1.9 Scaling Force
1.10 The Final Note
SECTION 2: NEITHER HERE NOR THERE
2.1 Checks and Balances
2.2 Skills Taught at the Academy
Use of Force
Defensive Tactics
Firearms
Baton, OC, and Taser
Confrontational Simulations (ConSim)
2.3 Force Law for Civilians
SECTION 3: EXPERIENCE
3.1 Types of Officers
Eager Rookie
The Lop
Average Joes
Meat Eaters
Posers
Burnouts
On Burning Out
3.2 Concrete Thinkers: The Dilemma
3.3 Dark Moments: Will You Act?
3.4 What Constitutes a Lethal Threat?
3.5 Feelings, Pain, Damage, and Death
3.6 The Nightmare Threat
3.7 No More Mr. Nice Guy
3.8 Cultural Differences
3.9 Altered States of Mind
3.10 The Threshold
3.11 It’s an Integrated World
3.12 Abuse of Power and Excessive Force
Questionable Force
Excessive Force
Unnecessary Force
3.13 Feelings of Betrayal
3.14 Totalitarianism
3.15 Interview with Loren Christensen
SECTION 4: ABOUT YOU
4.1 What You Didn’t Know Before
4.2 Police Relationships with the Community
4.3 Dealing with an Officer
4.4 An Outside Perspective
THE HARD TRUTHS
GLOSSARY
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF FURTHER READING
Notes
Advance Praise for Force Decisions
I owe a debt of gratitude to a lot of people.
Loren Christensen, John Lupo, Jean Nichols, Sean Croft, Jim Sheeran, Lawdog MG, Eliel Hernandez, Frank Rodriguez (and the rest of the Pariah Dogs), Edward Raso, Jeff Gaynor, and George Mattson all graciously offered stories for this book. Be safe, all of you.
Most of them also helped with the manuscript, especially pointing out where I went off in my own private language. So did Rick Vogt, Melissa Williams, and Lawrence Kane. Good friends. Okay editors.
Donnla Nic Gearailt graciously offered to serve as a Subject Matter Expert on mental illness. Thank you.
That was about the book. The next is about me:
The officers who initially taught me Use of Force, especially Paul McRedmond (originator of the Three Golden Rules explained in section 1.2) and Ron Bishop, in my opinion, did an outstanding job. They had a truly encyclopedic knowledge of force policy and law, as well as deep experience with application.
Hundreds, if not thousands of officers and criminals over the years have also taught their particular lessons. We were not always friends, but I still thank them.
The indomitable Kami, wise and beautiful, who has held me when I bled or wanted to cry, has kept me sane through everything.
This one’s for Mac.
This book is a gift, a peace offering. It is an attempt to communicate across a vast gulf in culture and experience, the gulf that exists between the Law Enforcement community and those whom they protect.
Each day, media outlets all over the country describe events where officers use force. Often, the reporters and the citizens question the need for force at all or whether the type and amount of force used was really necessary. Citizens worry that their protectors—with badges, guns, clubs and Tasers®—are caught up in the rush of power, or perhaps giving vent to anger or bigotry.
The officers are frustrated too. Specialists in dealing with a world that is sometimes very dark and very violent, they feel scrutinized. They feel as if their actions are constantly under a microscope, judged by a populace without any experience or training in a very specialized field.
In this book, I want to show you how officers think about force, not only how we are trained to think of it, but also how experience shapes our beliefs and attitudes.
If you are one of the people who believe that officers are thugs and question each and every use of force, I don’t want to change you. Let me say that again: I don’t want to change you. Sometimes my job requires me to use force on behalf of society, on your behalf. That force should be subject to your scrutiny.
What I do want, if you have objections, is to have those objections based on facts and not emotion. Most people will have a negative reaction to any violence, and some problems (from child-raising to the boardroom to politics and medicine and…) simply don’t have an answer that makes everyone comfortable.
You know what you saw or read. You know how that made you feel. The final data that you need to back up your reasonable objections are knowledge of the rules—to understand thoroughly the legal and policy limits as well as the tactical considerations that the professionals understand.
There
