A new study clearly documents a “significant and important” trend in federal courts to consider the physiological and psychological impact of stress on officer performance in cases alleging excessive force and inadequate training. “This finding,” says Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of the Force Science Institute, “is very encouraging to those of us who have...Read More
The standard Taser X26 exposure cycle in controlling agitated or combative subjects is an initial five-second discharge, with subsequent five-second cycles as deemed necessary. A new report in the Journal of Forensic Sciences suggests that much longer continuous exposure may, in fact, be safe physiologically. In a study conducted at Pennsylvania State University, scientists subjected...Read More
Based on findings from a new stress study, a research team is recommending, among other things, that investigators of officer-involved shootings should be trained with deadly force simulator scenarios. “That experience would help investigators better understand the human factors that can come into play when officers face a life-threatening situation,” the lead researcher, Dr. Darrell...Read More
Having a policy on critical operational matters is one thing. Training on it is another. And if the two aren’t yoked together, brace for the worst. That caution has recently been emphatically underscored by both a jury verdict and a judge’s ruling in a U.S. District Court in the state of Washington in a case...Read More
Experiments mirroring a real-world case that resulted in an officer going to prison for perjury have confirmed that a trick of the mind called inattentional blindness—the failure to see something important that is clearly within your field of view—can occur under stressful circumstances on the street. The officer’s conviction was described in detail in a...Read More
Part 2 of a 2-part series In a previous Force Science News, Dr. Ed Geiselman, an internationally recognized authority on interviewing techniques, offered 5 critical reminders for investigators on how to elicit accurate and comprehensive statements from involved officers and eyewitnesses in OISs and other use-of-force cases. But what it you’re an involved officer being...Read More
In recent years, much of the focus for treating post-traumatic stress disorder has centered on traditional “talk therapy” and newer abatement techniques like EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). Now the latest research seems to be expanding an emerging frontier that involves unexpected mind-impacting drugs. Several physicians who specialize in pain management, for example, are...Read More
Dan Lovelace has been to the dark side of the law enforcement moon. Targeted by a prescription drug abuser who tried to run him over. Swirled into a media frenzy when he shot and killed her. Fired by his agency and brought to trial for murder by a zealous prosecutor. Shunned like a leper by...Read More
[Editor’s note: Memory is often a wild card in officer-involved shooting investigations. Involved officers typically don’t remember certain things that happened or they remember them incorrectly or their recollections conflict with accounts of other witnesses. This is frustrating and often suspicious to investigators. [Just how memory works is still the subject of intense exploration by...Read More
Final analysis of data gathered by the Force Science Research Center during a simulated shooting experiment has revealed important new findings about officers’ perceptions and recall that could bear significantly on OIS investigations. Among other things, the testing showed that: Officers tended to recount vastly more information about what happened when interviewed by investigators than...Read More
