Speaking of the latter first, the picture below leaped out at me a few days ago watching the coverage of the Chattanooga attacks:
I realize the officer in the front is probably off to the right of the officer with the rifle. But, what if the officer in the front takes fire and leaps off to the left directly in the line of fire of the rifle? This pic is fairly narrow so we can't see what other cover, if any, was available nearby.
A lot of the active shooting training I have been exposed to incorporates field principles on the range. One principle is to not take shots unless you are at some even point with any fellow officers close by. This must be reinforced on the range so when in the field, officers don't start shooting unless fellow officers are out of the line of fire. We must do everything we can to combat tunnel vision. Doing this on the range in various exercises reinforces this.
As to the other bad positions, police officers are still getting shot through doorways. As recently as 2014 in Charleston County, SC an officer was killed and anther wounded by a suspect shooting through an apartment doorway:
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140908/PC16/140909450/1177
In late 2013 in San Antonio, an officer was hit after a suspect fired s shot through a motel room door:
http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksat/news/2013/09/09/san-antonio-standoff-suspect-charged-after-police-officer-shot.html
Traffic stop shootings are so numerous, I just can't list them. The bottom line is we are taught good tactics beginning in the police academy. Tactics for traffic stops and tactics for knocking on doors. To complicate things, we have to account for surveillance cameras. As the price has decreased, hundreds of households now have surveillance cameras. I remember accompanying other officers on a knock and talk on a home suspected of a marijuana grow. I noticed way too late a camera over the front door. Seconds after noticing this the front door opened rather quickly. We were all set up for an ambush. Luckily, the resident was not violent. We cannot depend on good luck. This was broad daylight and we didn't notice the camera. Imagine at night.
I don't have a ready answer for that. I would hope that intelligence about certain locations gets passed along to other officers. Most dispatch centers allows for notes to be included about certain locations. If on a call an officer notices a surveillance system present, have your dispatch center put this in the call notes about the location. Drug officers are really good about collecting intelligence about a location from informants and drive-bys. Asking about and noting any surveillance systems is fairly routine. If you're a patrol officer, start asking about call histories and notes about a location you are responding to. Make sure you note significant things about locations and pass those on to dispatch and fellow officers. We have so many ways to communicate, let's make sure we use everything at our disposal to get the word out.
Regardless of what you can find out about a location, you are not relieved of the responsibility for watching where you are. Don't get to close to offenders without good reason. Watch your tactics on traffic stops. Consider the passenger side approach more and more. Stand back and away from doors. Sometimes we don't get a choice about where we have to stand and be. But knowing you are in a bad position can be good too. It starts your brain to trouble shoot while you are there. Even if it's just looking for spot to jump if gunshots ring out.
Watch your position!
