Better Trained: Cop killers or the police officers they kill

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Seacowboys, Aug 11, 2007.


  1. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    [SIZE=+1]Better Trained: Cop killers or the police officers they kill?[/SIZE]
    <small>Buckeye Firearms Association (Ohio) ^ | 8/10/07 | Ken Hanson</small>

    <small>Posted on 08/11/2007 10:27:09 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim</small>

    In the first part of this series we examined how those who dismiss criminals as being stupid are in fact themselves acting stupid. In another example of how dangerous it can be to underestimate the two-legged predators who walk among us, the FBI has recently finished a five year study of cop killers and the shootouts that took the officer’s life. While I have only seen a summary and not the whole report from the FBI,The Force Science Institute has published a very good synopsis of the report.
    Some of the findings reinforce the deadly misconceptions the public has about criminals. In these attacks, the criminal was found to practice more often than the police officer, shoot more accurately than the police officer, has more experience in using lethal force than the officer and has the proper mindset needed to survive the encounter.
    These findings need to be a wakeup call to the public: The thugs among us have been going through urban combat training since a very early age, and in the typical encounter, the street predator has the advantage.
    To the readers of this website and those who take responsibility for their own safety, many of the study’s findings will not be surprising. For instance, offenders:
    Do not pick a particular firearm with any criteria in mind, instead being stuck with what happened to be on hand.
    Do not legally buy their firearms, with only one exception in the study.
    Do not obtain any firearms from gun shows. -Almost exclusively chose handguns over the infamous “assault rifles.”
    Do not use accessories or equipment, such as holsters or flashlights.
    Beyond these findings, which are common sense confirmations of the reality that exists for all but the most rabid anti-gunners, some of the findings are pretty shocking, and we should adjust our training accordingly.
    Criminals do not worry about marksmanship, stance, grip, sight alignment or any of the other fundamentals we rely upon. Instead, they rely most often on instinctive shooting, or “point and click.” The key is to get rounds on target, quickly. As one cold-blooded killer remarked, even if he shoots you in the leg, he can walk up later after you are incapacitated and put one in your head. Despite this, the criminals have a much greater accuracy rate than the police.
    Criminals have been carrying and using firearms for far longer than those they target, as early as since age 9 and almost all since age 12. This has given them real-life experience in the carrying and use of guns from a very early age, and just like the young athlete out on the basketball court until sundown, they excel at what they practice.
    Criminals have been through a PhD program in mindset. Most of these thugs have grown up without parents and have learned the lessons of the street. For years and years, their ability to survive has depended largely upon their willingness to do whatever it takes to persevere in an encounter. Think about that, while your kids are home eagerly awaiting the debut of High School Musical 2 in the coming weeks, those who will prey on them are out experiencing life and death encounters, and not necessarily for the first time. As an interesting corollary to this, the thugs who have been involved in repeated deadly encounters have probably USED force; the police who have been involved in repeated deadly encounters often have simply THREATENED the use of force. The police mindset is perhaps being diluted since they often defuse the encounter without using the gun, whereas the bad guy almost always uses the gun.
    Criminals most often hide their guns in the waistband of their pants, often near their groin. The male criminals were of a uniform opinion that female police officers were more willing to conduct a thorough search of their person than male officers. Beyond this, the study found police often missed “telltales” of weapon presence on the offender. Bulges, inappropriate clothing, constant touching of the gun through layered clothing, blading the body away from the officer to protect access to the gun etc.
    This is very scary stuff to those of us who work 9-5 and rush home to get the kids to soccer practice. We have so many different things on our minds as we go through the day that often we are not in a position to conduct ourselves appropriately from a personal security standpoint. (Ohio’s laws on “no carry” zones do not help. Gun bans disarm victims, not criminals.) The fact that our sworn officers are perhaps at a training disadvantage to the bad guys should be a stark warning to us civilians. We need to recommit ourselves and our families to living the Warrior mindset while still being normal, functioning members of society.
    Otherwise, in an armed encounter, a concealed carry license is just as worthless as a rabbit’s foot carried for luck.
     
  2. DesertDawg

    DesertDawg Monkey+++

    Re: Better Trained: Cop killers or the police officers they

    Back in the late 1970's, I looked up my old high school auto shop instructor, who had quit teaching for a job as the transportation director for the city of Tracey, California. The trip to Tracy was two-fold, for I wanted to visit the state prison there as well. It just so happened that the warden of the prison was the brother of my old auto shop instructor!

    The warden gave me the "red carpet" tour of the prison. What an eye opener! In the grassy work-out area, there were several inmates practising "something" that looked like a combination of several martial arts. The warden explained that they were practising "gun take-away's"! In another area, some inmates were walking backwards with their hands up, until they reached some other inmates....then, there were some very swift actions that took place, with the backwards-walkers going through some movements, eventually dropping down and doing foot sweeps on the inmates that they had walked backward to. "They're practising the 'surrender sweep', trying to disarm a police officer.", the warden explained (If you've seen the movie "Heat", Robert DeNiro does the "backwards walk" into an armed police officer in a hotel, near the end of the movie).

    The warden explained that there was nothing that could be done to "ban" the inmates from their practise! He did, however, state that the guards would document the practise techniques, by video-taping....then send those tapes in for "intel" and research by law enforcement agencies.

    I remember when the Beretta 92F was the "primo" firearm for law enforcement. Somehow, the prison inmates were able to get their OWN "intel" about that pistol, and they came up with a way to remove the slide from the pistol before it could be fired! Beretta caught wind of that, and came up with a "quick fix", of adding a small piece of plastic to the "take-down" button on the side of the pistol, making it more difficult to remove the slide.

    Yep, the bad guys DO practise! Too bad they get the wrong kind of "education" while in prison!
     
  3. Blackjack

    Blackjack Monkey+++

    Re: Better Trained: Cop killers or the police officers they

    Here in Indiana they aren't allowed to practice any kind of fighting or even recieve magazines with violent content.
     
  4. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    Re: Better Trained: Cop killers or the police officers they

    It isn't so much the training as it is the mind-set that they learn. A cop is taught restraint rather than the use of lethal force with lethal force being the final option. A criminal view an attorney as the last option and lethal force as just another tool to escape. Maybe that's a little over simplified, but basically is the mind-set that gives them the advantage in an armed confrontation.
     
  5. Blackjack

    Blackjack Monkey+++

    Re: Better Trained: Cop killers or the police officers they

    I can agree with that..... totally.
     
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