A recent officer-involved shooting in rural Iowa is typical of many that occur across North America. The sheriff’s office involved hadn’t experienced an OIS in at least three decades. The county prosecutor, responsible for evaluating legal justification, hadn’t handled one in 17 years. “In locales other than large metropolitan areas, an OIS tends to be...Read More
“I wish every cop could get sued in federal court before you hit the street, because you would change the way you do things.” That’s police attorney Bruce Praet speaking, a former LEO, a defender of officers and agencies in legal actions for more than three decades, and co-founder of Lexipol, the prominent policy advisory...Read More
The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided a case involving fatal shots fired at a moving vehicle that provides an important reminder to officers about thoroughly articulating use of force and offers help to police lawyers in arguing qualified immunity cases, according to two prominent law enforcement attorneys who are also Force Science instructors. For officers...Read More
TRUE or FALSE: Spent shell casings ejected from a semiautomatic handgun at a shooting scene can reliably tell where a shooter stood when he fired rounds. In keeping with law enforcement lore, most officers, firearms trainers and crime scene investigators would likely say that’s true, given the operational consistency of a pistol’s ejection mechanism. But...Read More