Policing Advance Access originally published online on September 24, 2007
Policing 2007 1(3):273-283; doi:10.1093/police/pam046
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press.
Critical Decision Making by Police Firearms Officers: A Review of Officer Perception, Response, and Reaction
* Director, Critical Intervention Consultancy Services Ltd E-mail: ColinBurrows@aol.com
Colin Burrows retired from the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2002, having completed over 31 years of police service. He was awarded the Queens Police Medal in 1991. Throughout much of his police service, he worked closely with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), developing concepts and procedures related to the policing of ‘critical incidents’. In 1992, Colin gained a Master of Philosophy degree with a thesis entitled ‘The Use of Lethal Force by Police’. Upon his retirement, Colin was appointed by ACPO as a Specialist Advisor to the United Kingdom's co-ordinated programme on the development of less lethal weapons and the management of conflict. In this article, he explores issues associated with an officer's reactions to a perceived imminent threat to their life or of those they are seeking to protect. Issues of subjective decision making under stress, perception, and legality are explored.
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
 |
Introduction |
|---|
Much has been written about legal provisions in relation to the police use of force and firearms by academics and police professionals. Similarly, there have been post-incident investigations and operational reviews on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and oversight bodies. These have tended to review legislation, case law, human rights implications, policy issues, and tactical response. I have been a party to, and author of, a number of such reviews.
The focus of this article is on issues associated with officers' response and reactions in the face of a perceived imminent threat to their lives or of those they are seeking to protect. Issues of subjective decision making under stress, perception and legality are explored. It based on shared experiences and accounts provided by officers who have been involved in life-threatening encounters, including many where fatalities have occurred. For reasons of confidentiality I have refrained from
|
The shooting experience |
|---|
|
The emergence of the reconstructed reality |
|---|
|
A citizen in uniform? |
|---|
|
The courts |
|---|
|
Less lethal options and increased complexity of decision making |
|---|
|
Perceptual ambiguities in life-threatening encounters |
|---|
|
Conclusion |
|---|
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  B. Rappert Continuing the Discussion on Use of Force, Issue 3 * Policing & the Use of Force: Less-lethal Weapons Policing, January 1, 2007; 1(4): 472 - 484. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|