SWAT: Sugod (Attack), Wait, Atras (Retreat), Tago (Hide)

While at work yesterday I read the news about a disgruntled cop taking a tourist bus loaded with Chinese tourists hostage and all he wanted is to have his old job back with benefits. The cop's dismissal is full of controversy but that is another story. The big story is how our local authorities  handled the situation and sadly, they blundered miserably resulting to unnecessary fatalities.

High risk situations like hostage taking needs proper management from ground commander and using the SWAT team as last resort to fix things. Still, our local SWAT, now christened with many names because of their lackluster performance probably created the situation worse. The ground commander also did a very poor performance and there are many times you want to hit the guy with a frying pan.

SWAT, if we used the fighting game term, the finishing move in a hostage situation, the greatest solution to end a crisis and hopefully save the lives of the hostages. That particular SWAT unit failed to do the job properly and botched many times which lead to more deaths.

Here are some craptastic things made by the ground commander, the on the scene police, the ill-equipped SWAT unit and the scoop hungry media during the crisis infused with obvious observation, rants and common sense analysis of yours truly, even if I am not a trained SWAT operative.

Uzis, thousands of them
After the last gun shot was heard and the smoke cleared, the once emptied street, suddenly a wave of Uzis or usiseros or to our non-Tagalog speaking readers, bunch of curious onlookers starts swarming towards the scene of the crime with their cellphone camera aiming to take at least a picture of the dead body later upload the image while giggling to his Facebook account. From the start, the police didn't cordoned the area to prevent unwanted civilians frolicking around the premises.

We got tear gas! where is my gas mask?
What the hell? a SWAT unit that lacks important equipment, like a gas mask. They have other items to distract the suspect like a tear gas yet they don't have protection like a gas mask to cover themselves from the effects of it. I think I only saw 1 guy wearing a gas mask and the rest of the assault team cover their faces with a wet clothe.

SWAT Attack! Panic mode! Go Back!
Even they have body armor in their body and highly trained in dealing with in your face scenarios, they scrambled like a frightened pack of mice, running away from the bus when the suspect starts shooting indiscriminately inside. They should push through with the assault and stop the firing. If they can't do it stay by the side of the bus, just let the sniper do his job.

Making a big fuss about the news is my orgasm maker
Media is our direct link between the news and us. But they need be very vigilant and be conscious of all things they broadcast, especially the kind that can endanger other lives. If the situation is already high risk and to help the assault team to conduct a sweep job, the media must start an owned news blackout. Of course, they can continue recording the fiasco without actual broadcasting it live and just show it on TV after the incident. Also, the media made a big mistake of mentioning the positions of police officers even the snipers on national TV. The suspect is most likely receiving all the news via the bus in-house television.

And god damn it, stop presenting the news in an exaggerated manner as if you are having a fanciful orgasm. I find it funny that one of the most popular self-imposed tough guys on news who loves to finger point things became a coward when a whirl of bullets almost got hit him.

The official MPD SWAT breaching items, a big sledgehammer and a piece of rope
I thought a standard SWAT unit, as shown in TV, has an effective breaching material like a plastic explosive. But during the "assault" they don't have an explosive item to destroy the front door but they have a huge ass sledgehammer. The bus glass windows is still too tough for the hammer enabling the suspect to do more damage inside. The hammer plan did not work and probably one of the police remembers an old 80s cartoon and concoct a plan to tie the bus door with a piece of rope and be pulled by a car. As expected, the planned did not work and the suspect can easily shoot more hostages inside

If they have at least a plastic explosive and a set of gas masks, they can place it by the door, windshield and the other back door, detonate it, throw a flash grenade or a tear gas, go inside with a gas mask on and neutralize the suspect and hopefully not kill him. Speaking of back door.

Emergency door says hello
The emergency door, firmly placed near the back of the bus and designed for real emergency purposes, is right there under their noses. They are having a hard time destroying the glass windows that can withstand a big amount of force yet the door is only a few meters, even inches away from them. The emergency door can easily be accessed from outside and even if the door does not respond immediately, at least that door is more manageable to open than the other one.

The arresting of his brother, things go sour
Everything and everyone was calm the day but when the suspect's brother and his family starts getting the over sensationalized attention of the media and the cops drags him in forceful way is probably and I am 90% sure the main breaking point of the suspect. Before that he set a 5 minute deadline to resolve the arrest of his brother but only 3 minutes have passed when he starts killing hostages.

Both police and media is responsible for his final outburst. For the police, improper arrest to the suspects brother and the only thing missing is to hit the brother with a baseball bat to the head to calm him down, and the media, broadcasting a sensitive image to the world wherein the suspect can see as well. The suspect is reportedly kind with the hostages but when the police dragged his brother away and shown by our friendly media, his attitude turned destructive.

No more element of surprise tactic
SWAT, recruited and trained to take down the enemy as fast as possible and hopefully not kill the suspect. That MPD SWAT last night already had their element of surprise tactic no longer surprising for the suspect since he already knows the positions of SWAT members even the snipers thanks to our great media person. With all the delays and failed tactics, the suspect is probably face palming himself in shame for his fellow officers and continues his reign of terror inside.

With all that craptastic performances of our local law enforcement, the trust rating for them is now plummeting to the extreme. The blood bath aftermath is clear that everyone involved with the negotiations and assault must undergo refreshing training and hopefully the next time another the same kind of crisis happen, the law enforcers and those select few horrible SWAT unit can step up to their game and save lives.