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
A leading sleep researcher argues that officer deaths from vehicle accidents and violent attacks could be cut by at least 15%—“a pretty darned conservative estimate”—if the problem of police fatigue was seriously addressed. As it is, he claims, a toxic mix of poor personal habits and arbitrary agency policies is creating a “large pool of...Read More
In one word, name a critical–and unfortunately common–mistake investigators make when interviewing police officers who have been involved in shootings. The answer, according to UCLA psychology professor, Dr. Ed Geiselman, is interrupt. “I’ve seen police officers–as well as other presumably cooperative witnesses–bursting at the seams to tell their account of an incident only to be...Read More
Part 1 of a 2-part series A major new study by the Force Science Research Center for the first time has identified exactly how the “gaze patterns” of officers who are likely to win gunfights differ from those who are likely to lose them. Winners, it is revealed, tend to anticipate an emerging threat sooner,...Read More
Part 2 of a 2-part series The suspect Tactical Ofcr. Kurt Kezeske was after had just stabbed his girlfriend in the neck and chest so viciously that when she fled their residence and collapsed in a snow bank, she bled to death in moments. Kezeske shoved open the kitchen door, and there he was, 3...Read More
The 8-year-old Arizona boy recently alleged to have fatally shot his father and another man with a .22-cal. rifle is not the first child of tender years to be accused of a brutal crime. Nor, given today’s pervasive violence, will he likely be the last. If the next strikes in your jurisdiction, how can your...Read More
“Local law enforcers tend to believe that terrorists come from a long distance away to attack without warning in their jurisdiction,” says Dr. Brent Smith, director of the Terrorism Research Center at the University of Arkansas. “Officers often feel they are prey and that there’s nothing much they can do about it. We need to...Read More
[View this article with photos on PoliceOne.com] A technique for “working smarter rather than harder” to restrain unusually strong, combative subjects was described by an advisor to the Force Science Research Center at a recent international conference on in-custody deaths that featured presentations by nearly 20 of the world’s leading authorities on excited delirium (ED)....Read More
Officers from nearly 60 departments in Maryland have begun using a research-based “lethality assessment” checklist in hopes of preventing homicides and suicides that might otherwise evolve from heated domestic disputes. As part of their intervention at domestic calls, officers put a quick series of pointed questions to the apparent victims (usually females) in these incidents....Read More
Researchers from the University of Kentucky confirmed recently what skillful cops have known for years: well-timed, well-crafted distractions can derail difficult suspects from violent intentions. The researchers tested this theory with drunks, but according to behavioral scientist Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of the Force Science Research Center, their findings are relevant to a wide...Read More
