By Lon Bartel and Matt Bloodgood
Editor’s note: New research identifies the challenges officers face as they transition between firearms, electronic control devices, and other force options during high-stress encounters. VirTra principal researcher and Force Science partnering instructor, Lon Bartel, along with Force Science graduate, Matt Bloodgood, highlight the critical role of transition training to improve public safety in this week’s Calibre Press newsletter.
When news headlines advise of another high-profile police shooting, communities understandably question why officers were required to use deadly force. There is no simple answer. Even where the shooting was consistent with legal requirements, human performance expectations, and the officer’s training, communities may still ask why officers couldn’t at least try non-lethal weapons and tactics. Of course the inverse is also true. Where officers are hurt or killed because they were unable to effectively transition from a TASER to a handgun, communities will be asking why.
Whether transitioning from a firearm to a non-lethal weapon or from a non-lethal weapon to a firearm, factors such as physical ability, perception of risk, available time, and the effectiveness of training always play a role. Here we focus on that last factor and argue that failure to effectively transition across force options should never result from ineffective training, or worse, no training at all. Unfortunately, research shows that is often the case.
Law enforcement officers face situations where they are required to rapidly transition between force options...
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