Course
Description:
This two-day, 12-hour
program was designed to enhance individual awareness and preparedness
salient to threat recognition within operational circumstances that are
exceptionally challenging, and often ambiguous. Accordingly, this program
was structured to address the influence of situational and behavioral cues
within the “totality of circumstances” model of deadly force justification.
The genesis of much of the research embedded in this program stems from
analysis of over thirty years of empirical police research, and
training-based observations spanning three decades. The subject matter in
this course has been structured to meet the needs of advanced police
trainers, OIS investigators, police administrators and prosecuting
attorneys.
Advanced Threat
Recognition and Deadly Force Justification Seminar
COURSE
OUTLINE:
I. Introduction
A.
Historical Overview of Threat ID Issues
B.
Contemporary Analysis
C.
Overview of Fundamental Problems
II. Situational
& Behavioral Threat Cues
A.
The “Totality of Circumstances” Model
B.
Perception & the Influence of Situational Context
C.
Interpreting Behavioral Cues Within Situational Context
III. Diminished
Lighting, Motion & Visual Acuity
A.
Visual Capabilities & Limitations
1.
Saccades & Visual Fixations
2.
Complications Attributable to Officer & Threat Movement
3.
The Limitations of Low-Light Visual Adaptation
B.
Operational Lighting & Threat Discrimination
1.
Light Levels Conducive to Reliable Threat ID
2.
Weapon-Mounted and Other Auxiliary Light Sources
3.
NVDs and Threat Discrimination Issues.
IV. Imminent
vs. Immediate Threats
A.
The “Must-Shoot” vs. “May Shoot” Dilemma
a.
The Immediate Threat Standard
b.
The Imminent Threat Standard
B.
The Operational Elasticity of Imminent Threat Identification
a.
Interpreting Behavioral Compliance
b.
Defining & Identifying Actionable Non-Compliance
c. Establishing
a Hierarchy of Actionable Behavioral Threat Cues
d.
Defining “Death by Defiance”
V.
The “Split-Second Syndrome” & “Officer Created Jeopardy”
A.
The Genesis & Interpretation of the “Split Second Syndrome”
B.
Tactical Implications Derived from “Officer Created Jeopardy”
VI. After-Action
Use of Force Reporting & Analysis
A.
Identifying Critical Incident Variables
B.
Structuring Self-Reporting Mechanisms for Officers
C.
Identifying Problems for Disciplinary Review
D.
Using Data to Critique & Modify Future Training
VII. Training
Considerations & Implications
A.
Inculcate Interpretive Experiential Lessons Within “Gray Area” Scenarios
B.
Debriefings Identify All Situational & Micro Behavioral Cues
C.
DF
Justification Based Entirely Upon the
Substance of Training Debrief
D.
Using Structured Scenarios for Behavioral Research
VIII. Summary
& Open Discussion
Course Instructor:
Thomas J. Aveni, MSFP
Mr. Aveni has been a career law enforcement officer, having served on the
local and state levels in three states (NJ, UT, NH). His police career began
in 1978, and he has served as a police trainer since 1983. From 1990 to 2001
Tom served as a police "Training Coordinator" with the once prestigious
Smith & Wesson Academy. There he was instrumental in training over 12,000
police and military personnel from across the United States and 23 other
countries.
Mr. Aveni achieved his undergraduate degrees in Criminal Justice while
minoring in psychology. At the graduate level Tom migrated toward Clinical
Psychology when he began looking more closely at the perceptual and
cognitive issues salient to police applications of deadly force. He received
his Master’s Degree in Forensic Psychology from American International
College, Springfield, MA.
Since 1995, Mr. Aveni's police training focus became oriented toward
researching so-called “questionable” police shootings. These shootings
routinely involve suspects who were unarmed and non-assaultive when shot by
police. Previous studies had suggested that 25-43% of police shootings are
of unarmed suspects. In this pursuit, Tom also examined the influence of
behavioral and contextual cues that heavily influence an officer's
inclination to use deadly force. His acclaimed and ground-breaking
experimental research within this realm
("A
Critical Analysis of the Police Use of Deadly Force Under Ambiguous
Circumstances.") has just been published and can be freely
accessed as a PDF file.
Please Note:
All applications, tuition or POs must be
received prior to the beginning of class. Tuition includes a comprehensive
classroom manual and related classroom materials.
Eligibility:
Eligible candidates for this program
are members of the police, corrections, military and security communities.
ALL applicants MUST provide credentials of their affiliation with an
accredited law enforcement, corrections, military or security organization
for acceptance into this program.
Refund Policy:
Refunds are allowable provided that
customers comply with the following stipulations:
-
100% refund: permissible if course
withdrawal is no less than 30 days of the starting date of the course
you've enrolled in.
-
50% refund: is afforded if withdrawal is
requested within 30 days of your course starting date, but not less than
7 days of that starting date.
Exceptional Circumstances Refund:
May be granted if the above
stipulations are not met, but when emergency circumstances (i.e.,
professional or personal) might apply. These will be judged for merit on an
individual basis.
Copyright 2011 The Police Policy Studies Council. All
Rights Reserved.