Yesterday I posted on my social media networks a video titled, ” Hollywood vs Reality: Officer-involved Shootings“. This video is a great breakdown on deadly force, how it happens, the mindset of the officer versus the reaction of the aggressor, the post incident breakdown and how it is arm chair quarterbacked. There are several questions that are answered that we are very familiar with such as, “Why didn’t the officer shoot the weapon or the aggressor’s hand instead of killing him.
In my previous life as a Trooper I have always come to understand that given a specific situation, individuals respond to and elevate up the force continuum based on training, experience and sometimes gender. Veteran officers tend to act differently than a rookie would or other Troopers with less experience Female Troopers tended to see or view the same scenario even further differently. I was always taught and remembered one phrase, “Fear is in the eyes of the victim, not yours.” That said each of us will gauge things differently in these life or death situations. There are many factors that play into how quickly or delayed our response is.
The video directly applies to us, how we respond to those shoot-no-shoot scenarios. I am going to replace the tradional BPI Security blog with this video to help everyone understand this very vital piece of what we may have to be involved in. Keep in mind, that when it comes to sworn officers and us in the private sector, we will face more scrutiny in the end.
2 comments
William Provence
April 22, 2012 at 1:49 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thanks Eric, It was a great video. I’ve gpt 23 years so far with Dallas County. I’ve had to pull my weapon several times but so far that is as far as it went. I’m not sure what stopped it but I’m sure glad it did. Thanks for your Blog and comments……Bill
Eric Konohia
April 23, 2012 at 6:39 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Bill
I understand the shoes you are in. I also have very close friends who do the same in Texas and they have had to make the ultimate decision. One of them on more than one occasion. As you and I know, we are trained to make that decision but when that time comes there are other related and non related factors that flash before we decide to shoot or not