fbpx
Investigation Recommendations

Tag

Watching Video Evidence Before Providing a Use of Force Statement

(Editor’s note 3/28/2022: This article was edited to acknowledge the competing approaches to video review during use of force investigations, update citations, and clarify the IACP’s 2014 model policy language and position paper. Force Science recognizes that the memory-enhancing value of watching videos must be balanced against the risk of memory corruption and the need...
Read More

“Bullet-Proofing” Your Statements: 6 Keys To Interrogation Preparedness

As a former head of Internal Affairs sections for a major US police department and now an FOP-approved officers’ defense attorney, George Bush II speaks with considerable authority when he says, “Most officers do not have a clue about the scope of their rights when they themselves are the target of an investigation.” That subject...
Read More

10 Tips And More For Effective Cognitive Interviewing Of OIS Survivors And Other Cooperative Witnesses

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

Two New Case Histories: Force Science And The Aftermath Of Violent Encounters

How do principles of human behavior and memory stimulation studied in Force Science certification classes get applied in real-world policing? Consider the recent experiences of 2 police trainers and Force Science graduates who played pivotal roles in significant use-of-force investigations, 1,700 miles and an international border apart. In one, an officer ended up cleared of...
Read More

How To Assure “Fair, Neutral & Fact-Finding” Officer-Involved Shooting Investigations (Part 2)

Part 2 of a 2-part series A foremost authority on police psychology, Dr. Alexis Artwohl, has designed a protocol checklist that can help assure that an investigation of an officer-involved shooting is fair, neutral and fact-finding in nature. Part 1 of this series [Force Science News Transmission, sent 4/1/06] explored the first dozen of her...
Read More

How to Assure “Fair, Neutral & Fact-Finding” Officer-Involved Shooting Investigations (Part 1)

Part 1 of a 2-part series Amid the myriad pressures that inevitably arise after an officer-involved shooting, how does a law enforcement agency assure that its investigation of the event is fair, neutral and fact-finding in nature? One protocol for reaching that goal was offered recently by a well-known National Advisory Board member of the...
Read More