Gaze Control and Tactical Decision-Making Under Stress in Active-Duty Police Officers During a Live Use-of-Force Response.

Police officers during dynamic and stressful encounters are required to make rapid decisions that rely on effective decision-making, experience, and intuition. Tactical decision-making is influenced by the officer's capability to recognize critical visual information and estimation of threat. The purpose of the current study is to investigate how visual search patterns using cluster analysis and factors that differentiate expertise (e.g., years of service, tactical training, related experiences) influence tactical decision-making in active-duty police officers (44 active-duty police officers) during high stress, high threat, realistic use of force scenario following a car accident and to examine the relationships between visual search patterns and physiological response (heart rate). A cluster analysis of visual search variables (fixation duration, fixation location difference score, and number of fixations) produced an Efficient Scan and an Inefficient Scan group. Specifically, the Efficient Scan group demonstrated longer total fixation duration and differences in area of interests (AOI) fixation duration compared to the Inefficient Scan group. Despite both groups exhibiting a rise in physiological stress response (HR) throughout the high-stress scenario, the Efficient Scan group had a history of tactical training, improved return fire performance, had higher sleep time total, and demonstrated increased processing efficiency and effective attentional control, due to having a background of increased tactical training.

Assessing between-officer variability in responses to a live-acted deadly force encounter as a window to the effectiveness of training and experience.

We aimed to infer the effectiveness of officers' training and experience by assessing consistency of behavioural responses between them. If officers facing the same scenario respond in similar ways, this implies their use of shared cognition, through acquired in-common tactical knowledge. Officers (n = 42) responded to a live-acted scenario in which an assailant ultimately discharged his weapon. Triangulated camera positions assessed their movement patterns, final positions, and weapon responses relative to when the assailant fired his weapon. We also assessed the officers' visual search and gathered information regarding their experience and rest. Our second aim was to examine sources of variability in the officers' responses. We found extensive variability in all aspects of the response. Experience did not impact spatial or temporal behavioural responses. However, longer hours awake and lower reported rest negatively impacted officers' responses. We conclude that officers had insufficient training and experience to demonstrate in-common knowledge.Practitioner summary: Police officers showed high spatial and temporal variability in response to the same scenario. This implies inadequate tactical training, and is supported by our finding that training and experience did not impact performance. Instead, the officers' variability was constrained by their visual search, and the hours awake before being tested.

The performance during four stationary knife attacks: Implications for tactical training.

With over 72,000 offenses between 2010 and 2020 in the USA, knives were the third most commonly used weapon in all violent crimes between behind personal weapons and handguns. PURPOSE: Examine the performance of different stab (Thrust and overhead) and slash (Figure 8 and Reverse) knife motions to determine how long it takes to execute each motion. In addition, examine the variability in executing each motion to inform future self-defense strategies. METHODS: Twenty subjects (Females, n = 4; Males, n = 16; Height: 179.96 ± 8.66 cm; Weight: 94.99 ± 22.37 kg; Age: 36.95 ± 10.63 years) who were all active-duty law enforcement officers (LEOs) with 13.52 ± 11.23 years of LEO experience were recruited to participate in the study. Each subject completed two trials of the knife motions while wearing wearable motion sensors (ADPM) and recorded with a high-speed camera (GoPro) while using a training knife (Cold Steel). RESULTS: The time to complete the motions were: Thrust, 0.61 ± 0.15 s; Overhead, 0.68 ± 0.14 s; Figure 8, 1.07 ± 0.21 s; and Reverse, 0.62 ± 0.11 s. The Figure 8 motion was significantly slower than the other three motions: F (3, 57) = 101.19, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.84. The reliability analysis reported trivial variability and a high level of agreement: Thrust, ICCα = 0.701, SEM = 0.09 s, CV% = 15.02; Overhead, ICCα = 0.878, SEM = 0.05 s, CV% = 6.93; Figure 8, ICCα = 0.906, SEM = 0.07 s, CV% = 6.25, Reverse, ICCα = 0.420, SEM = 0.10 s, CV% = 17.31. DISCUSSION: Most LEOs or civilians within striking distance of someone with a knife may not be able to avoid contact from the knife attacks based on the speed knife attacks could occur. CONCLUSION: The reference data provides pertinent information to update evidence-based training approaches to knife attack preparation and defense.

Police Academy Training, Performance, and Learning.

We conducted empirical analyses of training at 3 large regional police academies in the United States. We objectively examined the performance and learning of 3 classes, a total of 115 cadets, across 3 representative training approaches to defensive and control tactics. Experiment 1 examined the content and effects of single-session or block training across 8 weeks during the academy. Experiment 2 examined the content and effects of spaced sessions with small-group practice and scenario-based feedback across 8 weeks during the academy. Experiment 3 examined the content and effect of block training with scenario-based feedback across 15 weeks during the academy. Experiment 3 also demonstrated the impact of performance feedback on instructor behavior and cadet performance during the academy and 16 weeks after graduation. We provide recommendations and a call for research based on the performance and learning literature, grounded in behavioral science.

Correction to: Police Academy Training, Performance, and Learning.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s40617-018-00317-2.].

Further analysis of the unintentional discharge of firearms in law enforcement.

Empirical analysis of the contexts in which UDs occur in law enforcement have only recently begun to emerge. We analyzed a novel sample of UD reports (N = 171) that occurred between 1992 and 2016, collected from one non-U.S. and three U.S. law enforcement entities. Using an established antecedent-behavior-consequence (A-B-C) taxonomy, reports were analyzed by context, officer behavior, type of firearm, injuries, deaths, and property damages. This study is the first to empirically document reports of UDs caused by the startle response and the first to analyze a substantial sample of UDs that involved handguns with a double-action only trigger mechanism. An expanded analysis of UD consequences suggested that deaths and injuries might be more prevalent than previously reported.

Toward a taxonomy of the unintentional discharge of firearms in law enforcement.

An unintentional discharge (UD) is an activation of the trigger mechanism that results in an unplanned discharge that is outside of the firearm's prescribed use. UDs can result in injury or death, yet have been understudied in scientific literature. Pre-existing (1974-2015) UD reports (N = 137) from seven law enforcement agencies in the United States of America were analyzed by context, officer behavior, type of firearm, and injuries. Over 50% of UDs occurred in contexts with low threat potential while engaged in routine firearm tasks. The remaining UDs occurred in contexts with elevated to high threat potential during muscle co-activation, unfamiliar firearm tasks, contact with inanimate objects, and a medical condition. An antecedent-behavior-consequence (A-B-C) taxonomy as well as a standardized reporting form, based on the current findings and the existing literature, are offered as tools for identifying the conditions under which UDs may be likely to occur.

Memory and the operational witness: Police officer recall of firearms encounters as a function of active response role.

Investigations after critical events often depend on accurate and detailed recall accounts from operational witnesses (e.g., law enforcement officers, military personnel, and emergency responders). However, the challenging, and often stressful, nature of such events, together with the cognitive demands imposed on operational witnesses as a function of their active role, may impair subsequent recall. We compared the recall performance of operational active witnesses with that of nonoperational observer witnesses for a challenging simulated scenario involving an armed perpetrator. Seventy-six police officers participated in pairs. In each pair, 1 officer (active witness) was armed and instructed to respond to the scenario as they would in an operational setting, while the other (observer witness) was instructed to simply observe the scenario. All officers then completed free reports and responded to closed questions. Active witnesses showed a pattern of heart rate activity consistent with an increased stress response during the event, and subsequently reported significantly fewer correct details about the critical phase of the scenario. The level of stress experienced during the scenario mediated the effect of officer role on memory performance. Across the sample, almost one-fifth of officers reported that the perpetrator had pointed a weapon at them although the weapon had remained in the waistband of the perpetrator's trousers throughout the critical phase of the encounter. These findings highlight the need for investigator awareness of both the impact of operational involvement and stress-related effects on memory for ostensibly salient details, and reflect the importance of careful and ethical information elicitation techniques.

The influence of officer equipment and protection on short sprinting performance.

As advances in protective equipment are made, it has been observed that the weight law enforcement officers must carry every day is greatly increasing. Many investigations have noted the health risks of these increases, yet none have looked at its effects on officer mobility. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the influence of both the weight of officer safety equipment, as well as a lateral focal point (FP), on the stride length, stride velocity, and acceleration of the first six strides of a short sprint. Twenty male law enforcement students performed two maximal effort sprint trials, in the participating college's gymnasium, from each of four starting positions: forwards (control position), backwards, 90° left, and 90° right. Subjects placed in the FP group (n = 9) were required to maintain focus on lateral FP during the 90° left and 90° right trials, and a forwards FP during the backwards trials. On a second testing date, subjects repeated the sprint tests while wearing a 9.07 kg weight belt, simulating officer equipment and protective gear. The belt averaged 11.47 ± 1.64% of subject body mass. A significant main effect of weight belt trials was found (F = 20.494, p < 0.01), in which significant decreases were found for velocity and acceleration. No other significant effects were found as a result of starting position or focal point and no significant interactions were found between independent variables. Conclusively, the results of this study show the increasing weights of duty gear and protective equipment have detrimental effects on officer velocity and acceleration, impeding their mobility, which may be dangerous in use of force or threatening situations.

Witnesses in action: the effect of physical exertion on recall and recognition.

Understanding memory performance under different operational conditions is critical in many occupational settings. To examine the effect of physical exertion on memory for a witnessed event, we placed two groups of law-enforcement officers in a live, occupationally relevant scenario. One group had previously completed a high-intensity physical-assault exercise, and the other had not. Participants who completed the assault exercise showed impaired recall and recognition performance compared with the control group. Specifically, they provided significantly less accurate information concerning critical and incidental target individuals encountered during the scenario, recalled less briefing information, and provided fewer briefing updates than control participants did. Exertion was also associated with reduced accuracy in identifying the critical target from a lineup. These results support arousal-based competition accounts proposing differential allocation of resources under physiological arousal. These novel findings relating to eyewitness memory performance have important implications for victims, ordinary citizens who become witnesses, and witnesses in policing, military, and related operational contexts.

Performing under pressure: gaze control, decision making and shooting performance of elite and rookie police officers.

Gaze of elite (E) and rookie (R) officers were analyzed as they faced a potentially lethal encounter that required use of a handgun, or inhibition of the shot when a cell phone was drawn. The E shot more accurately than the R (E 74.60%; R 53.80%) and made fewer decisions errors in the cell condition when 18.50% of E and 61.50% of R fired at the assailant. E and R did not differ in duration of the draw/aim/fire phases, but the R's motor onsets were later, during the final second compared to the E's final 2.5 s. Across the final six fixations the E increased the percent of fixations on the assailant's weapon/cell to 71% and to 86% on hits, compared to a high of 34% for the R. Before firing, the R made a rapid saccade to their own weapon on 84% of trials leading to a failure to fixate the assailant on 50% of trials as they fired. Compared to the R, the E had a longer quiet eye duration on the assailant's weapon/cell prior to firing. The results provide new insights into officer weapon focus, firearms training and the role of optimal gaze control when under extreme pressure.