Issue link: https://let.epubxp.com/i/149261
FI RE ARMS TACTICS Now the decision making part: Should the officer maintain contact, or create distance? It's best to try to avoid a wrestling match. The best answer is for law enforcement professionals to train for both. Reaction to visual stimuli runs around 0.25 seconds (a quarter second). That is, an average person has to see, and then process visual stimuli before they can do something. This delay is increased if the stimulus is not immediately recognized, or the officer does not register it as a threat. Added to that is the "what to do" equation. We also have to factor in "recognition" memory. If the threatening object is only partially exposed, like the handle of a knife in a waistband, the officer's experience has to navigate memory of items and the context from where the officer's experience places it. If anyone thinks context isn't a big deal, consider this: The other day I saw my dental hygienist at a restaurant. I knew I knew her, but I could not place her into context. I said hello, but my inability to place her was probably very obvious. Seeing a partial section of a weapon and distinguishing it in time from a cell phone is a complex task. All right, let's go back to the decisionmaking. If the officer maintains contact, he could jam the draw and stay hand-tohand. Visual recognition, as I said before, is 0.25 seconds. Tactile recognition, the ability to touch something and recognize it by feel, is 0.17 seconds on the average. This is potentially an advantage. Trust it when doing a pat down. Remember it when forced to close the distance. HereÕs the part that non-officers (especially the media) donÕt get: ■ If the officer is wrestling with the sub- ject, somebody's gun is within arm's reach. ■ Even if the suspect was unarmed, the opportunity to become armed is there. ■ One of the most likely common factors of officers killed in the line of duty where initial physical contact was made is not enough initial controlling force. This may indicate that many of the fatal encounters were actually disengagements. ■ The close quarters factor means the officer is also precluded from keying the radio; his hands are full. ■ Putting away one tool to pick up another is also precluded because it severely increases the risk to the officer. I had a chance to talk to Dr. Ron Martinelli about this. Martinelli developed Unarmed Defensive Tactics (UDT) and Arrest & Control Tactics (ACT) systems used by a number of agencies. Circle 58 on Reader Service Card www.officer.com August 2013 Law Enforcement Technology 41