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~ORCEMENT rBl BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 1979. VOLUME 48. NUMBER 9 Contents 1 A New Approach to Firearms Training: The S.M.E. Simulator By Lee Libby, Public Information Officer, Police Department, Seattle, Investigative Wash. Techniques 5 Threat Analysis: The Psycholinguistic Approach By Murray S. Miron, Ph. D., Professor, Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y., and John E. Douglas, Special Agent, Behavioral Sciences Unit, FBI Academy, Quantico, Va. Press Relations 10 The Hostage/Terrorist Situation and the Media By Stephen D. Gladis, Special Agent, Public Affairs Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington, D.C. Personnel 16 Building a Winning Team By M. John Velier, Special Agent, National Academy and Police Training Unit, FBI Academy, Quantico, Va. Firearms 20 Gun Retention By Lt. Michael T. O'Neill, Police Department, Denver, Colo. Operations 24 Texarkana's Public Safety Program By Bobby C. Mixon, Deputy Director, Department of Public Safety, Texarkana, Ark. The Legal Digest 28 The Plain View Doctrine (Part I) By Joseph R. Davis, Special Agent, Legal Counsel Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington, D.C. 32 Wanted by the FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation Published by the Public Affairs Office, United States Department of Justice Homer A. Boynton, Jr., Executive Assistan\ The Cover: September's cover Washington, D.C. 20535 Director features a Seattle Editor-Thomas J. Deakin William H. Webster, Director police officer training Staff-Kathryn E. Sulewski, Gino Orsini, with the S.M.E. Jeffrey L. Summers, Carl A. Gnam, Jr. simulator. See story The Attorney General has determined that the publication beginning on page 1. of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the public business required by law of the Department of Justice. Use of funds for printing this periodical has been approved by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget through December 28, 1983. ISSN 0014-5688 USPS 383-310 By LEE LIBBY Public Information Officer Police Department Seattle, Wash. Assume that you are patrolling in a You continue on toward the store, One of the biggest single ques• one-man car on an arterial street in and as you radio your arrival, you are tions that police administrators may your district. It has been a quiet, un• informed that your backup unit is only have is, " How does a police depart• eventful evening, and none of the three blocks away. The door to the ment adequately train an officer to neighboring patrol cars have been busy store opens and a man matching the react properly in a situation such as either. Radio traffic has been at a mini• suspect's description walks out, look• this?" Those same administrators may mum-just routine traffic stops and ing in each direction as he leaves. He have been involved in similar situations warrant requests. Suddenly, the quiet is carrying a brown bag in one hand; themselves during their careers. If so, of your patrol car is interrupted by the the other hand is in his coat pocket. they are probably aware of the short• dispatcher with a call of a robbery in You step from your patrol car and con• comings of most methods of firearms progress at a convenience store in front the suspect. training when it comes to assessing your district only a few blocks away. The officer in the preceding situa• when to shoot or whether or not to You acknowledge the call and head tion has reached a critical point in this shoot at all. toward the store. particular officer/suspect confronta• This is not to say that past training As you proceed, you are informed tion. The decisions the officer makes in tactics were bad, but rather they did by the dispatcher that this is a "possi• the next few moments, the actions he not go far enough in portraying a set• ble robbery" -a citizen is observing takes or fails to take, may well affect ting that actually presented an officer the situation from across the street. his very survival. with a realistic situation calling for a The suspect is described as a white decision on his part. In short, most male about 6 feet tall, wearing a blue firearms training modes have stressed coat. The citizen thinks the suspect is armed, but he is not positive. September 1979 / 1 proficiency and left the decision making target-they are deficient in the same aspect of the application of deadly respect as are other training modes in force to be forged by classroom the• that they lack the most impor· ory. tant elements of a shooting situation. Throughout its history, the Seattle That element is the decisionmaking Police Department has relied on a vari• process and its direct product, stress. ety of methods to instruct its officers in Since stress was recognized to be firearms use. Given the technology and part of all life-threatening incidents, training methods known and available what was needed was a mode of train· at any given point in time, the majority ing that would teach both when and of these methods were adequate. how to shoot, while simultaneously in· Nine years ago, the Seattle Police troducing a degree of realism sufficient Department's firearms segment of to induce stress. This could only be academy instruction consisted of 5 achieved by creating an environment days of range training stressing accu• similar to what an officer could expect racy, proficiency, and firearms safety. to encounter on the street. The matter of instructing new officers Several months ago Seattle's for• on when they could use deadly force mer Chief of Police, H. A. Vanden was covered primarily in classroom Wyer, approached a Seattle multime• study of the department manual sec• dia production firm with the idea 01 Mr. Libby tion regarding arrest and use of force. using multimedia techniques to over• That training extended to defense of come this obstacle and perhaps create self or others and to effect the arrest or a more efficient method of deadly force recapture of suspects in one of a num• instruction. The reason for this was not ber of enumerated felonies, provided only because of the inadequacy of past that certain criteria were present. training methods, but also because the Beyond that, training consisted of police department was, at that time, a series of "shoot/don't shoot" films undergoing a change in shooting poli• which again were adequate in light of cies. Where the old policy was directed what was available, but did not actively at defense of self or others and certain draw the officer into any dynamiC situa• felony suspects, the new policy was tion of deciding for himself whether or somewhat more restrictive, and there not the use of deadly force was appro• were many questions about when priate. There was no interaction be• deadly force could be used. It was tween the officer and the training he hoped a new training method would was receiving. resolve these questions. The result What we have experienced over was the birth of the Synthesized Media the years then are several methods of Environment (S.M. E.) Simutator. firearms instruction which fall short of To research this new concept an ideal model. Combat and target (when it was nothing more than a con• ranges have taught how to shoot, and cept) the multimedia firm's personnel classroom training, films, and theory spent approximately 400 hours riding Patrick F Fitzsimons have taught when to shoot, but there Seattle Police Chief with patrol officers in Seattle in an has never been a viable mechanism by effort to assess needs from the work· which these two very important as• ing officer's point of view. At the same pects of the job could be brought to• time, research data from the University gether into one training function. of Washington on how people receive Although the combat ranges can and process information were obtained never be replaced for one very impor• and proved to be of great value in tant reason-an officer, in the final determining how the concept would be analysis, must possess a reasonable developed into a working training degree of proficiency in striking his mechanism. While running the risk of being accused of oversimplification, it can be said that the information a per• son receives ends up being transmit• 2 I FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin This microprocessor enables the operator of the One of the components of the S.ME simulator. S,ME. simulator to control completely the settings to which an officer is exposed, ted to the brain as "burst information," The slides are then placed in order blackness, speakers from both sides that is, entering the brain in the form of and numbered, and command staff and behind begin to bark out informa• short bursts of electrical energy. Fol• and training personnel identify which tion and instructions, setting up the lowing this premise, different media slides appear at critical decision making scenario and finally giving the admoni• possibilities were examined and tested, stages, whether the decision should be tion, "Remember! In the final analysis and film was ruled out because of its to shoot or merely issue an oral you are responsible for your own ac• continuous flow of presented informa• command. Realistic sound is added, tions." tion, It was finally decided that a com• complete with police sirens, dispatch• There follows another period of plex slide presentation would be the ers, car-to-car communications, and darkness. The officer is alone in the most feasible way of presenting the anything else to add the dimension of room and he has been primed to antici• desired information in a training situa• reality to the scenario and affect the pate something.