No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.14.15/223 - Release Date: 1/6/2006
From Force Science Research Center:
Force Science News #35
January 3, 2006
=======================================
The Force Science News is provided by The Force Science Research Center,
a non-profit institution based at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Subscriptions are free and sent via e-mail. To register for your free,
direct-delivery subscription, please visit forcesciencenews.com and
click on the registration button. For reprint clearance, please e-mail:
[email protected].
=======================================
IN THIS ISSUE:
I.SHOULD TROUBLED OFFICERS TAKE ANTIDEPRESSANT MEDICATION?
II. FSRC RESEARCH AMONG LATEST INFO ON FORCE ENCOUNTERS FEATURED IN NEW
AELE WORKSHOP
III. MORE FEEDBACK ON IACP'S REPORT ON HOW TO DEAL WITH SUICIDE BOMBERS
=============
I.SHOULD TROUBLED OFFICERS TAKE ANTIDEPRESSANT MEDICATION?
Are antidepressants dangerous medications for cops?
That question was raised recently on the listserv for the IACP's
Psychological Services Section. A psych professional from south Florida
reported noticing of late "a marked increase in police officers being
prescribed" antidepressants, known pharmacologically as SSRIs (selective
serotonin reuptake inhibitors). These include common brand-name drugs
such as Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Luvoc and Lexapro.
The staffer was curious about the possible negative effects of SSRIs on
an officer's reaction time.
Other respondents, in effect, told him to rest easy. "Little evidence
supports a SSRI problem," wrote a PhD from Louisiana, who cited studies
in the journal Psychopharmacology for Apr. 2001 and Jan. 2002. "Also
recall," this correspondent suggested, "that untreated, emotionally
impaired officers may also have a reaction-time risk."
A police psychologist from Colorado noted that he used to treat airline
pilots who were depressed but could not take antidepressants because
they would not be allowed to fly if they did. "I always thought this was
odd," he wrote, "since I would rather have a depressed pilot on an SSRI
who was feeling good than have a depressed pilot not taking anything and
feeling lousy. I feel the same about police."
Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of the Force Science Research
Center at Minnesota State University-Mankato, emphatically agrees. A
specialist in law enforcement psychology for more than 30 years,
Lewinski is an internationally recognized expert in police reaction
times in lethal force encounters.
"Most of the time that's required for you to react to a threat is taken
up with perceiving the danger, processing that information, deciding
what to do and then sending commands from your brain to your body to
react," Lewinski explains. "The actual mechanical action of pulling a
trigger to defend yourself requires only 6/100 of a second, a very
minute portion of overall reaction time.
"The 'front end' of reacting, so to speak, depends on your ability to
pay attention to what's going on around you so you pick up danger cues.
If you're not or can't be attentive because of your emotional state, the
rest is irrelevant.
"If you're depressed you are preoccupied with your own suffering, your
own bleak view of the world. You're focused inward, not focused on
what's important 'out there' in the environment around you.
"Any effect on reaction time by antidepressant medication is miniscule
compared to the profound impairment of cognition, information processing
and survival-oriented decision-making caused by untreated depression."
The case of a Midwestern officer who shot and killed an assailant and
who was himself slightly injured in a gunfight serves as a dramatic
illustration. This officer's reactions were so blunted by untreated
post-traumatic depression that he had difficulty even tracking radio
calls. "By the time he tuned in to a dispatch, the message was almost
over," says a therapist who knew him. "He'd ask the dispatcher to
repeat, fully
determined to pay close attention to what was said, but he couldn't
remember long enough after hearing the words to write them down. You can
imagine how unprepared he was for any tactical challenges."
"You shouldn't even be working if you have a seriously depressed frame
of mind," Lewinski declares. "Yet many officers won't seek help for
depression, either with medication or through counseling, because
they're afraid they'll be stigmatized for getting psychological aid.
Instead, they compromise their safety and effectiveness by trying to
tough it out."
Depression can arise from a number of causes, including your life
experiences, your body chemistry, mental illness and post-traumatic
stress disorder. Lewinski advises that if you have any lasting symptoms
from the following list, it would be wise to seek professional
investigation and help:
--Persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" mood
--Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism
--Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness
--Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that were
once enjoyed, including sex
--Decreased energy, fatigue, being "slowed down"
--Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions
--Insomnia, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping
--Appetite and/or weight loss or overeating and weight gain
--Thoughts of death or suicide; suicide attempts
--Restlessness, irritability
--Persistent physical symptoms that do not respond to treatment, such as
headaches, digestive disorders, and chronic pain.
"Ironically," Lewinski says, "when a depressed officer knows he is
responding to a high-risk call, the adrenalin surge will tend to
counteract the effect of his depression and his judgment, alertness and
reaction time may well be appropriately sharp for the situation.
"But on seemingly 'routine' calls, such as 'ordinary' traffic stops, the
depression will dominate his mental state and significantly affect his
sixth sense and tactical awareness, making it more difficult for him to
perceive an evolving threat. He'll be way behind the reactionary curve
and detect any danger cues too late. And we know that most officers die
not on known high-risk calls but in common patrol situations that appear
benign at
the outset."
Lewinski strongly advocates combining antidepressant medication with
psychological therapy and a self-administered program of positive
self-talk, such as described in the popular police text "The Tactical
Edge". "The combination of medication, therapy and your own positive
belief system can have a powerful impact on your survival," he says.
The effects of antidepressant medication vary from individual to
individual, and in a small minority of cases SSRI drugs may not work at
all, Lewinski told Force Science News. It may take some experimentation
for a physician to find the right drug and dosage for you. "Once you
find a helpful medication with minimal personal side effects, the better
you'll operate on the street and in life," Lewinski says. "If you feel
better, you're going to be more attentive...and much safer."
[Thanks to Force Science News member Wayne Schmidt, executive director
of Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, for bringing this subject to
our attention.]
=====
II. FSRC RESEARCH AMONG LATEST INFO ON FORCE ENCOUNTERS FEATURED IN NEW
AELE WORKSHOP
Three representatives of the Force Science Research Center will be among
the instructors for a new, annual use-of-force training seminar that
debuts next month in Las Vegas, NV.
Sponsored by the nonprofit Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, the
police legal support organization, the "Lethal and Less-Lethal Force"
workshop will feature the latest legal, psychological and physical
developments regarding officer-involved force encounters.
The program will run from Feb. 13-15 and is especially recommended for LE
command staff, city and county attorneys, police legal advisors and risk
managers.
Eight nationally known instructors will present up-to-the-minute content
on the legal, political and practical aspects of today's most urgent
force issues, including:
--Case law analysis of lethal and less-lethal force liability, and the
current legal standards for force application;
--Psychology of combat and the dynamics of violent encounters, drawn
from research of hundreds of officer-involved shootings;
--Important psychological factors, including perceptual and memory
distortions, that need to be accommodated when conducting reliable
investigations of lethal encounters;
--FSRC's latest ground-breaking findings on the critical human dynamics
of armed confrontations, including "demystification" of controversial
shots in the suspect's back during a frontal attack;
--Most current Taser policy, procedures and research, and how to "tame
the media frenzy" when Taser and other force applications are questioned;
--Revelations of medical research into sudden and in-custody deaths,
plus "defenses to the legal onslaught;"
--Implications of using less-lethal force in suicide-by-cop and EDP
situations, with relevant case studies dissected;
--Emerging models for use-of-force continuum redesign, including where
to place various tools and tactics on the force scale and how best to
use the continuum in court;
--Policies, procedures, training, successes and abuses of a wide range
of deadly and less-lethal devices, techniques and strategies;
--Aftermath of force applications, including investigative strategies
and legal implications of internal vs. review board vs. criminal
investigations.
On the faculty from FSRC will be executive director Dr. Bill Lewinski,
one of the world's leading researchers into life-threatening
officer-suspect confrontations; Dr. Alexis Artwohl, a foremost police
psychologist, co-author of the book, "Deadly Force Encounters" and a
principal in the Survival Triangle Training organization; and Charles
Remsberg, author of 3 popular books on officer safety and a senior
correspondent for PoliceOne.com. Artwohl and Remsberg are members of
FSRC's National Advisory Board.
Other faculty members are: Michael Brave, president of LAAW
International and a former intelligence and investigative operations
chief for the Justice Dept., with extensive experience as a police
defense attorney and litigation consultant; Jeff Chudwin, chief of a
Chicago-area PD, former prosecutor, president of the Illinois Tactical
Officers Assn. and a widely recognized expert in high-level use-of-force
incidents; Ken Katsaris, regional academy instructor, former sheriff,
and a popular expert witness and litigation consultant, with experience
in all 50 states; Capt. Greg Meyer of the Los Angeles Police Academy, a
specialist in policy, training, equipment, tactics and supervision, with
a focus on reducing injuries in force encounters; and Dr. John Peters,
president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths,
former LEO and administrator, and creator of numerous books, articles
and informational videos on force issues.
For more information or for registration, contact the AELE Law
Enforcement Legal Center at 800-763-2802 or visit the AELE website at
www.aele.org.
========
III. MORE FEEDBACK ON IACP'S REPORT ON HOW TO DEAL WITH SUICIDE BOMBERS
We continue to get email responses from Force Science News readers
regarding our 2-part series on the recommendations of an IACP consultant
about how to deal with suspected homicide/suicide bombers.
[You can read Force Science News #26 and #27 in the Force Science News
archives when you click "View All" at this location:
[
http://www.forcesciencenews.com/home/search.html ]
Tactical team commander Patrick Flannelly, with the Lafayette (IN) PD
writes:
It is disturbing to see the feedback from so many people who indicate
that "most" of their officers are not prepared to take a well-aimed,
directed [head] shot. My question then becomes, "What will you want your
officers to do if they are presented with a suicidal bomber?" The best
shooters in the world might miss this shot under extreme duress. Does
that mean we tell them not to take the shot because they might miss?
If we train our officers to maximize their skills and prepare them to be
accountable for the oath they swore then in the end that is really all
we can ask. Imagine what might have become of the flight [on 9/11] that
crashed in the middle of a Pennsylvania field if some of the passengers
had not been bold enough to make a decision and then act on it.
Dep. Tom Robbins, Carver County (MN) S.O., with 20 years' SWAT
experience, notes:
As terrorism continues in this country--and it will--law enforcement is
going to have to rethink the way we do business.
With proper training and indoctrination, I think we can show law
enforcement that it is necessary to hit terrorism hard and head-on. The
public is another matter. The public wants us to protect them, but they
do not want to know what we have to do to accomplish that mission. The
level of violence required to deal with violent people is very
unsettling to most people.
The first officer to make the decision to kill a terrorist without
warning before he can kill innocent people will be crucified. Everything
about that incident will be questioned: Where did the officer get the
information? How reliable is it? Why didn't the officer give the
terrorist a chance to surrender? Why couldn't he have used some other
tactic to disarm him? And on and on.
What will change public perception? Terrorism. When we are dealing with
terrorist activity on a monthly or weekly basis, when bus stations are
being blown up and children are being murdered in their classrooms, the
public will demand that we deal with terrorists quickly and effectively.
Unfortunately people need to get scared before they will accept a change
in our response.
================
(c) 2006: Force Science Research Center, www.forcescience.org. Reprints
allowed by request. For reprint clearance, please e-mail:
[email protected]. FORCE SCIENCE is a registered trademark of
The Force Science Research Center, a non-profit organization based at
Minnesota State University, Mankato.
================
--
Stephen P. Wenger
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
