Watching my DVD set of the first season of The Shield got me wondering a little about police door-kicking techniques. Presumably in a really dangerous, call-the-SWAT-team type operation a looked door will either be breached with a shotgun or one of those battering rams. But do cops without such equipment literally kick in doors much? If so, is there a definite, practiced and reliable technique? It seems like if you’re kicking more than once or twice you are seriously increasing the risk of the bad guys either getting out the back or, worse yet, having one or more guns pointed at the door when it finally opens.
Heh. In the film classic 
“Won-Ton-Ton, the Dog that Saved Hollywood,” a German shepherd dog was trained to break down movie prop doors; the poor creature then tried to really rescue his (female) owner, and helplessly slammed himself against the door untill he was dizzy.
I suspect it’s much the same for human actors: ask William Shatner!
From what i understand, there’s two basic techniques. If the door is a hollow, fairly flimsy door, you want to aim your kick dead center, trying to bow the door enough that the lock pops free. If it’s a solid, bolted door, you want to place the kick right next the deadbolt, using the strength of the bolt itself to rip through the doorjamb.
I don’t think it really comes up all that often, however. Most people, even wanted ones, open the door for the police. If there’s any suspicion that they won’t, the officers will have a backup and a ram handy.
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Justin
I believe it was actually the reverse situation for Jack Nicholson in The Shining.
The props department had constructed a flimsy door for Jack to hack through with his ax in the “Heeere’s Johnny!” scene. Nicholson, however, had trained as a volunteer firefighter and shattered the hollow prop door with one good blow. The propmaster had to come up with a particularly sturdy door so Jack didn’t destroy the suspense by bursting through too quickly.
Interesting stuff. I’d actually kind of like to give it a shot, but I don’t want to break and fix my own doors again and again.