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When I worked uniformed patrol, I carried my taser in a support-hand draw configuration. I made it a point to only draw and use it with my support hand. My rationale was that 1) it would keep my dominant hand free to draw firearm if needed and 2) it would ensure I never confused the two in a high stress situation
I'll bet we never see a training record. They'll settle this mess before the wheels stop turning.Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleLebowski
How much in-service training cops get varies widely from department to department and state to state. And year to year depending on staffing and the budget.
That officer probably received the annual re-certification that Axon requires.
Does anybody here know what kind of training the State of Minnesota requires for an officer to maintain their certification?
In general I’m skeptical of mandates from big government but I also know some village boards and city councils don’t want to spend money on training the cops, and having a clear requirement from the State for training in certain areas might be the only way to be relatively certain that such training is conducted.
And then you still have a quality control problem, and a potential and common problem of supervisory or management level people trying to get out of training because they’re “too busy” (when in actuality their skills have eroded or weren’t there in the first place, and they don’t want the line officers to see)
Not my lane, never doing this but as a psychologist, just some speculations.
1. Might yelling Taser, Taser - convince yourself, you have a taser? Might seem silly but the yelling diverts cognitive resources.
2. Why not promote dry fire - at training, at home? Yell, taser, draw - dry fire. Hook the yell to that motor move.
3. Unconscious competence and automaticity. Several have mention that the draw for the gun is programmed as automatic as one reaches a level of unconscious competence. The built in motor program overrides more cognitive and slower processes. Thus, under stress and threat - the motor/fear subcortical systems are activated independent of what you thought you were doing. Not a unique idea to me and mentioned above.
The Psychology of Police Deadly Force Encounters - Laurence Miller - has a good review of such things leading to such controversial issues as failing to stop shooting, too many rounds, in the back, etc - has consequences of motor programs being in physical control as compared to more deliberate cognitive processes.
I don’t know the answer to this. Maybe we’ll find out in the coming days.
Did Officer Potter spend her entire career on patrol or did she spend time as a school resource officer or some other assignment?
Skills can erode quickly, and if you’re not working patrol for an extended period it would take a while to knock the rust off and get up to speed again.
When I was working uniformed patrol with a taser, I not only practiced this, but also carried the taser in a Serpa (IMO-the only good use for a serpa) and the sidearm in a Safariland 6360.....two totally different presentations.Quote:
Originally Posted by RJflyer
And just because somebody had received training does not mean that they will necessarily perform properly under stress. Some people don’t get “it” regardless of how much training they get
In America, a hundred times a day, cops get into this exact same situation - - trying to arrest somebody, who is resisting, standing next to the driver’s door of a car.
A hundred times a day, nobody gets shot. They might sprayed with pepper spray or tased or hit with a baton, but mostly what happens is the cops take the guy to the ground and wrestle around with them until they get the handcuffs on.
The first point of major fail in this incident is Officer Potter running up with her gun drawn. The proper response would have been to help her partner take the guy to the ground. The rookie she was training could have handcuffed the guy.
Did she no longer know what to do in this situation because she had been off the street too long, or did she never know?
Help me out here, please, I can't find the video you are referring to. The only video I saw shows the officer walking up to the incident with her hands empty, pause and watch for a moment, then approach when the struggle ensues and draw gun while meaning to draw Taser. I have been discussing this incident for training purposes in an academy class and want to be sure I am not missing something. Could you direct me to the video that depicts what you describe? Also, I know she "is" reportedly an FTO but am unaware if she had a trainee at the time. Was one of the guys in the last part of the BWC video a trainee?Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff22
Thanks
No sir, you didn’t miss anything. I didn’t express myself well and that’s my fault.
I believe the third officer who was there was a trainee. Depending upon where they are in the training process, in a situation they can be useful or they can get in the way because they aren’t sure what to do.
When the first officer wasn’t able to get control of Wright (and I’m NOT being critical — if you’re facing an adult male who is determined to resist or escape, you either have to escalate force quickly to OC or baton or taser or have another officer or two help if you’re going to try to use empty hands control) she should’ve assisted OR it was time to back out if there.
If the vehicle is capable of being out in motion, the cop is at risk of being run over. If you’re inside the arc if the open door, if they back up they can clobber your with the door. It isn’t a good idea to reach into a vehicle to try to turn the ignition off or undo a seatbelt because you run the risk of being dragged.
I’m not sure in this case if the issue was that Officer Potter failed to transition from Glock to taser (which is hard to do under stress even if you practice) or if she meant to grab the Taser and ended up with a Glock instead (because that’s what she had practiced more frequently or recently). The more I watch that film clip, the more I think it is the latter.