A More Court-Defensible Technique
In court, your actions are judged by citizens who have little or no law enforcement experience. You may be interested in securing a conviction, or you may be defending the actions of another officer. Either way, having a definable system of how officers are trained to watch the hands makes it easier to explain to a jury or a judge why you thought an offender was accessing a weapon.
It’s not enough to say, “I couldn’t see his hands.” You need to be able to explain to a jury what not seeing the subject’s hands meant. What were his hands doing? How did you interpret these movements and why? What actions were appropriate for that moment? If you can explain that the subject’s thumb and index finger moved toward the center of his body and his elbow moved away from the body, and that these movements are often indicative of weapon retrieval, the judge and jury can better understand your reasoning and actions.
Training Methods
One way to integrate this concept into training is to create scenarios that expose the trainee to subjects who make motions that are indicative of accessing a weapon. This approach allows the instructor to see how the trainee responds.
After the scenario, the instructor asks the trainee to articulate what movements the suspect made that caused her to believe the suspect was accessing a weapon. After the trainer determines the student can recognize weapon retrieval movements, the trainer evaluates the tactics and techniques the student used to neutralize the threat. An important element of this training is to encourage the student to verbalize her instructions to the subject. The student should also consider verbalizing the fact that she is concerned about the subject’s hand movements.
Use an Audio Recorder
I am a big advocate of officers using audio recorders. In almost all circumstances, they help in civil and criminal investigations. It is important to remember that recorders do not record what you do not say. I have never attended a defensive tactics training course that included activation of the recorder as part of the “real time” tactics training. Why not?
There have been numerous times when I have made statements to suspects because I was recording the contact and I wanted the person hearing that recording at a later date to understand what I was seeing. Make statements like, “I see that you are making a fist. Let’s not go there. You and I don’t need that kind of trouble.” Make these statements for the person, usually a supervisor, who will be conducting the use-of-force investigation if the situation deteriorates.
Imagine two officer-involved shootings, both captured on audio tape, where the actions of the suspect are identical. In the first shooting, you hear the officer struggle with the suspect and then the gunshots. In the second shooting, you hear the struggle, but this time the officer says, “Keep your hands away from your waist,” followed by, “Partner, he’s getting something!” and then gunshots. Which of these incidents is easier to defend in court, the media, and public perception?
Watching the Hands Can Save Your Life
Dr. Bill Lewinski of the highly respected Force Science Research Center co-authored a study with Dr. Joan Vickers titled “Gaze Control and Shooting Performance of Elite and Rookie Police Officers During a Force-on-Force Encounter.” Veteran officers who were studied directed thei
r attention to the suspect’s gun hand or arm. In other words, they were better at watching the suspect’s hands, especially the gun hand. This skill allowed them to perform at a higher level and to react to deadly encounters more efficiently and effectively than rookie officers. Effective hand watching can increase the likelihood of an officer surviving a lethal force encounter.
There is no foolproof method for knowing when a suspect is obtaining a weapon. You must use common sense and choose reasonable solutions to difficult problems. I have provided several techniques for how to tackle this important issue. By implementing these techniques, rookie and veteran officers can avoid becoming FBI statistics.
Mike “Ziggy” Siegfried is a detective, academy instructor, and use-of-force subject matter expert with the San Bernardino County (Calif.) Sheriff’s Department.
