module 7

Question 1

line of duty decisions

Answer 1

• police officers will encounter critical incidents that cause a physiological stress response:
  
  • unpredictable
  • potentially uncontrollable
  • novel
  • time-pressured
  • sometimes life-or-death

Question 2

use of force: CCC 25(1)

Answer 2

• “everyone who is required or authorized by law to do anything in the administration or enforcement of the law
  
  • as a private person
  • as a peace officer or public officer
  • in aid of a peace officer or public officer
  • by virtue of his office
• if he acts on reasonable grounds, justified in doing what he is required or authorized to do and in using as much force as is necessary for that purpose

Question 3

use of force: CCC 25(4)

Answer 3

• a police officer “is justified in using force that is intended or is likely to cause death or grievous bodily harm to a person to be arrested, if:
  
  • the peace officer is proceeding lawfully to arrest, with or without warrant, the person to be arrested
  • the offence for which the person is to be arrested is one for which that person may be arrested without warrant
  • the person to be arrested takes flight to avoid arrest
  • the peace officer or other person using the force believes on reasonable grounds that the force is necessary for the purpose of protecting the peace officer, the person lawfully assisting the peace officer or any other person from imminent or future death or grievous bodily harm
  • the flight cannot be prevented by reasonable means in a less violent manner.”

Question 4

reasonableness standard

Answer 4

• this means that use of lethal force must be
  
  • proportionate to the threat the officer had reasonable grounds to believe they faced
  • necessary to protect themselves or others from death or grievous bodily harm
  • reasonable from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene (without hindsight bias b/c it is difficult after the fact)
  • allow for being forced to make a split-second decision regarding the amount of force necessary

Question 5

use of force options available

Answer 5

• gun
• taser
• baton
• pepper spray
• handcuffs
• own body (stroke/punches)

Question 6

use of force rates - study

Answer 6

• a longitudinal study of a large Canadian police service over 9 years found:
  
  • police responded to 24,605,000 incidents
  • 0.07% of police incidents involved use of force
  • there were 17,155 use of force incidents, during which 22,155 interventions were used
  • more often use of force is avoided in other ways such as verbal de-escalation, stance, way they present themselves or handle themselves

Question 7

percentage of each rate of force

Answer 7

• 1.2% discharge firearm
• 2.5% baton
• 14% conducted energy weapon
• 22.9% OC spray
• 22.7% takedown
• 1.5% vascular neck restraint
• 35.2% stuns/strikes

Question 8

national use of force model (Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police - 2000) basic principles

Answer 8

1. the primary responsibility of a peace officer is to preserve and protect life
2. the primary objective of any use of force is to ensure public safety
3. police officer safety is essential to public safety
4. the National Use of Force Framework does not replace or augment the law; the law speaks for itself
5. the National Use of Force Framework was constructed in consideration of (federal) statute law and current case law
6. the National Use of Force Framework is not intended to dictate policy to any agency

Question 9

considerations when assessing use of force - the situation

Answer 9

• the situations is made up of:
  
  • the environment (weather)
  • number of subjects (risk assessment; 1v1?)
  • perceived subjects’ abilities
  • knowledge of subject (previous runs ins, relationship)
  • time and distance
  • potential attack signs

Question 10

considerations when assessing use of force - subject behaviours

Answer 10

• very meaningful in decision making
• cooperative (impacted by emotional expression)
• resistant (Passive)
• resistant (Active)
• assaultive
• grievous bodily harm or death

Question 11

research of use of force decisions

Answer 11

• research has examined the impact of:
  
  • experience
  • officer characteristics (e.g. POST dimensions they have or don’t have)
  • stress response (e.g. Yerkes-Dodson Law)
  • training

Question 12

assessing the situation - experience

Answer 12

• expert/experienced officers tend to provide:
  
  • more concrete, intricate details of events
  • more explanations and predictions of what is happening or might occur
  • identify and process cures faster, allowing more timely development of
• results suggest differences between novice and expert police officers in speed with which they develop an understanding of situations to inform appropriate judgements

Question 13

decision making - experience

Answer 13

• decision-making and judgement of experienced individuals tends to be more:
  
  • effective
  • efficient
  • accurate

Question 14

cognitive process of decision making

Answer 14

• emotional reactivity to a particular stimulus provides information regarding how (not what) they are understanding and thinking about the stimulus
• thoughts are often automatic
• a person can start with emotionality and work backward to recognize thoughts
• situation → thoughts → emotions → behaviour

Question 15

emotion - experience

Answer 15

• compared to novice police officers, experienced police officers:
  
  • used more positively valenced language
  • used more low arousal language (stronger effect with action-decisions and with more rapid decision responses)
  • use higher dominance (control) language
• unfamiliar stimuli typically elicit more arousal and are perceived more negatively b/c repeated exposure allows for habituation of non-threatening stimuli

Question 16

recognition-primed decision-making

Answer 16

• under dynamic and complex circumstances, experienced decision-makers can quickly assess situations and draw on their schemas to evaluation options and determine the first workable solution
• resilient to stress and more adaptable to complex and dynamic situations b/c more policing experience is related to flexible decision-making, anticipation, cue recognition, and reduced use of force

Question 17

performance - experience

Answer 17

• police officers’ years of experience
  
  • NOT associated with performance metrics
  • IS associated with increased decision-making errors

Question 18

officer characteristics associated with increased use of force:

Answer 18

• lower education level
• impulsivity
• low tolerance for boredom
• overly sensitive to provocation
• rigidly authoritarian style
• ineffective coping
• cumulative stress

Question 19

police officers are more likely to use excessive force when they hold the following attitudes:

Answer 19

• belief that “real” police work consists of action-oriented enforcement
• belief that there are too many restrictions that prevent them from battling crime
• belief that only other patrol officers are qualified to evaluate excessive vs. necessary force
• belief that citizens will be hostile and exploitative if not “taught respect”

Question 20

threat response

Answer 20

• physiological response to perceived threats (aka fight or flight) that promotes survival by preparing physiologically and cognitively to adapt to demands of the situation
• the level of sympathetic nervous system response depends on the type of threat and the person’s perception of how severe the threat is

Question 21

the heroes-dodson law

Answer 21

• impact of SNS arousal on performance in not linear
• stress-induced deficits primarily affect cognitive functions
  
  1. perception
  2. attention
  3. decision-making
• motor functions can also be impacted
• rehearsed and automated skills influenced by stress response to lesser degree (overlearning) → are not things we need to process or make decisions about

Question 22

stress reactivity

Answer 22

• elevated stress reactivity observed during a training scenario (physiological measures)
• stress reactivity associated with perceptual and cognitive distortions:
  
  1. auto-pilot
  2. tunnel vision (blood flow to eye vessels restricted)
  3. heightened visual clarity
  4. diminished sound (auditory exclusions)

Question 23

stress reactivity x training

Answer 23

• no significant effect of training on physiological stress response and the perceptual and cognitive distortions (related to psychological response)
• police officers with higher levels of operational skills training demonstrated better performance

Question 24

performance

Answer 24

• training x experience x stress reactivity
• together explain approximately one quarter of the variance in performance
• affect performance if we continue with training and experience, but still a lot of other factors that explain the other 3/4

Question 25

lethal force errors

Answer 25

- errors can happen when people need to make decisions: 1. based on personal perceptions 2. in high-stress, time-pressured situations

Question 26

Baldwin et al. (2022) scenarios of errors

Answer 26

- 7.4% decision-making error - 16.4% mistake of fact error (e.g. mistake umbrella for a gun) - 4.1% both errors

Question 27

suicide by cop

Answer 27

- the police are compelled or manipulated into using lethal force, with the person involved having the intention of eliciting their own death - prevalence (US): approximately 10% of the annual officer-involved shootings (OIS)

Question 28

motivations for suicide by cop (!!!)

Answer 28

- don’t want to appear weak by dying by suicide - send a message to people who have hurt them - fear of attempting but not dying by suicide - religious norms against suicide - financial considerations (insurance plans will not cover suicide) - delusional motives (psychotic episodes) - ex-police officers realize that officers will need to use lethal force if they present with deadly force

Question 29

impact of suicide by cop

Answer 29

- officers involved often feel a sense of powerlessness and manipulation, especially stressful and demoralizing form of OIS - results in: anger, sadness, disappointment & self-criticism

Question 30

aftermath

Answer 30

1. use of force reporting 2. investigation by ASIRT or similar oversight body (if outside AB) when the interaction resulted in serious injury or death 3. Service response to the officer involved in a shooting will depend on the force but may include mandatory time off, meeting with a psychologist & reintegration