"Engineering Resilience" Into Split-Second Shoot/No Shoot Decisions: The Effect of Muzzle-Position. (June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Taylor, Paul L.
• Is Part Of: Police quarterly. Volume 24:Number 2(2021)
• Page Start: 185
• Page End: 204
• Publication Date: 2021-06
• Subjects: police -- deadly force -- resilience engineering -- human performance -- system safety; Police -- Periodicals; Law enforcement -- Periodicals; Police -- Périodiques; Lois -- Application -- Périodiques; 363.2
• DOI: 10.1177/1098611120960688
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1098-6111

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility of engineering resilience into the split-second decision environment police officers face during potential deadly force encounters. Using a randomized controlled experiment that incorporated a police firearms training simulator and 313 active law enforcement officers, this study examined the effects of muzzle-position – where an officer points their weapon – on both officer response time to legitimate threats and the likelihood for misdiagnosis shooting errors when no threat was present. The results demonstrate that officers can significantly improve shoot/no-shoot decision-making without sacrificing a significant amount of time by taking a lower muzzle-position when they are dealing with an ambiguously armed person – a person whose hands are not visible.