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
Decision Making – Police officers have considerable decision making powers at their own discretion. This is true for low ranki...
Police Psychology: A New Specialty and New Challenges for Men and Women in Blue. Thomas, David J. 2011.
For this paper there are many current events in the united states and across the world that directly correlate with my literature I am reviewing. What I was chosen to research, or what my research question ended up being was. In what situation can a police officer use lethal or deadly force. There are many variables and situational characteristics that play into how police officers handle high risk violent encounters. for instance, some variables could be how the police officer was trained, public attitudes towards police officers, psychological makeup of the police officer, previous or current behaviors of the police officer, the police officer current mental state, also previous incidents with police officers having to use lethal or deadly force. This topic is very challenging because there is not as much
Police officers must be trained to shoot with precision; correspondingly, they must not solely be trained to shoot to kill, but also to shoot to simply harm. Once they are taught both ways, they must learn to assess their situation to conclude whether it requires the former or the latter. This is highly important for the reason that it can spare a life, and it easier to prosecute officers who failed to use proper protocol for shooting. Furthermore, this training helps to prevent discrimination against minority groups. Many officers target male minorities; however, when officers do sensitivity training and assess their situation, the officer can keep his fear at bay and civilians will be treated
This error goes for both you and the suspect one. When you are confronted with a suspect and are complacent you don’t watching the person like you are supposed to be doing and didn’t see his hands go in his pocket he can then pull out a weapon and kill you. But also you can ignoring the danger signs that you may be complacent and not know. People get so fixed in there routine that it becomes more of a subconscious thing because you are going through the motions every day not even think about what you are doing in till it’s too late and the guy you just asked for his paperwork pulled out a gun and got two rounds of on you. Most people are set on auto pilot, you get up go to work, at work you do the same thing you been doing for 10 years so you don’t even have to think about it you just do it, then you go home and wait till the morning to do it all over again. That routine is deadly in law enforcement because you should always be on your toes and thinking about what dangers are around you so you can at least see it coming and defend yourself from it to go home at the end of your
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 is when to use force or when to use lethal force. The use of excessive force may or not be a large predicament but should be viewed by both the police and the community.
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.
Any cop can tell you they have never had an incident where a person in their charge was hurt, but how can one know for sure whether or not the officer is telling the truth? Body cameras help to regulate the behavior of police officers. By having evidence of their day to day proclivities, offers have an incentive to behave a certain way when viewed. The camera acts as a psychological guide to help ensure the best performance and behavior from an officer. A case study was made to see how cameras affect the police officers psychologically which shows that, “People adhere to social norms and alter their behavior because of the awareness that someone else is watching.
Police brutality is a very real problem that many Americans face today. The police carry an enormous burden each day. Police work is very stressful and involves many violent and dangerous situations. In many confrontations the police are put in a position in which they may have to use force to control the situation. There are different levels of force and the situation dictates the level use most of the time. The police have very strict rules about police use force and the manner in which they use it. In this paper I will try to explain the many different reason the police cross the line, and the many different people that this type of behavior effects. There are thousands of reports each year of assaults and ill treatment against officers who use excessive force and violate the human rights of their victims. In some cases the police have injured and even killed people through the use of excessive force and brutal treatment. The use of excessive force is a criminal act and I will try and explore the many different factors involved in these situations.
Police stress is viewed as a structural problem that is amongst the police culture (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). The argument made is that the working environment causes the stress. Even though a police officers job is not as dangerous officers still determine the danger as a source of stress. Police stress can be split up in to three sources: occupation, job-related and external stress (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). Just the thought of the job gives officers stress. Job-related circumstances such as responding to calls can also create stress. Finally, external sources such as personal stress can all lead to an officer being highly
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
Recently in the United States there has been in increase in deaths that have come from police officers using deadly force. The use of force is inevitable as a police officer, many times their own lives or the life’s civilians are at risk when it comes to determine what type of force a officer should use. There are many incidents where police officer have to react in a matter of seconds and has to choose between his own life or that of the individual causing the disturbance. When a Police Officer uses deadly force has caused outraged with the public, stirring up protests and creating a scandal for the police officer and the Police Department. Many do not know when it is right for an officer to use deadly force and what constitutes it, or what happens when the officer does not use the appropriate amount of force that is required to control the situation. There has been many changes in Police Departments around the country to try to reduce the use of deadly force in response to the issues that have occurred because of it.
The use of discretion in the profession of law enforcement has shown to be an inevitable practice. Police officers routinely use their own beliefs and judgments to make critical decisions that include the life and liberty of the citizens in the community they serve in. Although discretion has both negative and positive sides to it, discretion is impossible to be eliminated from law enforcement. The best way to use discretion in a safe manner is to practice using discretion while on and off duty as well. While practicing discretion, officers should keep their own beliefs and prejudice to themselves and out of line of duty. When police officers are on duty, they must have knowledge of what is going on around them and eliminate discriminatory factors and use confidence to make a lawful
In many scenarios, police officers are not given enough time to make the rational decision between who lives and who dies. When a person’s survival is at risk, it is not uncommon for the body to enter fight or flight mode. Lindsey Betromen, author of the article “Responding with Fight or Flight” states, “The fight or flight syndrome
Since the inception of this niche in psychology, there has been a greater appreciation for the use of police psychological services. Now almost every police department has a separate psychology department with a number of psychologists working with its other employees. This specialized subset of psychology delivers a number of services to its employees, from assessing qualified applicants, counseling, to suspect profiling and providing expertise during hostage situations. The field has grown tremendously, especially over the last 40 years and has developed into its own sub-specialty with its own dedicated research, journals and professional organizations. During that time, there have been great strides made in developing this relationship betwe...