In this article we will be analyzing an interesting SWAT OIS from Sacramento Police Department. Not only did this team conduct themselves very professionally, but they accomplished their mission of saving the hostages, held at sword point. For this review we will be highlighting both the strong points, and some that could be improved upon. Keep reading for all the details.
Like my other case studies of police and military events, the goal of this analysis is to learn from real world events. I’m not here to put down teams that are going into to danger to save people. My guess is that many of the points that we will speak about were likely brought up in the team’s internal after action review.
This specific scenario occurred on the 10th of August, 2022, in the 100 Block of Dragonfly Circle. It began with a man holding his wife and children hostage at sword point, and ended with an emergency hostage rescue. Below is a quick overview of the event timeline for this SWAT OIS.
Sacramento PD SWAT OIS Event Timeline
- 0048 hrs: 911 call informs PD that a man has held his family hostage at sword point
- 0100-0300 hrs: Patrol makes contact with hostage taker and wife via phone
- 0400 hrs: Special Weapons and Tactics Unit / Crisis Negotiation Team arrive on scene
- 0730: Hostage rescue launch
- 0731: Hostages secure
Before we get into the details and body camera video, it’s important to note that the Sacramento Police Special Weapons and Tactics team acted very professionally and did one of the hardest jobs police officers have to do. Like anything done in the real world, it isn’t perfect, and we can all learn from mistakes made during the event.
I also need to mention that this is my personal opinion and does not represent that of any agency, department or unit. This debrief is based off of purely open source material and I have no personal knowledge of the case apart from the publicly available video, and documents.
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You’ll find the Sacramento PD SWAT OIS body camera video below. I recommend giving it a watch as it covers all the relevant information of the tactical response. You can also find the Sacramento District Attorney’s declination of prosecution here, which covers the event in more detail.
Sacramento SWAT OIS Case #22-222841
Like many hostage situations, this event began with a family member calling 911 informing them that the hostage taker (HT) had taken their wife and children hostage. The house is a two story residence, in the 100 block of Dragon Fly Cir. Patrol officers were then sent to the scene and made contact both the HT, and the hostages via phone. The hostage negotiation team begins working the problem.
After two hours of negotiations, SWAT and a Crisis Negotiations Team (CNT) are requested and arrived on scene. They assumed control of the event and continued to speak with the involved parties. They learned that the HT had barricaded everyone in the second story master bedroom.
Negotiations continued with CNT for five more hours. The HT ranted about God and demons, and was suffering from altered mental status. The wife informed CNT that HT was prescribed new medications for Graves disease, and Lupus, which she stated caused a noticeable changes in behavior.
At 0730 the HT became more agitated, making threats against the wife, stating she would not leave alive. Screams were heard on an open line with CNT, and the team commander launched the hostage rescue team. SWAT members made immediate entry.
SWAT Hostage Rescue Response
The SWAT team members can be seen on helmet cam moving from their staging location, behind armored swat vehicles, to the primary entry point of the residence. The team leader reminds them to keep their feet quiet upon approach, and calls for the key to open the door.
A SWAT officer has to move from the rear of the stack, and begins to fumble with the key for a few seconds. The team leader then calls for a ram breach which is successful after one swing. Officers enter and immediately bypass all first floor areas, heading for the stairs to the upper level.
The team leader leads the team up to the master bedroom. This door is a standard interior French double door. Several officers cluster around the double door, and wait for the breacher to come up and ram the door. One swing per door creates a successful breach.
The team leader saw the HT standing over his family with sword in hand, which is positioned a few feet away. He fires three shots striking the HT in the leg once. The rest of the team separates the downed HT from the hostages, and removes them from the scene. Members of the SWAT team applied a tourniquet to the HT who was transported for treatment, and arrest.
Sacramento SWAT OIS Discussion
In this portion of the case study I’m going to review some areas I think the team could have improved upon, and some areas I think they did really well. Overall this is a clear success, as no hostages were injured, and no officers were injured.
Points of Improvement: Primary Breach
The first point of improvement would be the initial entry attempt to the residence. It was clear they planned to use a key to maintain surprise. The problem with this is that the key holder wasn’t staged towards the front of the stack.
The other practical issue with using a key is that the officer will have no idea which way to turn the key to operate the locking mechanism. This is compounded by the fact there appears to be more than one locking mechanism which requires the key to defeat.
I think if a key is to be used it should be used prior to an emergency hostage rescue being launched. This gives the officer time to try and fit the key (which never fits well) and work the lock slowly and quietly prior to entry. If this is not possible, then plan for a primary breach using other methods.
This would require that the team move from staging behind the armored vehicle, up to the front door. Obviously this can put unit members at higher risk.
Points of Improvement: Interior Breach and Engagement
The team leader lead the way up to the second level, and held cover on the master bedroom door. It is likely they had some knowledge of the interior layout, as he led them directly to the bedroom area. From the body camera view we had, there appears to be no attempt to open the door by hand.
They called the breacher up with a ram to hit the door, with no attempt to check it, or kick it. I believe they thought it was barricaded or at least locked. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to call for a ram directly, but it did delay the interior breach. Moreover, I think there were too many officers on the landing, making the breachers job hard.
Once the door opened the team leader shot at the HT three times from 6-8 feet. The report states the HT was struck once in the leg. It’s hard to tell from the video, but it appear that he is jostled by officers moving around him after the breach. I’m guessing he was pushed off target as he shot.
Overall this hostage rescue took 58 seconds from launch to the HT dropping to the ground. The hit ratio was 33%, which is inline with national statistics. Now that we covered the points of improvement, let’s talk about what went well.
Sacramento PD SWAT OIS Success Points
The first big win for Sacramento PD was the initial decision to launch the team. Once they heard screams after the HT threatened to kill her, they launched. That shows strong understanding of the legal requirements to initiate the rescue. Top marks for making the decision quickly.
The team leader did a great job remaining calm, and reminding the team to keep quite on approach. It’s quite common to forget to stay quite once your priority shifts to getting in the house. He was also incredibly calm on the radio and speaking to the team.
Something as simple as a calm tone of voice can drastically improve performance in high risk incidents. Had he been yelling at the team to hurry the breach or get inside, that would have likely increased stress and degraded performance.
He clearly knew the layout of the house, showing that they gathered detailed information during the negotiations phase. This allowed them to prioritize the problem area, and not waste time clearing portions of the house that were irrelevant.
Probably the biggest demonstration of professionalism was the quick analysis of the HT, determining he was armed and a threat. He engaged him only until he fell, and then the team made entry. Crucially officers with inferior vantage points held fire, trusting him to make the shot. There was no sympathetic fire here, which is quite common in critical incidents.
Lastly, the team quickly turned to providing medical aid, once the hostages were safe. This demonstrates very high professionalism. This real world hostage rescue looked like a fairly standard shoot house run for the team, and they remained calm and professional throughout. Let’s get to my final thoughts.
Final Thoughts
This was a very well run operation. It’s obvious that this team is a highly trained unit with a lot of high risk situations under their belt. The commanders and team leaders played their parts well, and as a result, the hostages walked out without injury. I think the positioning of the breacher could have been improved, but it was clear he knew his business on the ram.
As many teams prefer explosive breaching, I think this shows that a simple ram is a great tool, provided you know how to use it.
Sacramento PD did a great job during this SWATS OIS, demonstrating professionalism throughout. If you liked this after action review, then feel free to send it to someone else who might enjoy it. Don’t forget to join the email list below.
The opinions in this article represent the authors personal opinion and are not representative of any unit, police department, or other law enforcement agencies. All images and media are used for educational purposes only.
