The Impact of Visual Complexity during Deadly Force Encounters
Sierra Genz
Truckee Meadows Community College
Officers are often faced with situations that can result in deadly force against an assailant. To better understand what goes on during a shooting we can look at the psychological principles that play an important role in the operation. The Tempe Study helps us better understand an officer’s trigger-pull reactions and human limitations in the course of lethal force. In the Tempe Study officers for Arizona Police Department were tested on their reaction time and the impact of visual complexity and simple decision making. The officers were tested on five different experiments; however, experiment number three and five will
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First, the experiment introduced a simple decision making element called the go/no go model. This meant that the officers were instructed to pull the trigger when all three lights came on in the cluster and not to pull the trigger when only two or none of the three lights came on. Since officers are usually under more demanding circumstances, the experiment added to complexity by introducing two other clusters of three light in a row with the original cluster of three lights. This meant that the possibilities of right and wrong trigger pulls were doubled because the officers were distracted with bursts of two lights until all three lights came on in a cluster. In the Impact of Visual Complexity, Decision Making and Anticipation, Hudson and Lewinski concluded that, “The time to start the trigger pull was 25/100ths of a second, with the actual trigger pull taking an additional 6/100ths of a second.” Indicating that 68% of officers were able to perceive process and react to the experiment in 69/100th of a second. Even though the reaction time was proved to be doubled, there is still an error factor that presented itself when simple decision making was introduced. Officers pulled the trigger when they shouldn’t have or the officers failed to pull the trigger when they should have and a small percent, who failed to react, responded to the stimuli only to have it go …show more content…
According to the Interaction Effects of Suspects Characteristics and Demeanor on Police Behavior, “Police attitudes are shaped by the perception of threats in their environment regardless of the actual risk.” This means that despite an officer’s training and experience, when placed in a situation where the environment is perceived dangerous by the officer; their adrenaline can cause them to believe a risk is present when in reality the encounter is low risk. The perception resulting from this adrenaline additionally clouds the judgment of decision making which influences the outcome of the trigger pull
Police Psychology: A New Specialty and New Challenges for Men and Women in Blue. Thomas, David J. 2011.
Decision Making – Police officers have considerable decision making powers at their own discretion. This is true for low ranki...
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Everyday law enforcement personal have the possibility to face dangerous events in their daily duties. In performing such duties a police officer could come by a seemingly ordinary task, and in a blink of an eye the event can turn threatening and possible deadly. When or if this happens to an officer they won’t have
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday, forcing them to make split second decisions and to expect the worst and hope for the best. Police officers are given the power to take any citizens rights away and even their lives. With that kind of power comes responsibility, that’s one major concern with the amount of discretion officers have when to use force or when to use lethal force.
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