Neuroscience, Belief Systems, And Officer Involved Shootings

This book continues to focus on the problematic issue of police shooting across the country. While the majority of police departments do an outstanding job of protecting and serving; the job of balancing the civil liberties of citizens and enforcing the law is not a perfect science. As we continue to grapple with this balance, there is still a concern that more can be done to reduce the number of questionable shooting. As a law enforcement practitioner for over 30 plus years, I believe neuroscience research can be taught as a course in police academies as an addition layer of police accountability and also in a proactive manner as an assessment tool that can be used to screen out applicants with strong views on race, stereotypes, and extreme fears that make them ineffective in handling the rigors of police work in an acceptable manner. As an author, I have written on other areas concerning de-escalation and neuroscience. However, this current project stresses the important of the belief system of the officer. We all at some time were introduced to the self-fulfilling prophesy where our belief system or predisposition of a situation influenced our behavior so that the results were what we expected. When we apply the rigors of police work to this concept, there should be a legitimate concern that police shouldn't allow their biases and fears to affect: their "objectivity", "impartiality", "fairness" and their "perception". In contrast, a fellow officer, who is a 6th degree black belt martial art expert, revealed that he was trained to enter combat situations with an "empty mind". From a research perspective, there is little or no information on the disposition of an officer prior to running a call for service. Hopefully, this mini-book will open up a discussion and dialogue regarding what cultural information, emotional trauma, or training has been "hardwired" to influence how officers and how citizens think and make decisions. This author believes neuroscience is a form of self-regulation and is beneficial to both police and citizens.