So, what would you have done differently in Boston

[wercal]

36. Track him with more typical police methods

The police found the abandoned SUV....

The guy was bleeding...

Step 1: Follow the blood trail (on Saturday, I saw a live report showing some blood drops around 150 yards from the boat. He was clearly bleeding - just follow the trail like a wounded deer.)

Step 2: Follow his scent. Start the dogs at the SUV, and follow from there. Its done all the time.

Step 3: Considering he had been firing a gun and handling explosives, have a dog wander the neighborhood sniffing for gunpowder.

Step 4: Don't point the guns in people's faces when they answer their door.

Step 5: Don't stop a guy on a bicycle and search his backpack (this was a very un-Russian looking black guy).

Step 6: Use thermals. I am actually amazed that they couldn't identify him from the air more quickly. I once spoke to a gent, who lets just say spent alot of time in and out of jail, about this. He said the helicopter was his worst enemy. He even described hiding in dog houses or next to air conditioning condensing units, since those are places where heat should be expected. But even then, if you're cornered in an area, eventually the helicopter will find you. (I also used thermals in the Army...and a guy laying down in a boat should have really stood out. I believe that the 'flooding the zone' with bodies may have caused so many hot spots, that the operator was overwhelmed with information.

Those are just a few. Its actually incredibly common for the police to be looking for one guy, holed up in a neighborhood. It probably happens at least once a day somewhere in this country...without what we saw last week.


There was a manhunt near my house once - triple murder, and my house was in the 'perimeter'. They found him after 18 hours very close by. As this was going on, it didn't even occur to me that the police might beat on my door and eject me from my home. They had a helicopter in the air and could very clearly see whether or not this guy moved towards my huse, or anyone else's house. The helicopter spotlight even followed me to my house (after clearing the police roadblock), just to make sure I didn't have any unwanted company as I got to my door. There was great utility in having fewer bodies scurrying around. And what do you know, they found the guy in the morning, without invading anyone's house. It was just another very typical search...shouldn't be as big a deal as this turned out to be.