In 2013, Force Science published the “Traffic Stop Study,” in which researchers assessed the relative safety of driver-side and passenger-side approaches by officers. During the research, the officers’ reactions were observed in response to an unexpected, simulated firearm assault. Researchers were able to measure the amount of time officers from various positions alongside the car...Read More
Blisteringly Fast and Intuitively Accurate The annual Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) studies, in conjunction with research on the speed and biomechanics of assault, continue to provide critical information that must inform training practices. First, armed attacks can occur without warning and can be extremely fast. In the vast majority of officer fatalities...Read More
The newest study of police shooting accuracy in deadly force encounters reflects the experience of just one municipal department. But to whatever extent the findings can be generalized, the picture is indeed a disturbing one. Researchers analyzed 149 real-life OISs recorded over a 15-year period by Dallas (TX) PD. In nearly half of these encounters,...Read More
Could “practicing” your firearms skills with violent video games that reward headshots adversely affect your performance with a real gun? A new report on an experiment at Ohio State U. raises that question. What are known as “first-person shooter games” (FPS) are “often used to train soldiers and police officers,” notes Dr. Brad Bushman, an...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
New findings on how offenders train with, carry and deploy the weapons they use to attack police officers have emerged in a just-published, 5-year study by the FBI. Among other things, the data reveal that most would-be cop killers: show signs of being armed that officers miss; have more experience using deadly force in “street...Read More
