In a letter to the editor that we printed in issue #273 [1/14/15], Sgt. Casey Bokavich of the Redding (CA) PD mentioned that his agency was preparing to host members of a local civil rights group for a training session on police use of force. We decided to check in recently to see how that...Read More
“No comment.” Those are the “two most dangerous words” a law enforcement administrator or spokesperson can utter these days after an officer-involved shooting, according to an excellent video presentation by Force Science Certification Course graduate Brian Willis which you can access on YouTube by CLICKING HERE. Refusal to provide information on a major force event...Read More
LEOs use deadly force far less often than they’re legally justified in doing, in contrast to a media-fueled public impression that excessive force by America’s cops is “general and widespread,” according to a recent survey of police/citizen encounters. While officers kill an average of about 385 subjects a year, this toll, in fact, reflects significant...Read More
At the latest ILEETA training conference, Rick Rosenthal, a veteran TV news anchor who’s now a law enforcement consultant, delivered some mixed metaphors you might find comforting as you contemplate the possibility of an OIS in your jurisdiction and the publicity firestorm that may well ignite in its aftermath. The media are not the bone-crushing,...Read More
The first small sample of “near-miss” reports about officers who survived potentially fatal injuries has been reviewed by the VALOR Project—with some surprises emerging. VALOR (Violence Against Law Officer Research) is the umbrella name for a variety of ongoing studies by Dr. Matt Sztajnkrycer, seeking to improve on-scene casualty care for wounded LEOs. Sztajnkrycer is...Read More
Two perspectives on law enforcement’s role in the violent human meltdown known as excited delirium faced off on National Public Radio recently, in broadcasts that have themselves become controversial. On one side in the 2-program report were 2 police critics, a staff lawyer with the ACLU and the director of a California “watchdog” group called...Read More
