In reporting another new study of excited delirium, researcher Dr. Darrell Ross offers additional insights for improving the safety of officers and subjects alike in these fraught confrontations. The goal is not to train or expect officers to make clinical diagnoses in the field as psychiatric experts, Ross says. “But providing them with research findings...Read More
After a half-naked man in the throes of excited delirium died following a struggle with sheriff’s deputies, his widow alleged in a federal civil rights legal action that: the officers should not have used any force against him until they first attempted de-escalation techniques; their “excessive” force-first actions violated legal protections for the disabled and...Read More
When it comes to suspects who die in law enforcement settings, street cops, investigators, administrators, police lawyers, and medical examiners can probably all agree on one thing: investigating such events, in the words of one research team, is a “perilous and a slippery slope.” An excellent new book—Guidelines for Investigating Officer-Involved Shootings, Arrest-Related Deaths, and...Read More
Three researchers with Force Science credentials presented new study results at the recent annual conference of the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology in Austin, TX. One, Dr. John O’Neill, a behavioral scientist on the staff of the Force Science Institute, was cited with special recognition. After reviewing all the conference’s presentations, 64 in total,...Read More
Research studies and courtroom decisions continue to explore what’s practiced, what’s effective, and what’s legal so far as police use of CEWs is concerned. Here’s a roundup of some of the most recent developments. TASER vs. OC: And the winner is… In real-life confrontations, TASERs are effective in incapacitating actively resistant suspects over 90% of...Read More
The issue of prone positioning of resistant suspects, which we reported on in a previous article, is back in the news–this time with a US appellate court weighing in with comments on what officers are expected to know about the subject. The case, Bolick v. City of East Grand Rapids (MI), is a civil rights...Read More
A Canadian anesthesiologist has attempted to revive the controversy about alleged risks associated with the prone positioning of arrestees, only to draw an emphatic rebuke from a team of experts on the subject. The physician is Alain Michaud, affiliated with a hospital in Roberval, Quebec. In published correspondence to the Journal of Forensic and Legal...Read More
In a new, broad-based study of violently resisting suspects, a prominent researcher has found that restraint in the prone position produces no fatal adverse effects, even when Taser shocks, weight on the subject’s back, and hobbling are employed by officers to gain control. “No method of control or restraint used in the field produced a...Read More
A blue ribbon panel of experts assigned to determine “what is known and not known about the physiological and health effects associated with CEW use” has presented five “key findings” in a recently issued report: “[W]hile fatal complications [from CEW deployment] are biologically plausible, they would be extremely rare.” When a sudden in-custody death does...Read More
When police defense attorney Mildred O’Linn teaches a course on Critical Legal Issues in Law Enforcement, she urges her audiences to adopt a risk-management concept she calls the Custody and Care Timeline. It’s a method for officers to capture and document critical information when dealing with combative suspects who may be especially vulnerable to arrest-related...Read More
