get out in front

[Victor Steinbok]

Having watched several episodes of Da Vinci's Inquest (1999-2001), I
noticed the main character regularly using variations on a phrase
"[want/try] [to] get/be [out] in front [of it]" , meaning "want to get a
head start" or, more specifically, "want to have information ready, in
case there is need for it", i.e., gather evidence in case an
investigation is needed. This strikes me as a fairly ordinary expression
with idiomatic meaning. I've tried several different combinations to
search first the OED, then other dictionaries, but drew blanks.

Here are a couple of fairly ordinary uses in titles:

http://goo.gl/Em1gZ
Colorado legislators try to get out in front of 'sensational suicide'
with anti-bullying legislation

http://goo.gl/HoF7Y
The Obama campaign must get out in front of the coming crises, or else

http://goo.gl/BYY41
Restaurants Slice Calories From the Menu to Get Out in Front of New Rules


The similarities are not accidental, as I only used one search pattern.

I suppose, it is possible that the phrase is derivative from front n. 10.a.

> 10. a. in (the) front of (prep. phr.): at a position before, in
> advance of, facing, or confronting; at the head of (troops). in his,
> our, etc. front : in front of or facing him, us, etc.The article is
> now omitted, exc. in expressions like in the (very) front of (danger
> etc.) = ‘in the position most exposed to’, ‘bearing the brunt of’.

10.b., c., d. don't seem to match this sense at all. Other dictionaries
are even less likely to have full phrases.

I have not looked at any historical information (no GB, no news), but,
as I said, the phrase is fairly ordinary, at least since the late
1980s-early 1990s.

VS-)

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