We have long discussed the statistics and circumstances of law enforcement performance during lethal encounters.  There are usually two directions that the discussion takes, based primarily on the author’s perspective.  Either training is the primary animator, or the psychological and physiological impact of the incident leads to poor performance.

Since Jedburgh is a training outfit, you can guess what side of the fence I come down on. What may not be obvious is that our firearms training is less about weapons than it is about people.  Let me share with you what are considered the SOF Truths.  The original author is actually a non-SOF retired Army Colonel named John Collins, who was nonetheless a smart guy and whose SOF Truths remain as valid today as when he wrote them in 1987 for a Congressional Report.

• Humans are more important than hardware
• Quality is better than quantity
• Special Operations Forces cannot be mass produced
• Competent Special Operations Forces cannot be created after emergencies occur

While these were written for very specific military units, it doesn’t take much imagination to apply these truths to law enforcement units, departments or agencies.  In my opinion, the truths are fundamentals that can be applied to any profession.  Here are the Jedburgh Training Truths ©:

• The man is the weapon, the weapons are just tools
• A quality professional is better than a quantity of  amateurs
• Training must be tailored to each individual to deliver perfect performance
• A core of professional competence must be constantly maintained

These truths permeate our training mindset and our entire approach to business.  You can’t train firearms effectively without training the whole man.  Understanding how the human brain learns and processes information, the psychological impact of violence, and the realities of modern combat are essential to building a world class program.  Training time must be devoted to Mindset, Weapon Manipulations (Marksmanship), and Tactics in equal measures.

Combat Triad

There are plenty of indications that our current approach to training needs to be modified.  In the last ten years, there has not been any appreciable improvement in the number of law enforcement officers killed, or even the hit probability of officers involved in shootings.

Did you know that there is no correlation between how well an officer qualifies and the probability of the same officer hitting his intended target in a gunfight?  There is some isolated data that indicates a slightly positive correlation, but when you factor in the small population and high standard deviation you end up with statistically insignificant results.

The standards we use to determine accuracy and proficiency with the use of firearms does not indicate either when the officer is fighting for his life.

We need to develop a comprehensive and holistic approach to firearms training.  The entire training paradigm requires modification to field the most professional police force possible.  It will save lives.

Don’t train on what you want.  Train on what you need.  Jedburgh Corp has developed the most comprehensive firearms training available anywhere.  It was built on the vast personal combat experience of some of the most elite special operators in the country.  Contact us at info@Jedburgh-USA.com to provide feedback on the blog, or discuss your training needs.  Also, feel free to post your comments.

Anytime you’re in a fight, particularly a gunfight, halting your adversary is the goal.  When you’re in a fight, you just want out of the fight.  You can disengage, run, or neutralize your attacker.   Or you can be killed.

Once your attacker has commenced his assault, stopping him becomes your life’s work.   The firearm most likely available to you will be your handgun.  If you are aware of the impending attack, you’ll most certainly arm yourself with a long gun.  Since most attackers won’t afford you that opportunity, proficiency with your pistol remains paramount to your survival.  Because of the array of pistol manufacturers, models, and calibers available, there is inevitably a debate about which combination is “best.”  I am frequently asked to give my opinion on caliber selection.  Even more than training, or tactics, or weapons selection.  Everyone loves talking about ballistics.  The problem is that most of us are knuckle-draggers and we only know two things about ballistics…jack and shit.

We get on the internet and google and read and talk to our buddies who seem to know a lot about guns.  I’m no different.  I’ve been amassing articles and studies about ballistics for as long as I can remember.  This is my attempt to solve the “caliber riddle.”

First off, lets talk about knock-down power.  Simply put, it doesn’t exist.  The force a bullet will impact your adversary is equal to (or less than) the recoil you felt when you fired the round.  It’s physics.  It isn’t debatable.  If you fired a bullet capable of knocking someone to the ground, you would likewise be knocked to the ground when you triggered it.  Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  Sound familiar?  It’s Newton’s Law of Motion.  I may be dumb but that guy was smart so you should pay attention.

Whats confuses the issue is that many people tend to fall down when they’ve been shot.  It isn’t caused by the projectile, they do it for all sorts of other reasons.  The belief that they are more seriously injured than they are, the “training” received by years of movies and television, or simply a desire to quit fighting all contribute.  Some people fall down when shot, some people don’t.  Since you can’t control it, you can’t count on it to happen during a fight.

Ok, so knock-down power can’t be achieved.  How do I stop my adversary?

The impact of bullets on the human body has four factors which contribute to how quickly an attacker is stopped.  The first factor is Penetration and is measured by the distance the projectile travels into the target.  The damage caused by penetration is directly related to the tissue disrupted or destroyed by the bullet passage.  The second factor is the Permanent Cavity and is measured by the volume of space once occupied by tissue that is now destroyed by the passage of the projectile.  This is the hole left in the guy after you shoot him.  The next factor is the Temporary Cavity and is measured by the amount of expansion or stretching of tissue due to the transfer of kinetic energy from the projectile.  The final wound factor is Fragmentation which are pieces of the projectile which separate and are propelled through the body.  Fragmentation may not occur in every bullet wound, and should be considered a secondary effect.  In fact, fragmentation in pistol rounds is extremely limited (typically less than one centimeter) and should not be heavily considered during bullet selection.

In order to quickly halt an adversary, the central nervous system must be severely damaged or destroyed.  For the anatomically challenged, check out the picture.

Notice the heart isn’t shown.  Shooting someone in the heart causes blood loss, perhaps major blood loss.  This will leave your attacker with approximately 15 seconds of full voluntary function before being incapacitated.  Fifteen seconds is a long time to have someone shooting at you.

In order to achieve fight stopping results, the brain or upper spinal cord must be severely damaged or destroyed.  This type of accuracy is clearly a function of training more than bullet selection.  The shot placement discussion occurs frequently, but it can’t be overstated how important marksmanship is to surviving a gunfight.

Bullet selection is critically important also.  Even assuming the accuracy is there, the bullet must penetrate enough into the target to pass through the central nervous system in order to achieve fight stopping results.  Because of this specific requirement, penetration is the most important factor in bullet selection.

Over-penetration gets talked about frequently in the law enforcement and self defense communities.  It’s true that a round can pass through the intended target and hurt a bystander.  It’s also true, and more likely, that a round will completely miss the intended target and hurt a bystander.  Misses are extremely common during violent assaults.  The risk of over-penetration should be carefully weighed against survival.  Over penetration might occur and a bystander could be injured, but a weak round will never quickly incapacitate an attacker.  When selecting a round for defensive purposes, a minimum of 12 inches of penetration is desired.  Anything less would be considered a poor choice.  More than 18 inches of penetration is probably unnecessary, but your situation should be carefully considered.  The round I select for my situation may be different than what is needed to meet your specific requirements.

Permanent cavity is the next most critical consideration when selecting a pistol caliber, or specific bullet.  The permanent cavity is the volume of destruction as the bullet passes through the target.  In this case, bigger is better.  Assuming an equal amount of penetration, a larger round will create a larger permanent cavity and will cause more damage.  Exactly how much “better” a larger projectile performs is extremely difficult to determine, and I won’t attempt to quantify it.

Temporary cavity is a much-hyped and misunderstood factor of projectile wounds.  Pistol rounds are underpowered by nature and relatively slow moving.  The latest research  on temporary cavity is that the tissue damage could be as small as one tenth of the speed of the projectile.  For the purposes of pistol gunfighting, it simply isn’t a factor.  If someone is trying to tell you how superior a particular round performs because of its “kinetic energy transfer” or temporary wound channel, you’re being sold a line of crap.

Fragmentation simply isn’t a factor for handgun rounds.  Pistol rounds move too slowly to achieve consistent fragmentation.  Again, since you can’t control it,  don’t count on it.  Fragmentation in a pistol fight is a non-issue.

The final characteristic I want to discuss is the idea of expansion.  Most of us have some experience with hollow-point ammunition.  The round is specifically designed to expand on impact to inflict greater damage to the target.  Assuming that 12 inches of penetration is achieved, an expanding bullet has lots of merit.  The problem is that hollow point ammunition has inconsistent performance.  When hollow point rounds impact bone, glass, or even thick clothing (it’s winter time), the round will expand very little, if at all.  Many times, forensics experts are unable to determine if a pistol gunshot wound was inflicted by a hollow-point round or a ball round.  Hollow point ammunition is certainly a good choice for a defensive round, but the performance in terms of penetration and permanent cavity should be used to assess performance.  Any expansion achieved will be gravy.

During the assault, you are in charge of very little.  Your attacker likely chose  the place and time.  He’ll control his actions, how many rounds he fires, and the tactics he employs.  You can control where your rounds impact his body and the type of weapon and ammunition you employ.

In order take control during an assault you must be trained.  If your training program doesn’t stress shooting on the move, shooting at moving targets, no-light engagements, and low percentage shots (partial targets), then you’re not preparing yourself to survive a violent assault.  It’s important to remember that you have to perform better than your assailant is lucky.

Jedburgh Corp has developed the most comprehensive firearms training available anywhere.  It was built on the vast personal combat experience of some of the most elite special operators in the country.  Contact us at info@Jedburgh-USA.com to provide feedback on the blog, or discuss your training needs.  Also, feel free to post your comments.

For the record, I just use Slap and Rack.  Adding crap to the end doesn’t make people think you’re smarter, or increase the effectiveness of clearing a malfunction.  Telling someone to “squeeze” or “bang” implies that they must do those things.  I’d hope that if you needed to clear a malfunction in order to apply violence to halt an assault, that you’ll know if you need to continue shooting.

Firearms manipulation is critical within the framework of the Combat Triad – Marksmanship, Mindset, and Tactics.  Tactics is sometimes interpreted as manipulation, or gun-handling.  I like to expand the definition to include tactics because it implies not only individual proficiency, but also proficiency as a team.  All three elements must be present to survive a lethal encounter.  All three elements must likewise be present in an effective training program.  It needs to be said that weapons manipulation should also include backup and off duty weapons.  While this may seem a simple thing, there is ample evidence to reinforce the importance of effective firearms manipulation.

During a physical struggle, an assailant fired his weapon and wounded an officer.  The officer returned fire, missing the assailant before experiencing a malfunction with his duty firearm (a semi-automatic pistol).  The officer eventually fell to the ground.  As he hit the ground, the officer lost control of his weapon and the assailant fired two more rounds one of which struck the officer before he fled.  In his own words:

“I was annoyed that the gun didn’t work anymore and I didn’t see any malfunction and it was like a twilight zone or something.  The gun functions, and, for some reason, I have missed this individual and the slide has closed.  I still have a firm grip on it.  I know I have to shoot him some more.  I haven’t hit him, and the gun doesn’t work anymore.  And, during this time, I’m falling.  I’m falling at the time, and I know I’m going to shoot some more.  I know immediately that I haven’t hit him, and I was just amazed and mystified and annoyed that the gun didn’t shoot anymore.  I knew it wasn’t a stovepipe and the slide had closed.  I have to admit, as much training as we had with malfunction drills, I did not consider doing a malfunction drill.”

The simple analysis is this:  the officer was so intent on shooting the assailant, he couldn’t do what was immediately required – slap and rack.   He violated the most basic of principles – when it’s time to shoot, you shoot; when it’s time to reload, you reload; and when it’s time to conduct a malfunction drill, you fix your gun.  It’s like Ecclesiastes chapter 3, only for gunfighters.  At the time of the shooting, the officer had over 20 years of experience in law enforcement and had served as a firearms instructor for over 12 years.  The lesson for the rest of us is clear.  During the stress and violence of an assault, years of experience or possessing the proper credentials will not deter your assailant nor will it protect you from bad training habits.  If it can happen to an experienced officer, it can happen to all of us.

Ensure that shortcuts aren’t taken in your training.  A holistic firearms training program is critical to ensure officer survival.  Marksmanship, mindset and tactics must be present in equal parts.  Jedburgh Corp has developed the most comprehensive and realistic training programs possible.  We are available to provide both training and training support to organizations desiring to advance their firearms training.  Contact us at info@Jedburgh-USA.com to provide feedback on the blog, or discuss your training needs.  Also, feel free to post your comments.

The purpose for defining standard procedures is to allow certain actions to be planned and rehearsed in advance.  It also allows new officers to benefit from established best practices without having to rely on trial by fire.  By practicing and perfecting these procedures, law enforcement officers are able to react quickly and appropriately.   In support of the concept of procedural training, researchers for the “Violent Encounter” study found that many officers who were assaulted reported that their departments training procedures probably saved their lives.  However, researchers also found that a number of law enforcement officers who were assaulted failed to follow correct procedures.  Examples of these include:

• Acting alone prior to the arrival of backup
• Placing vehicles improperly during traffic stops
• Failing to control violators’ actions during traffic stops
• Neglecting to notify the dispatcher of traffic stops
• Searching prisoners carelessly
• Handling prisoners without employing proper restraints

While none of these procedural omissions are directly related to firearms training, they have obvious tactical implications.  By disregarding departmental procedures, law enforcement officers establish inferior positions or place themselves at additional risk.  Once an assault commences, this inferior position can be difficult to recover from, regardless of the amount of training. What I find interesting about procedural training is that it ties together the modern combat triad; marksmanship, tactics, and mindset.  Having the proper mindset can keep you from employing bad tactics, or at least alert you to the fact that you are employing bad tactics.  Having good marksmanship is the payoff.  It allows your body to perform the desired action – eliminate the threat.

The question for the law enforcement professional is simple: what are you training your law enforcement officers to do when under stress?  The statistics are clear about procedures.  Establishing and following good procedures saves lives, and are therefore relevant to your interests.  Jedburgh Corp has developed the most comprehensive and realistic training programs possible.  We are available to provide both training and training support to organizations desiring to advance their firearms training.  Contact us at info@Jedburgh-USA.com to provide feedback on the blog, or discuss your training needs.  Also, feel free to post your comments.

Are rookies in greater danger than experienced LEOs?  Absolutely not.  LEOs with less than 1 year of experience make up a measly 3.5% in 2007 and less than 3% over the last ten years.  During two years (2002 & 2006) there were zero LEOs with less than a year of experience feloniously killed.  Stick with me and we’ll try to make sense of this together.

Who’s in the greatest risk?  LEOs with 1-5 years of experience were assaulted and killed more than any other category, followed closely by LEOs with 6-10 years experience (and they were tied in 2007).  Officers with 1-5 years of experience account for 30% of all LEOs killed in 2007 and 34% during the last ten years.  Officers with 6-10 years of experience also account for 30% in 2007 and 25% over the last ten years.  In fact during the last ten years, the average experience level of ALL 549 LEOs killed was 10 years of LEO experience.

For the sake of completeness, here is the breakdown of all the data:

• Less than 1 year of experience – 3.5% (2007)
• 1-5 years of experience – 30%
• 6-10 years of experience – 30%
• 11-15 years of experience – 12%
• 16-20 years of experience – 11%
• 21-25 years of experience – 9%
• 26-30 years of experience – 5%

Conclusions?  Well, one possible scenario is that most officers employed by LEO departments nationwide have an average of ten years experience, which explains why the average LEO feloniously killed also has ten years experience.

But lets not stop our analysis there.  Common sense (and most veteran LEOs) would submit that a rookie is in greater danger than more experienced LEOs.  Why don’t they account for a higher percentage of fatalities?  Try this on.  Rookies are straight out of the academy and have their training fresh in their minds.  They haven’t learned any bad habits from laziness or complacency.  They’re younger and in better shape than other LEOs.

Now before anyone gets all butt-hurt because you think I’m calling you out of shape, let me give you another statistic.  The average LEO killed in 2007 was 5’11″ tall and weighed 197 pounds.  That’s a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 27.  Anything over 25 is considered overweight.  It may hurt some feelings, but there is volumes of research that prove that subjects with good fitness levels outperform over-weight/out of shape subjects in stressful situations.

Besides the over-weight factor, the data seems to indicate some reason for officers with years of LEO experience being assaulted and killed more than twice as often as others.  The root cause may be hard to accept, but it’s still the truth.

Lack of training, lack of focus (warrior mindset), and complacency.  LEOs with a few years on the job have gained enough “experience” to make them believe that they have a firm understanding of their duties, and then they get bored, get distracted, get lazy.  They stop respecting the inherent danger of their job, and this lack of respect causes them to cut corners both in training and on the street.

To prevent skills atrophy, LEOs in the 1-5 and 6-10 year categories should be prioritized for refresher skills training with a focus on fundamental skills.  Sexy doesn’t win gunfights.  Your LEOs should be the absolute best at doing the little things right.  Weapons handling, marksmanship, use of force, and mindset will keep you alive.  And a solid PT program keeps sand outta your gears.

Departments should weigh the benefit of spending money for new widgets for their carbines, or spending money on training and having an LEO who is an expert with the weapons they currently employ.  As we continue to analyze LEO deaths in 2007, none of the deaths would have been avoided with cooler gear, but almost all of them could have been prevented with solid fundamental skills training.

Please contact info@jedburgh-usa.com to give feedback on the blog or to discuss training needs.  Also feel free to post your comments.