48 years ago this month the terribly tragic Newhall Incident occurred that resulted in the deaths of four young California highway patrolmen. Many l.e. persons recognize the event as the force that started a movement in revolutionizing the way that police officers are trained. Officer James Pence was one of the young men who lost his life. One erroneous statement about Officer Pence was published and then became part of a myth that took decades to correct. The erroneous fact is that investigators found empty brass inside this man's pocket. From this false report was born the myth that Officer Pence did pocket his brass during the gunfight with the implication that doing so caused him to be killed. Not true. Police trainer Mark Schraer is one author who has documented the truth in this matter. Old rumors die hard, though.
Then CHP officers trained with .38 Spl ammo but were issued .357 mag ammo. CHP's answer was to require issue of .38 spl ammo. One error made was how the 870 shotgun was handled. CHP revised this procedure too. After reading about the incident(this time), I concluded that had one of the two patrolman who first answered the call been armed with an AR-15, the Newhall Incident probably would have been prevented. I lack the knowledge to comment further. What I wrote does not begin to address how the incident has influenced training and procedures.