Tactical Tracking

TTOS separates visual tracking into two categories, Tactical Tracking and Combat Tracking. The dynamics of each are largely identical, as are the attributes necessary to be successful in each.  The differences become obvious when the tracking team follows and makes contact with the fleeing quarry.  Law Enforcement and Corrections officers will do their best to apprehend or make an arrest, whereas military combat trackers are free to apply deadly force as permitted by their Rules of Engagement.  Law Enforcement and Corrections Officers are governed their departmental policies and procedures and judicial precedent.  
Note: TTOS instructors have been recognized and employed as expert witnesses with regards to tracking-related subjects in Federal criminal and other cases, and are always available for consultation.

REASONS TO USE TACTICAL TRACKERS.
It is a common misconception not only among police administrators and prosecutors but the officers themselves, that law enforcement tracking can only be or should only be done by dogs, or that trackers or tracking teams can only be employed to conduct a follow-up of escaped inmates or fugitives of a manhunt.  This is a gross oversimplification of the skill set. Visual tracking can be as valuable in an urban investigation as a rural manhunt.  There are numerous aspects of law enforcement that can be of benefit to the investigator, patrol deputy, trooper or SOT operator.  These roles may vary from active, ongoing follow-ups such as a foot pursuit or manhunt to passive follow-ups and backtracking operations used to link a suspect to a crime scene or an evidence search on a target site subsequent to the service of a narcotics warrant.

Note: it is important to note that every potential use of law enforcement trackers is identical to the comparable tasks performed by track-trained visual trackers in military law enforcement—the needs for interpretation of a crime scene or collection of evidence, etc., are hardly different just because the suspects, victims or responding personnel are in BDUs, ACUs or MARPAT!

"In the shoe market today there are numerous different manufacturers, each of which make numerous different shoe designs, each of which come in various sizes, shapes and tread designs.  Each shoe worn by a different person will wear slightly differently.  Consequently, any particular shoe design in a particular size represents and item which is owned and worn by far less than 1% of the population."
Bodziak, 1990

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