Final analysis of data gathered by the Force Science Research Center during a simulated shooting experiment has revealed important new findings about officers’ perceptions and recall that could bear significantly on OIS investigations. Among other things, the testing showed that: Officers tended to recount vastly more information about what happened when interviewed by investigators than...Read More
Over the last 6 months, Dr. Matthew Sztajnkrycer, a “SWAT doc” from Minnesota, has exposed some 150 officers to this stressful and revealing training exercise: A patrol officer, answering a domestic violence call, is shot down as he exits his unit. Officers responding to 911 calls from the scene observe him slumped in a seated...Read More
You wouldn’t expect a spin-off of National Geographic magazine to have much content related to officer survival, but the August issue of National Geographic Adventure delivers just that in a surprising 1-2 punch. First is an article about how sudden fear and stress affect perception and performance, which draws largely from studies of street officers...Read More
Part 2 of a 2-part series [Editor’s note: In our last transmission, we reported on a new documentary film, “The Pain Behind the Badge,” which features 3 officers who experienced emotional melt-downs from the cumulative stress of life on the street. Two contemplated suicide and the third saw the near-dissolution of his marriage before they...Read More
Part 1 of a 2-part series A few hours earlier, Sgt. Clarke Paris, a veteran of 22 years on the Las Vegas Metro Police, had finished a shift on which he’d responded to 5 suicide calls, the victims ranging from a 70-year-old man to a 13-year-old boy. Now he was lazily floating with his wife...Read More
Part 1 of a 2-part series The first group of law enforcement professionals certified to apply the concepts of Force Science to use-of-force investigations has now hit the streets. More than 100 students, representing agencies from England, Belgium, Ireland and the U.S., attended the first ever four-day Force Science Certification Course conducted recently in London....Read More
Brief, dark, and grainy, the video image is a punch to the gut. A California sheriff’s deputy trying to detain a subject who’s on the ground after a high-speed chase says to him, “Get up! Get up!” The man says, “Ok, I’m gonna get up,” and starts to rise. Without another word, the deputy shoots...Read More
Researchers have now identified a specific brain chemical that appears to influence how well you’ll perform under stress and how emotionally resilient you’ll be after a critical incident. The more you have of this powerful ingredient, called neuropeptide Y (NPY), the better off you’ll likely be when your life is on the line. “Maybe somewhere...Read More
You know it in your heart, so to speak. Scientists have confirmed it. Now they’re confirming it again: Job stress of the kind you may experience in police work can play hell with your cardiovascular health. But there may be a way for you to beat the odds. British researchers who tracked more than 10,300...Read More
You’re trained that the surest way to prevent an unintentional discharge is to keep your finger outside the trigger guard until you’ve made the decision to shoot. But under stress, will you–can you–reliably do that? Maybe not, according to a study of police performance under realistic conditions. Indeed, a significant percentage of officers not only...Read More
