain their mental and physical health, because emergencies or loss will inevitably come.

Stress or anger are normal responses to the dangers or injuries of the job, but leaving them unchecked can lead to bad decision-making, suffering family life, burnout and possible suicide, she said. The National Surveillance of Police Suicides counted more than 100 of them last year, but the number also has been falling.

Being aware of those emotions, talking with colleagues or professionals and keeping an eye out for red flags in others' behaviors can counter those patterns, Johnson said. Healthy sleep and diet make emergencies and difficulties easier to overcome as well.

"All it takes is a question: Is everything OK?" she said.

Departments once encouraged officers to keep their job stresses to themselves so their families wouldn't worry, said Reed, who's been an officer since 2004. They've since shifted to telling officers to talk about their day with spouses and others, which he said is also a chance to answer questions from a civilian's perspective.

"It's a transition that just started," Reed said.

NW News on 04/14/2017

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