Field research on a groundbreaking new study on vehicle stop safety has been completed by the Force Science Institute, with specific pointers on how officers can better protect themselves from sudden shooting attacks expected by the end of summer. Using 94 officers from 17 agencies, the research team conducted a series of test scenarios across...Read More
It’s a bloody year for cops so far. At the end of June, total duty-related fatalities in the U.S. are up 8% compared to the same time last year, according to preliminary figures from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Officer murders from gunfire are spiking an alarming 38% increase. If trends hold through...Read More
Researchers are beginning to realize that there’s an unexpected benefit when investigators conduct skillful interviews of officers who’ve survived shootings and other life-threatening encounters. In addition to eliciting more and better information, good questioning techniques tend to ease the emotional after-burn that many officers experience in the wake of traumatic events and leave survivors with...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
A “national snapshot” of in-service firearms training for municipal and county LEOs raises grave “concerns about how prepared many police officers are” for winning life-threatening encounters, according to a new report from a respected university researcher. The report also highlights post-shooting practices in many agencies that are hampering trainers’ efforts to improve their programs. After...Read More
When you or fellow officers survive a “near-miss” incident—one that could have been fatal—Dr. Matt Sztajnkrycer wants to hear from you. You can reach him through a unique website he has just launched: www.valorproject.org. There, regardless of where you live in the world, you can contribute confidentially to an ambitious, ongoing research study designed to...Read More
A study of “preventable” deaths among LEOs wounded in felonious attacks suggests that a new protocol for emergency “combat care” designed specifically for law enforcement may be necessary to augment the military model currently emphasized in police circles. “Potentially fatal wounds suffered by cops tend to be different from those suffered by soldiers,” says Dr....Read More
Part 2 of a 2-part series A Governor’s Task Force in New York recently issued a 147-page report on police-on-police shootings in which it emphasizes that “unconscious race bias” may be a compelling factor when out-of-uniform officers, working plainclothes or taking some law enforcement action off-duty, are mistaken for life-threatening criminals and are shot dead...Read More
Part 1 of a 2-part series The first comprehensive nationwide survey of mistaken-identity, “friendly fire” fatalities in law enforcement has been completed by a governor’s task force in New York, unearthing a wealth of informative and useful data but raising a controversial specter that “unconscious racial biases” against minority officers may influence some of these...Read More
A Governor’s Task Force in New York, formed to examine police-on-police shootings nationwide, recently issued an extensive report that claims “intrinsic” racial bias may be involved when out-of-uniform black officers are mistaken for criminals and shot dead by their colleagues. But a Force Science Position Paper on the subject, which is attached as an appendix...Read More
