The “Post Critical Incident Report” (PCIR) is designed to assist the Tactical and Negotiations Community (TNC) in gathering statistical information. The information will be formulated from incidents that are deemed critical. A critical incident is defined as: any incident that goes beyond the capabilities of patrol and requires the services of specialized department/agency resources. Incidents such as barricaded offenders, high-risk warrants and hostage situations would be classified as critical. Incidents that require the services of a crisis negotiator could also be considered critical. Any incident that could assist the TNC by way of information dissemination should also be reported. The NTOA is only collecting data, not making evaluations of incidents reported. Please note, agency and suspect- specific information will only be released upon approval of the contributing agency (officer and suspect names will not be collected).

The Los Angeles Police Department identified the need for such a document many years ago. Although there are many good resources available to the law enforcement community, none have been designed specifically for the TNC.

The goal of the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) is to provide a database of critical incidents that could be shared with the TNC. The success of this program will be based on active participation throughout the TNC.

The value of the program will be measured by a department/agency’s specific needs. The information gathered could support a long-standing tactic and/or identify the need to change a particular tactic. It is not the intent of the NTOA to dictate tactics. Incidents are unique with a multitude of variables. The PCIR database is simply a tool to be used as needed.

With funding from Lenco Armored Vehicles (swattrucks.com), the NTOA has expanded the PCIR project to an online database that is accessible at anytime from anywhere for a larger study of police tactical teams and activities across the nation.

The PCIR consists of 11 sections. Each section is self-explanatory but is described in detail on the following page. It may be necessary to “fill in” or “check” more than a single response in each section. Not all sections of the PCIR will apply to every incident. Experience indicates that it should take approximately 15 minutes to complete each PCIR form, although some incidents may take longer.