Force Science News

Editor’s note: The next Force Science Certification Course is scheduled for November 8-12, 2010 in San Jose, CA. To register, please e-mail training@forcescience.org. Please note that the course is filling rapidly so only fully confirmed registrations can be taken at this time.

In this issue:

I. New study targets health problems, early deaths of LEOs with unique peer-group approach

II. ILEETA journal assesses Force Science cert course

III. Force Science training calendar

I. New study targets health problems, early deaths of LEOs with unique peer-group approach

A prominent medical researcher has launched a landmark study he hopes will change the grim facts that LEOs have a higher incidence of illness and death related to cardiovascular disease than the general population, and suffer unnecessary musculoskeletal injuries and disabilities.

With the help of 2 sheriff’s offices and 2 police departments in the Pacific Northwest, Dr. Kerry Kuehl is testing whether a prevention program based on unique peer-led groups can help officers improve their quality of life and reduce their disease and disability rates while also cutting healthcare costs associated with premature illness and injury.

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Editor’s note:What’s it really like to take a Force Science Certification Course? Read a new Law Officer magazine article by recent grad Laura Scarry for a first-hand look at the experience from a student’s perspective. You can click here to read it or visit www.lawofficer.com and look for the article titled “Setting the Bar.”

In this issue:

I. Rest and memory: New findings support delaying interviews after an OIS

II. K-9 scenarios make their training-simulator debut

III. Where to go for more information on other important topics

I. Rest and memory: New findings support delaying interviews after an OIS

There’s now more evidence that waiting “a day or 2” after a shooting before interviewing an involved officer will likely produce more accurate and complete recall than insisting on immediate questioning.

That conclusion is reported by Dr. Ed Geiselman, a UCLA psychology professor and a faculty member for the Force Science Analysis certification course, after assessing the findings from a series of experiments about memory.

“It’s generally presumed that memory is best mined when it is freshest,” Geiselman told Force Science News recently, “and before it can be ‘contaminated’ by input from other sources, rationalization, mood change, change of setting, and the normal deterioration over time.”

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