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
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
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
A strong message about deadly force encounters that critics of the police, as well as investigators and prosecutors, need to hear is sent in a feature article that appeared this summer [’06] in “The Scene,” the journal of the Assn. for Crime Scene Reconstruction. The article, authored by Drs. Jeffrey Bumgarner, Bill Lewinski, and Bill...Read More
What is described as a “huge” legislative shift in favor of POs has taken place in Arizona, where the rules about justifying the use of deadly force have been significantly changed. This spring [’06], the governor signed into law Senate Bill 1145 which, in effect, removes the burden of proving justification in an OIS shooting...Read More
Part 2 of a 2-part series A foremost authority on police psychology, Dr. Alexis Artwohl, has designed a protocol checklist that can help assure that an investigation of an officer-involved shooting is fair, neutral and fact-finding in nature. Part 1 of this series [Force Science News Transmission, sent 4/1/06] explored the first dozen of her...Read More
Part 1 of a 2-part series Amid the myriad pressures that inevitably arise after an officer-involved shooting, how does a law enforcement agency assure that its investigation of the event is fair, neutral and fact-finding in nature? One protocol for reaching that goal was offered recently by a well-known National Advisory Board member of the...Read More
Do police officers really have to kill people when they shoot them? Couldn’t they be more humane and just aim for arms or legs? As we reported in a previous FSN [2/28/06], a New York state senator in pondering these questions decided there’s way too much needless death being inflicted by cops these days. So...Read More
