Since the officer is a high-value unit and relatively easy to kill, he will be the target of your enemies snipers artillery, or anything else that is within range of him. Having an officer is one thing, but using him well is another. Like any spotting unit, he will excel on higher terrain, as hills and or other obstacles will obstruct his vision if they are between him and where he is trying to look. Likewise, when you tell him to attack a unit (another good reason to toss his weapons when you call him in) he will use his binoculars and watch that unit through the binoculars, tracking its movement. Telling the officer to attack ground on one location will make the officer focus his binoculars on that area until you tell him otherwise. Since the circle he reveals is roughly 20 meters in diameter, this will allow you to see units that are up to 120 meters away. Once your officer is in position, you can use his binoculars in direct control to effectively reveal an area of the map at distances of up to 110 meters. Since the officer also comes with a knife, it may be a wise idea to abandon this as well, just don’t drop it while he’s running. I’ve caught officers brandishing their pistols instead of their binoculars even after I’ve told them to hold fire or only return fire.
The problem persists even if you change his firing mode. If he gets into a situation where he needs to use it, he’s generally as good as dead anyway. Because of this, it may be beneficial to have the officer abandon his pistol when you spawn him.
One of the problems with this unit is that he will often times switch away from his binoculars in favor of his pistol for whatever reason. Although the officer is equipped with a pistol for self-defense, his best weapon is the binoculars that he starts with.