Latitude in deadly force training

Progress or problem

Bibliographic Data

ID21178024
AuthorsGregory Morrison (Ball State University, corresponding author), Gregory B Morrison, Timothy K Garner (Cook County Sheriff's Office)
Year2011
Volume12
Issue4
Pages341-361
Publication date2011-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolice Practice and Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1561-4263 • E-ISSN: 1477-271X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/15614263.2011.563968
OpenAlexW2074082471
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited19

Several decades before police use of deadly force emerged as an area of scholarly inquiry, US police began developing handgun training and certification programs that were focused narrowly on marksmanship proficiency. Important characteristics associated with contemporary training approaches, such as tactics for high-risk encounters and judgment in using deadly force, were not prevalent before the 1990s. Entities external to the police academies and departments that provide this training – such as training commissions, accrediting bodies, professional associations and the federal courts – have had important impacts upon the content and delivery of this training. Most of this influence has been relatively recent, however, and the literature reveals the broad latitude that police exercise in the nature and extent of deadly force training that today subsumes handgun training. Highlighting key findings from that literature, we critically examine the highly differential approaches used by US police. This latitude is problematic in that it accommodates all but the most vacuous approaches and thus poses serious questions about police performance in high-risk encounters where officers reasonably may use or threaten to use deadly force. This is a critical matter nationally, which leads us to propose a new research and evaluation agenda focused on generating meaningful empirical information for use by decision-makers responsible for policy and practice. The goal of such future efforts would be to maximize the safety, appropriateness and effectiveness of police action during high-risk encounters, some of which will involve the use or threatened use of deadly force

Best practice · Certification · Criminology · Deadly force · Geography · Political science · Public relations · Use of force · Gun Ownership and Violence Research · Law · Policing Practices and Perceptions · Psychology · Traumatic Ocular and Foreign Body Injuries

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