How would you rank the relative risk for officers and suspects suffering injury from these 5 force options: Empty-hand control techniques Baton OC spray Conducted energy weapons (Tasers) Lateral vascular neck restraint. If you judged OC to be the “safest” and baton to be “most injurious” to both officers and offenders, you’re in agreement with...Read More
1 of a 2-Part Series The story is a frequent staple of the evening news. An officer shoots and kills a minority subject who turns out to be…unarmed. Protests explode, and the familiar litany is again asserted: racial bias by the cops underlies many of these inflammatory events. Now a new study by a member...Read More
[View this article with photos on PoliceOne.com] A technique for “working smarter rather than harder” to restrain unusually strong, combative subjects was described by an advisor to the Force Science Research Center at a recent international conference on in-custody deaths that featured presentations by nearly 20 of the world’s leading authorities on excited delirium (ED)....Read More
Officers from nearly 60 departments in Maryland have begun using a research-based “lethality assessment” checklist in hopes of preventing homicides and suicides that might otherwise evolve from heated domestic disputes. As part of their intervention at domestic calls, officers put a quick series of pointed questions to the apparent victims (usually females) in these incidents....Read More
Researchers from the University of Kentucky confirmed recently what skillful cops have known for years: well-timed, well-crafted distractions can derail difficult suspects from violent intentions. The researchers tested this theory with drunks, but according to behavioral scientist Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of the Force Science Research Center, their findings are relevant to a wide...Read More
Looking for guidance on a protocol for Excited Delirium calls? A recently updated training bulletin from San Jose (CA) PD might be a good starting point. “It’s the closest thing to a policy on the subject that I’ve been able to find,” says Wayne Schmidt, executive director of Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, the organization...Read More
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck, right? Not always. Especially when “it” is “excited delirium,” the complex phenomenon currently regarded in law enforcement circles as the likely cause of many in-custody deaths. What appears to be the often-irreversibly fatal physical and mental meltdown...Read More
