Research - Force Science

Our Research

Force Science’s Division of Research is dedicated to scientifically determining and fully understanding the actual physical and psychological dynamics of force encounters through research of human behaviors during rapidly unfolding, high-stress confrontations. Our groundbreaking reproducible studies address real problems law enforcement officers face on the street today. For more details and to download articles, please review our findings below.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

2018 - 2019

Training and Safety: Potentially Lethal Blue-on-Blue Encounters

By Dawn A. O’Neill, William R. Spence, William J. Lewinski & Emily J. Novak

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Functional Behavior Assessment of the Unintentional Discharge of Firearms in Law Enforcement

By John O'Neill

Police Academy Training, Performance, and Learning

By John O’Neill, Dawn A. O’Neill, Katelyn Weed, Mark E. Hartman, William Spence, William J. Lewinski

Further Analysis of the Unintentional Discharge of Firearms in Law Enforcement

By John O’Neill, Mark E. Hartman, Dawn A. O’Neill, & William J. Lewinski

Law Enforcement Memory of Stressful Events: Recall Accuracy as a Function of Detail Type

By Mark E. Hartman, Dawn A. O’Neill, John O'Neill, & William J. Lewinski

Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology

Protective Vests in Law Enforcement: A Pilot Survey of Public Perceptions

By John O’Neill, Steven A. Swenson, Emily Stark, Dawn A. O’Neill, & William J. Lewinski

Toward a Taxonomy of the Unintentional Discharge of Firearms in Law Enforcement

By John O’Neill, Dawn A. O’Neill, & William J. Lewinski

The Speed of a Prone Subject

By William J. Lewinski, Dawn A. Seefeldt, Christina Redmann, Madeleine Gonin, Scott Sargent, Jennifer L. Dysterheft, & Patricia Thiem

Memory and the Operational Witness: Police Officer Recall of Firearms Encounters as a Function of Active Response Role

By Lorraine Hope, David Blocksidge, Fiona Gabbert, James D. Sauer, William J. Lewinski, Arta Mirashi, & Emel Atuk

International Journal of Police Science and Management

The Real Risks During Deadly Police Shootouts: Accuracy of the Naive Shooter

By William J. Lewinski, Ron Avery, Jennifer L. Dysterheft, Nathan D. Dicks, & Jacob M. Bushey

The Influence of Officer Equipment and Protection on Short Sprinting Performance

By William J. Lewinski, Jennifer L. Dysterheft, Nathan D. Dicks, & Robert W. Pettitt

Ambushes Leading Cause of Officer Fatalities – When Every Second Counts: Analysis of Officer Movement from Trained Ready Tactical Positions

By William J. Lewinski, Jennifer L. Dysterheft, Jacob M. Bushey, Nathan D. Dicks

Police Practice and Research: An International Journal

Police Officers’ Actual vs. Recalled Path of Travel in Response to a Threatening Traffic Stop Scenario

By William J. Lewinski, Jennifer L. Dysterheft, Matthew M. Priem, & Robert W. Pettitt

Police Officer Reaction Time to Start and Stop Shooting: The Influence of Decision-Making and Pattern Recognition

By William J. Lewinski, William B. Hudson, & Jennifer L. Dysterheft

The Influence of Start Position, Initial Step Type, and Usage of a Focal Point on Sprinting Performance

By William J. Lewinski, Jennifer L. Dysterheft, Dawn A. Seefeldt, & Robert W. Pettitt

The Influence of Officer Positioning on Movement during a Threatening Traffic Stop Scenario

By William J. Lewinski, Jennifer L. Dysterheft, Dawn A. Seefeldt, & Robert W. Pettitt

Witnesses in Action: The Effect of Physical Exertion on Recall and Recognition

By Lorraine Hope, William J. Lewinski, Justin Dixon, David Blocksidge, & Fiona Gabbert

Performing Under Pressure: Gaze Control, Decision Making, and Shooting Performance of Elite and Rookie Police Officers

By Joan N. Vickers & William J. Lewinski

Fired Cartridge Case Ejection Patterns from Semi-Automatic Firearms

By William J. Lewinski, William B. Hudson, David Karwoski, & Christa J. Redmann

New Developments in Understanding the Behavioral Science Factors in the ‘Stop Shooting’ Response

By William J. Lewinski & Christa Redmann

The Attention Study: A Study on the Presence of Selective Attention in Firearms Officers

By William J. Lewinski

Pursuit Driver Training Improves Memory for Skill-Based Information

By Jonathan W. Page, Corey M. Thibeault, Kasee F. Page, William J. Lewinski

A Survey of the Research on Human Factors Related to Lethal Force Encounters: Implications for Law Enforcement Training, Tactics, and Testimony

By Audrey Honig & William J. Lewinski

Command Sequence in Police Encounters: Searching for a Linguistic Fingerprint

By Julie Vandermay, Daniel Houlihan, Liesa A. Klein, William J. Lewinski, Jeffrey Buchanan

Command Types Use in Police Encounters

Emily Schwarzkopf, Daniel Houlihan, Kari Kolb, William J. Lewinski, Jeffrey Buchanan, & Angela Christenson