The local gun range sent this out to it members. The owner received this info in an e-mail from a LE friend so I copied and pasted here for all to read.
It's d**n good info to be aware of: :gah:
New findings from FBI about cop attackers & their weapons
New findings on how offenders train with, carry and deploy the weapons they use to attack police officers have emerged in a just-published, 5-year study by the FBI.
Among other things, the data reveal that most would-be cop killers:
--show signs of being armed that officers miss;
--have more experience using deadly force in "street combat" than their intended victims;
--practice with firearms more often and shoot more accurately;
--have no hesitation whatsoever about pulling the trigger. "If you hesitate," one told the study's researchers, "you're dead. You have the instinct or you don't. If you don't, you're in trouble on the street.."
These and other weapons-related findings comprise one chapter in a 180-page research summary called "Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation's Law Enforcement Officers." The study is the third in a series of long investigations into fatal and nonfatal attacks on POs by the FBI team of Dr. Anthony Pinizzotto, clinical forensic psychologist, and Ed Davis, criminal investigative instructor, both with the Bureau's Behavioral Science Unit, and Charles Miller III, coordinator of the LEOs Killed and Assaulted program.
"Violent Encounters" also reports in detail
on the personal characteristics of attacked
officers and their assaulters, the role of
perception in life-threatening confrontations,
the myths of memory that can hamper OIS
investigations, the suicide-by-cop
phenomenon, current training issues,
and other matters relevant to officer
survival. (Force Science News and our
strategic partner PoliceOne.com will be
reporting on more findings from this
landmark study in future transmissions.)
Commenting on the broad-based study,
Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of
the Force Science Research Center at
Minnesota State University-Mankato, called
it "very challenging and insightful--
important work that only a handful of gifted
and experienced researchers could
accomplish."
From a pool of more than 800 incidents,
the researchers selected 40, involving
43 offenders (13 of them admitted
gangbangers-drug traffickers) and
50 officers, for in-depth exploration.
They visited crime scenes and extensively
interviewed surviving officers and
attackers alike, most of the latter in
prison.
Here are highlights of what they learned
about weapon selection, familiarity,
transport and use by criminals attempting
to murder cops, a small portion of the
overall research:
Weapon Choice
Predominately handguns were used in the
assaults on officers and all but one were
obtained illegally, usually in street
transactions or in thefts. In contrast
to media myth, none of the firearms in
the study was obtained from gun shows.
What was available "was the overriding
factor in weapon choice," the report
says. Only 1 offender hand-picked a
particular gun "because he felt it would do
the most damage to a human being."
Researcher Davis , in a presentation and
discussion for the International Assn. of
Chiefs of Police, noted that none of the
attackers interviewed was "hindered by any
law--federal, state or local--that has ever
been established to prevent gun ownership.
They just laughed at gun laws."
Familiarity
Several of the offenders began regularly
to carry weapons when they were 9 to 12
years old, although the average age was
17 when they first started packing "most
of the time." Gang members especially
started young. Nearly 40% of the offenders
had some type of formal firearms training,
primarily from the military. More than
80% "regularly practiced with handguns,
averaging 23 practice sessions a year,"
the study reports, usually in informal
settings like trash dumps, rural woods,
back yards and "street corners in known
drug-trafficking areas."
One spoke of being motivated to improve
his gun skills by his belief that officers
"go to the range two, three times a week
[and] practice arms so they can hit
anything."
In reality, victim officers in the study
averaged just 14 hours of sidearm training
and 2.5 qualifications per year. Only 6 of
the 50 officers reported practicing
regularly with handguns apart from what
their department required, and that was
mostly in competitive shooting. Overall,
the offenders practiced more often than the
officers they assaulted, and this "may have
helped increase [their] marksmanship
skills," the study says.
The offender quoted above about his practice
motivation, for example, fired 12 rounds
at an officer, striking him 3 times. The
officer fired 7 rounds, all misses.
More than 40% of the offenders had been
involved in actual shooting confrontations
before they feloniously assaulted an
officer. Ten of these "street combat
veterans," all from "inner-city,
drug-trafficking environments," had taken
part in 5 or more "criminal firefight
experiences" in their lifetime.
One reported that he was 14 when he was
first shot on the street, "about 18 before a cop shot me." Another said getting shot was a pivotal experience "because I made up my mind no one was gonna shoot me again."
Again in contrast, only 8 of the 50
LEO victims had participated in a prior
shooting; 1 had been involved in 2
previously, another in 3. Seven of the 8
had killed offenders.
Concealment
The offenders said they most often hid guns
on their person in the front waistband,
with the groin area and the small of the
back nearly tied for second place. Some
occasionally gave their weapons to another
person to carry, "most often a female
companion." None regularly used a holster,
and about 40% at least sometimes carried
a backup weapon.
In motor vehicles, they most often kept
their firearm readily available on their
person, or, less often, under the seat.
In residences, most stashed their weapon
under a pillow, on a nightstand, under the
mattress--somewhere within immediate
reach while in bed.
Almost all carried when on the move and
strong majorities did so when socializing,
committing crimes or being at home. About
one-third brought weapons with them to work.
Interestingly, the offenders in this study
more commonly admitted having guns under
all these circumstances than did offenders
interviewed in the researchers' earlier 2
surveys, conducted in the 1980s and '90s.
According to Davis , "Male offenders said
time and time again that female officers
tend to search them more thoroughly than
male officers. In prison, most of the
offenders were more afraid to carry
contraband or weapons when a female CO
was on duty."
On the street, however, both male and female
officers too often regard female subjects
"as less of a threat, assuming that they
not going to have a gun," Davis said. In
truth, the researchers concluded that more
female offenders are armed today than 20
years ago--"not just female gang associates,
but female offenders generally."
Shooting Style
Twenty-six of the offenders [about 60%],
including all of the street combat veterans,
"claimed to be instinctive shooters,
pointing and firing the weapon without
consciously aligning the sights," the
study says.
"They practice getting the gun out and
using it," Davis explained. "They shoot
for effect." Or as one of the offenders
put it: "[W]e're not working with no
marksmanship..We just putting it in your
direction, you know..It don't matter.as
long as it's gonna hit you.if it's up at
your head or your chest, down at your legs,
whatever..Once I squeeze and you fall,
then.if I want to execute you, then I
could go from there."
Hit Rate
More often than the officers they attacked,
offenders delivered at least some rounds
on target in their encounters. Nearly 70%
of assailants were successful in that
regard with handguns, compared to about
40% of the victim officers, the study
found. (Efforts of offenders and officers
to get on target were considered
successful if any rounds struck, regardless
of the number fired.)
Davis speculated that the offenders might
have had an advantage because in all but
3 cases they fired first, usually catching
the officer by surprise. Indeed, the report
points out, "10 of the total victim
officers had been wounded [and thus impaired]
before they returned gunfire at their
attackers."
Missed Cues
Officers would less likely be caught off
guard by attackers if they were more
observant of indicators of concealed
weapons, the study concludes. These
particularly include manners of dress,
ways of moving and unconscious gestures
often related to carrying.
"Officers should look for unnatural
protrusions or bulges in the waist, back
and crotch areas," the study says, and
watch for "shirts that appear rippled or
wavy on one side of the body while the
fabric on the other side appears smooth."
In warm weather, multilayered clothing
inappropriate to the temperature may be
a giveaway. On cold or rainy days, a
subject's jacket hood may not be covering
his head because it is being used to
conceal a handgun.
Because they eschew holsters, offenders
reported frequently touching a concealed
gun with hands or arms "to assure themselves
that it is still hidden, secure and
accessible" and hasn't shifted. Such
gestures are especially noticeable "whenever
individuals change body positions, such
as standing, sitting or exiting a vehicle."
If they run, they may need to keep a
constant grip on a hidden gun to control
it.
Just as cops generally blade their body to
make their sidearm less accessible, armed
criminals "do the same in encounters with
LEOs to ensure concealment and easy
access."
An irony, Davis noted, is that officers
who are assigned to look for concealed
weapons, while working off-duty security
at night clubs for instance, are often
highly proficient at detecting them. "But
then when they go back to the street
without that specific assignment, they
seem to 'turn off' that skill," and thus
are startled--sometimes fatally--when a
suspect suddenly produces a weapon and
attacks.
Mind-set
Thirty-six of the 50 officers in the study
had "experienced hazardous situations where
they had the legal authority" to use
deadly force "but chose not to shoot." They
averaged 4 such prior incidents before the
encounters that the researchers
investigated. "It appeared clear that none
of these officers were willing to use
deadly force against an offender if other
options were available," the researchers
concluded.
The offenders were of a different mind-set
entirely. In fact, Davis said the study
team "did not realize how cold blooded the younger
generation of offender is. They have been
exposed to killing after killing, they fully
expect to get killed and they don't
hesitate to shoot anybody, including a
police officer. They can go from riding
down the street saying what a beautiful
day it is to killing in the next instant."
"Offenders typically displayed no moral
or ethical restraints in using firearms,
" the report states. "In fact, the street
combat veterans survived by developing a
shoot-first mentality.
"Officers never can assume that a criminal
is unarmed until they have thoroughly
searched the person and the surroundings
themselves." Nor, in the interest of
personal safety, can officers "let their
guards down in any type of law enforcement
situation."
Time for me to get that training I've so desperately been needing to get. :twak:
