Battlefield Medicine for the Streets: Evolving Police Response to High-Threat, Mass Casualty Incidents

Conventional EMS personnel are neither trained nor equipped to operate in high-threat or active threat environments where the scene has not been secured. Due to the time-sensitive nature of critical injuries sustained in such incidents, alternative systems must be developed to deliver rapid, life-saving medical care and definitive treatment in order to reduce preventable deaths. Law enforcement officers—like U.S. soldiers—possess the mindset to provide critical medical care in high-threat settings with basic training and supplies. This presentation will review medical response models, outline evidence-based medical skills and equipment, examine real-world examples of police-led medical interventions, and offer practical guidelines for training officers to respond effectively in high-threat, mass casualty incident (MCI) environments.