Force Science Institute: Memory of Shooting Inherently Unreliable

By Robert Farago

According to a Force Science Institute study [full report after the jump], a police officer’s memory after a shooting is highly unreliable. Same goes for you. That’s why you should never agree to a post-defensive gun use police interview without a lawyer present (but do provide details that can help the police apprehend criminals or identify witnesses). “Investigators need to remember that an officer who misses or misstates information about an event that later becomes significant is not necessarily being deceptive or self-serving,” the report recommends. That’s true for both cops and civilians, although you’re hardly likely to get the same slack as brother officer. Just sayin’ . . .

Force Science writes:

A profound irony is revealed in a major new study of human performance under stress, sponsored by the Force Science Institute. Namely: At the most critical moment in a force encounter–the moment that perhaps is most important for an officer to describe accurately–the officer’s memory of certain key details about what happened is likely to be the least reliable.

In particular, the first-of-its-kind study documents that officers actively involved in armed confrontations often have difficulty accurately answering questions about a suspect’s weapon, …read more

Source:: Truth About Guns