By: Lou Savelli

Gangsters obsess over cops.  They also obsess over getting over on cops.  The code of the street says, "If you catch them slippin, you got to take them out!"  It goes along with their mentality, their mindset and their MO.  And more often than not, it’s their way of life.  And the contributing factors aside, because I am don’t want to make excuses for them, it’s how they consciously choose to live.

Think about the last time you were in a gang banger's home, or a drug dealer or some other miscreant of society.  How did it look?  How'd it smell?  Didn't it have the ‘standard-issue’ pot of rice on the stove?  You know, the one that has been sitting there from the night, the week, the month before!  The one next to the pot of boiled water that's been cold for a week that has roaches with Spanish accents swimming in it.  Are you itchy yet?  They are all the same.  Whether you are in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Chicago or Teaneck, NJ, Des Moines, Iowa, or Woodbury, MN, the miscreants may sound or look a little different but they're all basically the same.

They know it!  They live it!  And in their homes, whether it is an apartment or a private house, there is that room with a door with a hasp attached secured with a heavy-duty lock.  What for?  Don't you have one of those in your homes?  You know, to keep you family members and your buddies out of your stuff?  They do!  Because in the world they live in, its "…if I catch you slippin, I can take what's yours…” You know, “OPP”, “Other People's Property" and all that crap!

So, when you are dealing with people who are looking to catch you slippin, DON'T,  especially when you are dealing with gangs.  It's what they do!  It's what they practice!  It's what they think about!  It's what they wait for!  Make it part of your everyday routine.  DON'T GET CAUGHT SLIPPIN!  For cops, SLIPPIN, can merely be not taking an aggressive stance, not wanting to be seen as too aggressive, or just thinking a little too hard about avoiding a civilian complaint or worse, a lawsuit. That hesitation, that fear of getting in trouble, or simply being off-guard, will render you Slippin.  DON'T GET CAUGHT!

"Five point position!", "Raise the roof!", "Scrap line!", "Gun grab!", "050 Flashight!", "Eat his food!"..., Do I need to go on?  Gangs have a phrase for it! They have a code word to call it out!  And they all got a tactic to take you out ...IF THEY CATCH YOU SLIPPIN.  DON'T GET CAUGHT!

Figoski ...Timoshenko ... Mossomillo .... Andrews... Nemorin ... Carter… Carrington.  ALL HEROES. All Died to save others!  And what did the some of the NYC juries say to these cops and their families?  $#%&  !@?! 

And it’s not just here, in NY, its everywhere. 

In Topeka KS in 2012, two hero cops, Jeff Atherly and David Gogian,  lost their lives to a scumbag Latin King with a gun who sat in wait in his vehicle and then opened fire!

Do you hear the sounds of Amazing Grace!!!  Don’t Get Caught!
 
SLIPPIN',  DON'T GET CAUGHT!

By: Lou Savelli

As our borders receive more scrutiny and terrorists develop stronger partnerships with gang members, criminal adversaries become more adept at countering law enforcement and military tactics. In light of the more prevalent threat from 'homegrown' terrorists, these adversaries may even come from within our own ranks or simply have an intricate knowledge of our tactics. American gang members, foreign terrorists and domestic extremists have been excessively infiltrating the ranks of our military for decades and, to a much lesser degree, the ranks of our law enforcement community. This exposure to 'tactical' experience and intricate knowledge lends itself to bringing enemy combatants, whether gang members, terrorists or extremists, a step closer and more capable of defeating our tactical efforts.
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Over the years, I have investigated or learned about many individuals who were actually gang members, extremists or terrorists who have been privy to military and law enforcement tactical information and training. These infiltrators were able to observe military or law enforcement tactics first hand, putting them to use against us. These examples show the deadly potential posed by gangs and terrorists. Here are just a few: 

To better prepare our law enforcement and military to counter potential dangerous situations, we should establish and follow some additional administrative and operational guidelines. These guidelines are especially important for tactical and specialized units like SWAT, Narcotics and Gangs. These simple, but effective, procedures will help protect the integrity of the unit’s tactics and contribute to the safety of its members during tactical operations:

• First, carefully choose the personnel who will enter the inner sanctum of your unit. Scrutinize their background and motivations for wanting acceptance into your 'team'. Avoid ‘over anxious’ and ‘curious’ officers who seem to be hanging around the team’s office and showing up, uninvited, at training sessions.
• Limit inter-agency training to only those units that have the same 'high standards' as yours. Not every unit carefully chooses and screens their personnel, their background and motivations.
• When attending training, carefully choose your training providers. Sometimes the cheapest training company may not the best or even the most trusted and sometimes the most expensive or best advertised may not be adequate for what you need.
• When attending training provided by other units or private companies, build on that training and make it better suited for your team. 'Cookie-cutter' is good for making cookies but not for tactical training.
• Protect your 'tactical ops' plans. Don't leave them laying around on a desk waiting for someone like the office cleaners to 'snatch' them up and bring them home to their 'gangster' kids. Use a ‘security system’ that protects the integrity and tracks the chain of custody of the ops plans.
• Secure your 'training' videos, especially any recording of your team practicing your tactics. I can't begin to tell you how many times I recovered 'ops plans' and training materials in the homes of gang members in the hundreds of search warrants I executed.
• When conducting or attending a training conference or information sharing seminar in a hotel or non-law enforcement facility, insist on security to keep out non-law enforcement 'listeners' and to protect integrity of the training. In a recent gang training, outlaw bikers were discovered attempting to listen in on the information being presented at a training conference held at a hotel attended by law enforcement officers from across the US and Canada.
• Attempt to identify and control the use of any videos of your team in action that could compromise your tactics. If a video of your entry exists on a drug dealer’s surveillance system, make sure you obtain the original video and inform the prosecutor that the video shows ‘secret tactics’. Tell the prosecutor you don’t want it to be used in court unless it is absolutely necessary and it will be adequately redacted since it will greatly impact on officer safety. Once it is labeled ‘evidence’ it is subject to Discovery’ and, thus, scrutiny by the defense attorney, the defendant, the jurors and anyone else in the courtroom. It is common in the case of gang members to use ‘house counsel’ for their defense. House counsel is a term used to define a criminal defense attorney or law firm which represents members of the same gang or organized crime group on all their cases. These attorneys are often on ‘retainer’ and part of their purpose is to identify snitches and bring back information to the gang leaders.

Never before has it been time to ‘step it up’ a notch. These homegrown terrorists, domestic extremists, gang members, gangsters in the military, cop-haters, foreign terrorists, transnational organized criminals and our run of the mill bad guys threaten the sanctity of our communities and the safety of our nation’s law enforcement officers. Last year, multiple officers were killed on singular incidents and several involved ambushes. This year, it seems like every day another law enforcement officer is being killed and many on ‘tactical’ operations like fugitive apprehensions, warrants and  narcotics operations. Could these violent criminals have a ‘heads-up’ on our tactics and be prepared to take us on? I think the answer is simple.