Errors in Shooting Judgment and Performance by Law Enforcement Personnel During a Stressful Training Scenario

Abstract : Police trainees who were ready to graduate from the Federal Law Enforcement Training, Center (FLETC) volunteered to participated in an exercise designed to evaluate their survivability. In a highly stressful interactive scenario, which included a hostage situation during a staged domestic dispute, performance was evaluated for a range of responses, including: weapon malfunction, shooting judgement and accuracy, communications, and emotional reactions. Nineteen percent of subjects shot the hostage, a failure rate that falls in the reported range of friendly fire casualties in military combat. The Spielberger Trait Anger Scale showed an association with shot placement and performance during the gunfight, as well as with overall performance scores.