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
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
The first time Robert Murtha fired his gun on duty was to kill a rabid skunk. The next time, he was shooting to stop another kind of skunk, some would say, a criminal fugitive and career drug dealer who Murtha claimed was trying to run him down with a car. But that time it was...Read More
A case involving the stun-drive Tasering of a handcuffed arrestee was decided this month by a federal Court of Appeals panel in Florida, with some instructive language regarding what’s permissible in the handling of passively resisting subjects by an officer working alone. In assessing a deputy’s actions in delivering Taser shocks to an arrestee who...Read More
Part 1 of a 2-part series The first group of law enforcement professionals certified to apply the concepts of Force Science to use-of-force investigations has now hit the streets. More than 100 students, representing agencies from England, Belgium, Ireland and the U.S., attended the first ever four-day Force Science Certification Course conducted recently in London....Read More
Brief, dark, and grainy, the video image is a punch to the gut. A California sheriff’s deputy trying to detain a subject who’s on the ground after a high-speed chase says to him, “Get up! Get up!” The man says, “Ok, I’m gonna get up,” and starts to rise. Without another word, the deputy shoots...Read More
To the outrage of community activists and some politicians, a Los Angeles officer who is the central figure in a nationally spotlighted police shooting has been exonerated of wrongdoing, with the help of findings from the Force Science Research Center. LAPD Officer II Steven Garcia, accused of using excessive force in killing a 13-year-old African-American...Read More
Despite FSRC findings to the contrary, some law enforcement sources still regard spent shell casings as immutable pieces of forensic evidence and seem prepared to rely on them to judge the truthfulness of officers’ accounts of controversial shootings. Consider a New York Times report on Dec. 8 about the investigation into the high-profile New York...Read More
Part 2 of a 2-part series [Ed.’s Note: Inv. Tim Robertson of the Darlington County (SC) SO stands charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter after fatally shooting an ex-con fugitive who tried to snatch his gun. Although Robertson insists the offender, William Sheffield, presented a frontal threat when Robertson made the decision to shoot him,...Read More
Part 1 of a 2-part series When Sheriff’s Inv. Tim Robertson was asked to give an official statement about fatally shooting a career criminal who’d tried to take his gun away, he was in an ER under the effect of a sedative and undergoing treatment for what he feared was a heart attack brought on...Read More
