Zombie CSU Read online

  Small towns, however, are not as isolated as they once were and help is often just a phone call away, as Michael E. Witzgall (a former member of Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance, who served with SWAT in Dallas, Texas, and now works as a tactical training consultant) points out: “Most small towns have inter-jurisdictional agreements of cooperation with neighboring cities. A request for help in the search would be sent out and those that could help would show up; however, due to manpower constraints and vicarious liability, many of those agreements are no longer observed. The requesting agency is in charge.”

  “A small town would be forced to call upon multiple outside resources,” agrees McKinney. “They may call upon the County Sheriff’s Office, who would be able to provide additional personnel, and possibly even a helicopter. If a helicopter were available, then that would become the primary search tool. It would search the area with heat-sensitive cameras, etc.11 Another resource would be the state police. Troopers are generally in short supply, though. They respond to any agency requesting assistance, but it may take them several hours, at the earliest, to get any sort of presence in the area. If the search continues beyond a few hours, the state police would definitely have helicopters, dog teams, and professional trackers available. Still another resource would be the game warden and the Forestry Service. In most states, both of these entities have police powers, and they are highly qualified to search wilderness areas. The trouble is, there are very few game wardens in any one region, and so you may only get one or two officers to respond. However, the best resource for a small town (like the one in our medical research center scenario) would probably be a nearby large city, and a large city would have all the resources the state police have, and probably even more. Also, a nearby large city police department could deploy their personnel within thirty or forty minutes of being called. They would certainly have a helicopter unit, and also multiple dog teams. If the forested area goes into the large city’s jurisdiction, they would also have personnel specifically trained in how to operate in that environment.”

  According to Chief Coluzzi, “Civilians may be used in situations where there is clearly insufficient police staffing. Many towns have CERT12 Teams (Citizen Emergency Response).”

  I asked my experts to explain how the search itself unfolds.

  “The first step is to get people in the area,” advises McKinney. “You have to have people assigned to the crime scene itself, and others to interview witnesses. What you have left over, you assign to the quadrant. Once the quadrant is established, it basically turns into a waiting game for most of the officers involved. If a helicopter is available, they do the majority of the search. If dogs13 were to be used, all other personnel would back out of the affected area. Believe me, you don’t want to meet up with a search dog off its leash. Ouch!!!”

  Ted Krimmel, a sergeant with the South Central Bucks County Emergency Response Team (SERT) adds, “A biting incident could be classified as an aggravated (felony) assault. It being a felony, more resources could be brought in for the search.”

  Witzgall lays out the steps used to manage a pursuit: “First you establish a chain of command and a command post location; and then inventory all available materials and assets. You break down all manpower resources into teams and appoint team leaders for each team…and you make sure all teams have radio or cell phone communications.”

  McKinney adds, “Now, in this zombie situation, if the manhunt gets huge, and county and state police agencies get involved, the largest jurisdictional entity would usually assume ultimate control. For example, between county and state agencies, the state would be the larger entity.”

  “Most searches of this manner are based on terrain denial,” Witzgall says, “Meaning that while you have people (and dogs) in pursuit you also want to get officers in front of the suspect to cut off his advance. If the on-scene commander knows his stuff, he will break the area down into grid squares (or use a military 1:25000 topographical map) to cover the search area. Each team (or several teams) would be assigned a grid square to search. All roads (improved or gravel) would be monitored. Once the suspect is sighted several things can happen. Teams may be jumped ahead of the suspect. Dogs and mounted units may be redirected toward the suspect. Trailing teams will be told to speed up and, if possible, surround the suspect. And aviation assets will circle the suspect to maintain visual contact.”

  Sgt Krimmel describes how the actual takedown would be handled: “If the subject were spotted, he would first be given verbal commands, typically first ‘Police! Don’t move!’ followed by commands to either kneel or lie on the ground. The officers would also notify the command post or dispatcher of their location (if they know) and situation. If the subject obeys commands, he would be approached by a contact officer and handcuffed in what cops call ‘an arrest without incident.’ Failure to comply would be met usually with OC spray or K-9 application (both are usually very effective). In Pennsylvania officers are required to use the minimum level of force necessary to effect an arrest. Failure of the OC or K-9 might result in TASER use or baton strikes to effect the arrest. If the subject were to attack the officers or K-9s, obviously the officers would defend themselves and the dogs bite, of course. Once again, you might see combinations of OC, K-9, Taser, and baton strikes. Officers work within a concept called the ‘use-of-force continuum.’14 In a nutshell, the practice is to always approach a suspect with the next level of force up from what they are using. If a suspect comes at you with a knife, you use your gun. If the suspect comes at you barehanded, you use one of the established intermediate, or less than lethal, force options.”

  But less than lethal force is not the only option, as Chief Coluzzi explains. “Officers can use TASERs, batons, pepper spray, beanbag rounds, hand gun 40-caliber automatic or AR15 commando rifle.” However he adds a serious note of caution. “If officers spray the subject with tear gas that has an alcohol base and then they use the TASER they could light the subject on fire. Officers are taught not to use TASERs in these situations.”

  Also known as a “flexible baton round,” the beanbag round is actually a small cloth sack filled with #9 lead shot. Though intended as non lethal, there has been an average of about one death per year from these rounds. I asked him to discuss their use. “In Lower Bucks County South, patrols carry shotguns loaded with less lethal rounds. These may also come into play in a situation like this. I can tell you from seeing these rounds used operationally, they will break bones and definitely slow somebody down. The less lethal rounds are usually deployed at areas with lots of fatty tissue (thighs, buttocks, upper arms) to cause maximum pain, with minimal injury. If used at close range, they will break bones and occasionally penetrate skin.”

  And if the beanbags didn’t work? McKinney says, “Cops are usually pretty inventive. If they were to run into a subject who was attacking them and their dogs and usual police defense techniques weren’t working, they would try something different. Many police use of force policies cover ‘weapons of last resort.’ If the weapons and techniques being used were not getting the job done, the officers are encouraged to ‘improvise, adapt, and overcome.’ In the situation based on your zombie scenario, the subject (zombie) hasn’t used a deadly weapon, nor displayed one. The subject has done nothing that would authorize deadly force that the officers know of. A tactical retreat may be in order. Calling for more officers to assist, while maintaining visual contact with the subject (from a distance) may be another. Unfortunately, in my experience as a cop, once the fight starts, it doesn’t stop, until it’s resolved. There won’t be a chance to back off in a tactical retreat, let alone fight until additional officers arrive. In my experience, especially during my days in uniform, the people in the fight initially are usually the people at the end of it. A lucky cop will have backup with him before the fight starts. Usually, they are over quickly. As an aside, I have had people try to bite me as I was arresting them more than once. I was able to dodge the bite every time. A zombie biting or at
tempting to bite cops might not register with them as uncommon, at least not at first.”

  Detective McKinney adds, “Officers are not forced to remain within this continuum if the circumstances don’t allow it, or it isn’t practical. A 90 pound female patrol officer forced to arrest a violent WWF wrestler or NFL linebacker is justified, for example, in going straight to the gun to effect an arrest. No one would reasonably expect her to try to subdue such an individual with her baton. So…when dealing with a dead body, intermediate force options probably won’t work. In that case, the gun is going to come out sooner or later.”

  The Zombie Factor

  When closing in on the zombie, the officers are not likely to put themselves at any risk, even if the suspect is believed to be unarmed or out of his mind. As Witzgall sees it, “Because this person may be mentally ill—at least in the officers’ minds—they may treat this as a dangerous situation; but differently than a murder suspect. Therefore dog handlers would not turn the dogs loose on the suspect (they would always be on the leash). More than likely, officers would make contact from a distance to avoid further agitating the suspect. They might even bring in a negotiator, though in this scenario that won’t be effective,” he admits. “More than likely transport after arrest—because the police believe him to be mentally ill—would be done by ambulance to a county hospital. If the suspect tries to bite, we generally put something over his head.”

  Sgt. Krimmel adds, “I have seen hoods and shields placed over biter/spitters’ heads to avoid injury. Most cops feel that spitting on them puts them at increased risk of contracting disease and possibly taking it home to their families. As far as transport is concerned, most police vehicles have Plexiglas shields between the front and back seats to avoid physical contact or spitting from the arrestee.”

  So the idea of an infected zombie biting cops and hospital workers is a bit less likely.

  The danger in our scenario would come from a secondary source: the victim. The guard was bitten and transported to the hospital. It’s doubtful the guard would die en route unless he had arterial damage—and the 911 operator coached our witness through first aid. More likely the guard would die after being admitted to the hospital; and Romero establishes that this takes quite a few hours, since the little girl in Night was bitten hours before Barbara and Ben get to the house and doesn’t die and reanimate until either very late at night or, as is suggested, close to dawn. The real threat would come with how hospital protocols are handled, and we’ll explore that in Chapter 3.

  So, getting back to our patient zero, finding him in the woods was not particularly difficult. There is so much technology, so much skill, and such well-practiced procedure that finding the suspect was a good bet, and apprehending him is not likely to be difficult. We’ll see why in Chapter 5 as we examine the techniques, technologies, and tactics modern police can use to arrest, detain or—at need—destroy zombies.

  THE FINAL VERDICT: SCENE OF THE CRIME

  In just about any scenario where infection starts from a single source, there is a solid chance that the cops will keep this thing from going haywire. If we’re talking slow, shuffling Romero zombies caused by a plague, then the disease will spread with relative slowness and it will be noticed, witnessed, investigated, and dealt with appropriately.

  Once the victim and the suspect were both at the hospital, the fact that this is a plague would begin to emerge. Especially if the bite victim dies and then wakes up and starts attacking people. That kind of thing is going to get noticed very, very fast. It would ring every alarm bell built into the local, state, and federal infrastructure, and in twenty-first-century America, with what has become our natural tendency to weigh sudden violence against the yardstick of potential terrorism, there would be a strong and immediate response.

  If the disease involved fast zombies (or fast-infected humans) then there would be a much higher mortality rate and, very likely, a lag time in situation recognition and response—but the world isn’t going to crumble. At some point, even if we lose a city, the disaster response protocols hardwired into our police and military is going to kick in and the response will be severe, it will be overwhelming. Cities may be sacrificed to stop the spread of infection. In the 2007 film I Am Legend, bridges were blown up to prevent the spread of disease: That would happen.

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  Dan O’Bannon: Prankster of the Living Dead

  You have to give the devil his due. If George Romero is the King of Zombieland, then Dan O’Bannon is somewhere between the royal scribe and the court jester. He’s a writer, director, and computer animator (he worked on the original Star Wars), and he’s been a major creative force in some of the most important and influential horror and/or science fiction films of all times.

  In 1979 he teamed up with Ronald Shusset to pen the screenplay for Aliens, arguably one of the great science fiction films of our time. In 1982 he stepped very quietly into the world of the living dead—not with flesh-eating ghouls, but with dead brought back to a semblance of their former lives. His script for Dead & Buried is widely considered to be one of the true “lost classics” of the genre. Thoughtful, character-driven, and cerebral.

  Then in 1985 he turned to a more destructive side of the living dead with the script (very loosely based on a Colin Wilson story) Lifeforce, directed by Tobe Hooper. It’s a wild mishmash of a story involving space aliens, London overrun by life-sucking zombie/vampire hybrids, and plot holes you could drive a star freighter through—but aside from all that, the film is totally watchable.

  Then in 1985 he struck gold with his first outing as director of the now legendary Return of the Living Dead. Hilarious, irreverent, violent, and over the top. More importantly it introduced the first fast zombies, and the most notable post-Romero talking zombies.

  Whether he takes another shot at the zombie world, O’Bannon’s place is assured.

  * * *

  Worst case scenario would be that the infection spread until a kind of “firebreak” could be established, which would probably be a river or a mountain range, at which point the forward press of infection would be slowed by terrain that could be defended. It’s the same basic premise as digging a moat around a castle. Maybe that moat would be the Mississippi or the Delaware or the Colorado River…but it would be a matter of “this far and no farther,” and then the counterattack would begin.

  But that is worst-case scenario, and it depends on too many things occurring that are just not likely. It requires a disease that instantly spreads throughout the entire bloodstream, and continues to spread even in a murder victim in whom, presumably, blood has ceased to flow. It requires a disease of such virulence that conscious thought is instantly eradicated, which is unlikely in diseases where the body is not materially destroyed (say with a neurotoxin).

  With the spread of a plague that follows some of the rules of infectious diseases, there would be a slower rate of spread than is shown in most genre films. Much slower. The police—who are seldom seen in these stories, and seldom shown to be intelligent, resourceful, or effective—would become involved; since they are intelligent, resourceful, and effective, the death rate of a zombie plague is very likely to be small. Larger if the plague happens in a densely populated urban area, much lower if in a rural area.

  Bottom line: If you see a zombie, call a cop.

  The Crime Scene Unit

  Collecting the Evidence After a Zombie Attack

  Laboratory Analysis by Jonathan Maberry

  “The identification, preservation, collection and analysis of crime scene evidence is an absolutely crucial step in the investigation and prosecution of major crimes.”

  While the manhunt starts, the victim is transported and the witness is interviewed and the crucial phase of evidence collection begins. Forensics means “belonging to the forum” and refers to the gathering of information that will have a legal bearing. Generally speaking many forensics fields use the phrase medico-legal evidence, as not all evidence will turn out to h
ave a legal use.

  This process involves identifying potential evidence, gathering it in ways that protect its integrity (for both testing and legal purposes), documenting each item (including a description of it and the exact location where it was found), transporting the evidence to the lab, tracking the movement of evidence through a paper trail called a “chain of evidence,” and properly storing each piece of evidence so that it is protected and preserved. A break in any of these steps could lead to evidence being destroyed, contaminated, or legally useless.

  Evidence collection is often a shared responsibility between the crime scene unit, patrol officers, and detectives. In high-crime areas where the CSU is constantly in demand, this job may fall largely to uniformed officers, and all of them receive some degree of evidence handling training.

  Greg Dagnan, former detective and assistant professor of criminal justice at Missouri Southern State University, comments on the frequency with which forensic experts are invited to a crime scene. “Not as often as they should. As a result we are trying to train officers in our part of Missouri to be mini experts. Usually a forensic specialist is only called out of desperation. At a guess, I would say a forensic specialist is called to the scene in less than a third of the cases and consulted in less that half of the cases.”

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  Dr. Edmond Locard (1877–1966)