Where civic leaders embrace “progressive reforms,” such as “equity,” “social justice,” and the “dismantling of systemic racism,” it is no longer obvious that the training, education, and experience of police officers will play a central role.Read More
Ideally, police reform will involve the careful translation of research (knowledge) into practice. The American Society of Evidence-Based Policing recently made this case in Process for Translating Research to Practice, citing the requirement for collaboration between researchers and police practitioners.1 It’s this process that ensures reform proposals are not the product of untested ideas, intuition,...Read More
Officers know that “hands kill” and that they should “watch the hands.” These well-founded concerns are what prompt demands for suspects to “show me your hands!” The irony is that an order to “show me your hands” or “take your hands out of your pockets” may invite the same movement from a compliant suspect as...Read More
In our last article, Honest But Not Accurate, we rejected the idea that an officer’s memory was the equivalent of a video recorder. We cautioned that inconsistencies between an officer’s memory and a video recording could result from human performance factors and are not necessarily evidence of intentional deception. But even in cases without video...Read More
In 2013, Force Science News shared the story of a Grover Beach (CA) police officer who was fired after attempting to use his Taser on a kidnapping suspect. After forcing entry into a garage, officers found the man sitting in a car with the baby in his arms. With only the light from his Taser...Read More
The demand for evidence-based policing continues to create unprecedented opportunities to develop and improve professional policing standards. In support of this mission, the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST) reached out to Dr. Bill Lewinski and the Force Science Institute for the latest research in police skill development and decision-making....Read More
Body-worn cameras can’t replace an officer’s perceptions, but they can be extraordinarily valuable when they confirm the presence of weapons, capture resistance, and verify de-escalation attempts. What’s more, it is expected that the presence of cameras encourages people on both sides of the lens to be the best version of themselves as they interact. But...Read More
“I am concerned about excited delirium….” Minneapolis Officer describing George Floyd The recent release of court documents and body-cam footage surrounding George Floyd’s death predictably thrust Excited Delirium Syndrome (ExD) back into the news. Following George Floyd’s death, media outlets had already begun to revive the false, anti-police narrative that ExD is nothing more than...Read More
Cognitive dissonance: that terrible feeling you get when confronted with information that challenges your view of the world. You can ignore the new information, blindly accept it, or interrogate it. Look for distinctions between what you believed and what you are being told. If there are none, maybe you just learned something and can adjust...Read More
For the last half-century, the police profession has been defined by its commitment to constant and never-ending improvement. It seems that no matter the source of the latest theory, agencies across the country are willing to give it a try. Although most of us don’t stop to consider it, common police practices, including deterrent patrols,...Read More
