To the outrage of community activists and some politicians, a Los Angeles officer who is the central figure in a nationally spotlighted police shooting has been exonerated of wrongdoing, with the help of findings from the Force Science Research Center. LAPD Officer II Steven Garcia, accused of using excessive force in killing a 13-year-old African-American...Read More
New findings on how offenders train with, carry and deploy the weapons they use to attack police officers have emerged in a just-published, 5-year study by the FBI. Among other things, the data reveal that most would-be cop killers: show signs of being armed that officers miss; have more experience using deadly force in “street...Read More
A new study that measured the body-alarm reactions of officers during and after an armed encounter underscores the value of simulation training and the need for treating shooting survivors with sensitivity during OIS investigations. The study confirms that participating in a realistic training scenario can deliver close to the same emotional and physiological wallop that...Read More
Despite FSRC findings to the contrary, some law enforcement sources still regard spent shell casings as immutable pieces of forensic evidence and seem prepared to rely on them to judge the truthfulness of officers’ accounts of controversial shootings. Consider a New York Times report on Dec. 8 about the investigation into the high-profile New York...Read More
How can an officer in a gunfight be looking at their sights and not see and respond instantly to a change in a subject’s behavior? Why couldn’t the officer see the other person? He has to be lying when he said he didn’t see the person drop the gun! Why can’t he tell us how...Read More
Thumbtack this to your mental bulletin board. It may help you survive intact the next time you’re involved in a controversial OIS or other high-profile use of force. These tips are the distilled wisdom of 6 distinct voices from the trenches of street combat, sounded during a 2-hour panel discussion for chief executives at the...Read More
Part 2 of a 2-part series [Ed.’s Note: Inv. Tim Robertson of the Darlington County (SC) SO stands charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter after fatally shooting an ex-con fugitive who tried to snatch his gun. Although Robertson insists the offender, William Sheffield, presented a frontal threat when Robertson made the decision to shoot him,...Read More
Part 1 of a 2-part series When Sheriff’s Inv. Tim Robertson was asked to give an official statement about fatally shooting a career criminal who’d tried to take his gun away, he was in an ER under the effect of a sedative and undergoing treatment for what he feared was a heart attack brought on...Read More
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck, right? Not always. Especially when “it” is “excited delirium,” the complex phenomenon currently regarded in law enforcement circles as the likely cause of many in-custody deaths. What appears to be the often-irreversibly fatal physical and mental meltdown...Read More
Are there similarities between a driver on a cell phone and an officer in a shooting? You bet! claims Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of the Force Science Research Center at Minnesota State University-Mankato. And 2 independent studies offer fresh insights into the parallels, which may help officers defend themselves in controversial force encounters. Lewinski...Read More
