A rookie cop has saved 9 people’s lives in the first year of her job, a feat not many police officers can boast of.
Taylor Brandt is with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia and is being recognized for that amazing achievement. The Arlington, Virginia officer, has just celebrated a year on the street with the MPDC in August.
Thanks to her training in Tactical Emergency Casualty Care, she was well prepared for all the emergencies she encountered during her short time on the force. “In just one year, Sixth District Officer Brandt helped save nine lives using Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC),” the Washington Metropolitan Police Department shared on July 27.
“All MPD officers are trained in TECC and they frequently use this important training to save lives across the District of Columbia. Check out Officer Brandt’s impactful story below and visit JOINMPD.DC.GOV to start your journey today.”
“Police generally arrive on the scene first,” Brandt said. “We are the first on scene to provide medical care, and our first goal is to preserve life, which often results in us trying to prevent blood loss.”
Brandt is in an area where there’s a lot of gun violence, which means she can use her medical training to encounter it. “Lots and lots of gunshot wounds, unfortunately” she continued. “We have a lot of problems with gun violence in the city currently.”
“It really runs the gambit of the kind of violence and injury that you see in the sixth district.” Officer Brandt hit the ground running when she encountered her first lifesaving experience just two weeks into her training.
“All of a sudden, we rolled up on a man laying in the road next to his vehicle,” she said in a video shared by the Washington Metropolitan Police Department. “Concerned for his wellbeing, we stopped. And sure enough, he stated he had been shot multiple times, no — no calls for service for a shooting, no sounds of gunshots, nothing pending.”
They stopped traffic and assisted the man. Brandt was able to apply tourniquets to the man’s legs to prevent him from bleeding out until backup arrived, she says she’s used tourniquets seven times and chest seals twice.
Ralph Ennis, the commander of MPD Academy Training, pointed out that training and equipment weren’t always available to officers. “When I first came on the police department, the police were not as big into the medical care, and I have seen personally a lot of people die in front of me because not having this level of training,” he said.
“The fact that our officers have this level of training and the equipment they have today it’s very refreshing to know that we are giving people another chance at life.” He added, “I would challenge you to find one other police officer in this country that saved nine people so far, and it just hasn’t happened,” he added of Brandt. “She truly understands that policing is about helping people.”
“Even within the district some people never get to do that,” Brandt acknowledged. Her training and compassion for the people has helped Brandt save lives and we’re sure she will achieve so much more in the future.