For the first time, a research study of a “very large sample size of real-world subjects” who actually underwent police use of force has determined with precision how often deaths occur in conjunction with forceful encounters. The frequency, in contrast to the impression often conveyed by the media and activist “watchdog” organizations, is extremely minimal,...Read More
Two recently published, force-related court decisions of interest, brought to our attention by Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, the nonprofit organization that monitors judicial actions affecting police and conducts training seminars on legal issues: Case 1: Is an agency legally justified in requiring breath testing after an OIS? Three unions representing NYPD personnel sued in...Read More
A research team that includes members with law enforcement experience has taken the most comprehensive look yet at the circumstances surrounding Taser deployments where suspects end up dying. The findings “demonstrate the complexity of these incidents,” the researchers report, citing drug use and mental illness, persistent suspect resistance, and a “wide array of force options...Read More
After the recent incident in Miami, where an attacker chewed flesh off of the face of a homeless man before being shot dead by police, Canadian officials have announced plans to make the active ingredient in so-called “bath salts” illegal. And Miami authorities have warned officers to be “extremely cautious” around disorderly suspects who, like...Read More
With the symptoms and dangers of excited delirium now well-publicized and solidly confirmed by numerous research studies, agencies that fail to have a response protocol in place are inviting needless liability problems, according to a day-long presentation recently at a training seminar sponsored by the Illinois Tactical Officers Assn. “Usually administrators start to take notice...Read More
An exaggeration of the sudden in-custody death problem is generating “persecution and prosecution” of LEOs and their agencies and is resulting in “reactionary changes in policy and procedure that may well be based in conjecture rather than fact,” according to new findings by a Canadian research team. In particular the study group challenges the widely...Read More
A resounding clash between researchers has erupted over the question of whether emergency room doctors should report suspected cases of excessive force by LEOs. On one hand are American researchers—MDs and PhDs—who argue that in the interest of “violence prevention” ER physicians should notify Internal Affairs investigators whenever they see a patient whose injuries may...Read More
An expert on excited delirium is reaching out through Force Science News for first-hand accounts from officers who have encountered suspects high on so-called “bath salts.” At least one LEO—a sheriff’s deputy from Mississippi, responding to a disturbance call—has been killed, reportedly by an offender under the influence of psychoactive bath salts. In that case,...Read More
Sudden deaths, which are often seen as an in-custody police problem, in reality occur with significant frequency from “natural causes” in the general population and are related to cocaine abuse in at least 3 out of every 100 cases, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed 668 sudden deaths across 32 months, and in none...Read More
Two recent federal court rulings supporting officers’ decision-making in force encounters are reported in the latest “Case Notes and Publications” email from Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, the nonprofit organization that monitors and assists with litigation of interest to LEOs and their agencies. 1. In Lewis v. City of West Palm Beach, et al., 5...Read More
