LAPD officer fatally shoots two people just 12 days apart

[Surf]

Live or die by the front sight. I heavily ingrain it and you will hear me saying it on the range. It is a whole entire topic on its own.

I also get the sling of crap that it gets from those who don't train it correctly or who may not understand the principles, logic and body response that accompanies a deadly force encounter and the focus needed to help counter these issues under stress. Those who cannot get past the "aiming" academy indoctrination aspect don't get the rest of the equation, so the context is often lost in the translation. Unfortunately many academy level instructors don't get it either and are often at fault for not understanding correct context and maybe leaving scars on students.

In addition to "front sight", I ingrain shooters to exhale on the press. Under stress they have usually gulped in air or at least start holding their breath, which can create some big issues. Exhaling on the press can be trained or ingrained similar as any response we drill into our subconscious. It forces them out of holding their breath, which is common under stress and gets them to "breathe" and allows for better or correct focal or focus shift. This initial breath and exhale calms and relaxes the mind and body. Being correctly oxygenated, relaxed mentally and physically helps us to focus on what we need to focus on and greatly increases first round accuracy under stress situations.

When I yell out "front sight" on the range it is a reminder to the student of the type of focus I am looking for under stress and a quick reminder to them. Of course there has been quite a bit of target focus, threat ID, focal shift, breath, grip and trigger press work that has been heavily trained already. Concepts discussed and then followed by practical exercise. So the student understands that "front sight" is just a reminder that they are generally threat focused, holding their breath, death gripping the gun creating all types of negative muscular tension and mashing the trigger. It is a reminder to get their head back into it and perform in the manner that we have been training. Threat focus / threat ID, breath out during press out, focal (focus) shift as we near extension, touch trigger, press, follow through.

[Dagga Boy]

What Surf said.....

[voodoo_man]

+1 nyeti and surf - this type stuff should be a sticky and discussed in every academy class and FoF.

The "old west" style stand off is utter bullshit. Yes it happens, but happens on the fly, as the situation develops is the most important part of this whole mess, especially for LE.

Situational awareness, fed directly from a solid understanding and implementation of Officer Safety is the key to survival, all the above developed through experience and mindset.

[0331king]

I hate to ask others to do my research for me but does anyone have a cite? I've read the same finding the past, would have sworn it was a study of southern CA shootings, but have not been able to find it since.

I too remember reading an article about the subject. I believe it was a study of the LAPD solely.

[SkiDevil]

I too remember reading an article about the subject. I believe it was a study of the LAPD solely.

Quote Originally Posted by John Hearne View Post
I hate to ask others to do my research for me but does anyone have a cite? I've read the same finding the past, would have sworn it was a study of southern CA shootings, but have not been able to find it since.

http://www.lapdonline.org/categorical_use_of_force

You may want to shoot Scotty Reitz an e-mail because I suspect that he could point you directly to that study.

http://internationaltactical.com/contact.html

[Rex G]

After my shooting in 1993, which was my first shooting, but the second fatal incident, I was acutely aware that no patrol officer*, where I worked, at that time, had continued to wear the uniform after killing three people. (My first fatal incident was an auto-pedestrian collision, which, based upon his actions, was a probable suicide-by-cop, which means I have likely "assisted" in two suicides, as my shooting incident was definitely a blue suicide, as he had already cut his own throat, but knew little about anatomy, attacking his trachea, rather than blood vessels.)

It did not help that my shooting incident had been portrayed, in a national magazine, as symptomatic of "mistakes" made by large police departments, describing my actions as something like awakening a sleeping homeless person, and then executing him. In actuality, he had cut his own throat, while alone, in a very public place, and then had fought with two responding officers, before my PPO and I had arrived on the scene. For some reason, I was selected, by the actor, as the officer who would have to respond with force, in response to an SL-20 held high, and a knife held low, chambered for a thrust. Well, I could have moved, but not knowing the exact location of my PPO, at that moment, and sensing some person standing to my right rear, I held my ground, as the actor approached.

Notably, the local news media did not get excited about the incident. Activists did not hit the streets. I am, however, featured on a dot com site that documents "civilians down," which is searchable, as is that article in a national magazine. I am not blessed with a common police officer's surname, such as Wilson; there is nowhere to hide, and if I do manage to hide, what about my family? (My surname is uncommon, even among French folks, being an obscure name from the Lorraine region, near the German border.)

I am still actively patrolling, and have "outed" where I work, in other forum posts, so I should not say much more. I have come very close to using deadly force, several more times, and have handled each incident without conscious thoughts of avoiding that "third" fatality. (It is, of course, good to avoid fatalities, period.) I have been very gratified when armed opponents have chosen not to resist. I can only hope that I can finish this twilight of my career with the good fortune of not having to apply deadly force again.

*SWAT and Narcotics officers have the benefit of (usually) remaining anonymous to the news media after using deadly force. Some of them have shot far more than three.

[iWander]

Video from the St Cloud mall attack and PO Falconer stopping the attacker.

https://youtu.be/0oRgKglQy0o

[Wendell]

Calgary police say it’s standard procedure when an officer fires their service weapon for them to be placed on a 30-day administrative leave. During that time, the officer undergoes an assessment with a psychologist to see if they are fit to return to duty. Rob McFadyen, acting inspector of the human resources operations section, said a committee then meets to discuss whether that officer can return to their current work area. “It’s a meeting with everyone involved that would essentially be able to identify any risk factors and just talk about a mitigation strategy if there was one,” said McFadyen. “Like is there a risk to place this person in a similar type of environment?” Calgary has seen nine police-involved shootings this year – a jump from three in 2015.
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-...r-back-on-duty

[Rex G]

Calgary police say it’s standard procedure when an officer fires their service weapon for them to be placed on a 30-day administrative leave. During that time, the officer undergoes an assessment with a psychologist to see if they are fit to return to duty. Rob McFadyen, acting inspector of the human resources operations section, said a committee then meets to discuss whether that officer can return to their current work area. “It’s a meeting with everyone involved that would essentially be able to identify any risk factors and just talk about a mitigation strategy if there was one,” said McFadyen. “Like is there a risk to place this person in a similar type of environment?” Calgary has seen nine police-involved shootings this year – a jump from three in 2015.
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-...r-back-on-duty

Thirty days? What happens when a large critical incident involves a substantial number of officers shooting one or more actors? Perhaps Calgary has ample staffing, bit that is a quite large amount of down time.

When that lawyer had that recent melt-down near the border of Houston and West University Place, a substantial portion of West U PD's personnel shot at the actor, as did a significant portion of HPD's Central Patrol day shift folks. I doubt either agency could afford thirty days' down time for each involved officer.

[MI Law]

Thirty days? What happens when a large critical incident involves a substantial number of officers shooting one or more actors? Perhaps Calgary has ample staffing, bit that is a quite large amount of down time.

When that lawyer had that recent melt-down near the border of Houston and West University Place, a substantial portion of West U PD's personnel shot at the actor, as did a significant portion of HPD's Central Patrol day shift folks. I doubt either agency could afford thirty days' down time for each involved officer.

We are on (paid) admin leave until the prosecutor's office says it was a righteous shooting. Last guy was 3 months. 3 months. Young, single, motivated police officer forced to sit at his house and rot while the prosecutor eventually gets to his case. We are in the same county as Detroit and our prosecutor is anything but quick to help the police. This shooting wasn't even controversial, a guy tried to kill a cop with a blunt instrument on video (100% on dash cam) and he was still forced to be off.