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Unarmed But Dangerous

Unarmed but Still Dangerous: The Facts Behind Some OIS Headlines

When police shoot an “unarmed” individual, the implication or outright accusation by media and activists is often that the deadly force was unjustified because the subject, without a weapon, was “defenseless” and thus could not have posed a threat. Now a newly published study by two criminal justice researchers paints a far different picture. Their...
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New Report: One City’s Experience With Less Proactive Policing

What happens when LEOs—frustrated, angry, discouraged, vengeful, or apprehensive about anti-police outbursts from communities they serve—turn a blind eye to self-initiated, pro-active law enforcement? The city of Baltimore is one place to look for an answer—and the newspaper USA Today has done just that in a recent investigative report with sobering implications. Back in 2015,...
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How One Trainer Put The Media In Officers’ Boots Regarding Resistance

Civilians who’ve never had to physically restrain an “ain’t-gonna-be-controlled” suspect usually have no idea how much force and how many officers may be required to gain compliance. So when they see video of cops trying to subdue an unyielding subject, it’s easy for their naïve eyes to interpret knee strikes, baton strikes, CEW hits, and...
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Anatomy Of An Officer’s Defense In A High-Profile Shooting (Part 1)

Part 1 of a 2-part report Police Atty. Scott Wood was absorbed in his son’s high school football game that Friday night, so he missed the two calls to his cell phone until half time. Then he listened to the voice mails that hurled him into one of the nation’s most explosive officer-involved shootings. A...
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Famous Police-Shooting Database Has Infamous Shortcomings

A national online database compiled by the Washington Post is widely considered to be the go-to place for statistics on fatal shootings by police. But how reliable is it? Kevin Davis, a prominent use-of-force trainer from Ohio, recently took a probing look at one frequently cited category in the Post s aggregation: officers deadly shootings...
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Nix “Irrational” Proposals, Rely On Science-Based Policing: Lewinski

Before a mixed audience of politicians, judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement professionals, Dr. Bill Lewinski warned recently of the risk that emotion-based opinion will trump scientific reality in the mounting pressure to change police practices. Lewinski, executive director of the Force Science Institute, appeared as the keynote speaker at the annual Officer of the Year...
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Favorable Public Opinion Of Cops More Than Triple That Of News Media

Despite the frequent negative portrayal of police by much of today’s news media, cops significantly outrank the media itself in terms of public approval. In a recent poll by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal, roughly half (51%) of Americans surveyed said they have a “great deal” or “quite a bit” of confidence in...
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How To “DWI” With Mainstream Media: More Tips For Crisis Success

Another crisis management expert in a different venue recently offered multiple practical pointers on handling mainstream media in the face of a potentially incendiary use of force, like an officer-involved shooting. “Any OIS–no matter how righteous–is going to be a critical incident for your organization,” said Rick Rosenthal, president of RAR Communications. “When the media...
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2 Views On Today’s Law Enforcement Turmoil. What Do You Think?

There’s no shortage of media reports about the police these days, but two recently published pieces have advanced figures and opinions that warrant response by law enforcement professionals. One calls for abandoning traffic stops as a public relations and safety move, an idea that could find fertile ground in today’s anti-cop atmosphere. The other looks...
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How One City Kept The Peace After A White Cop/Black Suspect OIS

Stripped to its bare bones, the incident had the ingredients of another racial firestorm: A white cop with a prior shooting on his record repeatedly fires at and kills a young black male, a former college football player, in full view of a crowd dispersing from a wedding at an African-American church on the Martin...
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