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Effects of Distraction on Police Officer Shooting Behavior (From Advances in Psychology and Law, P 155-162, 1997, Santiago Redondo and Vicente Garrido, et al., eds. -- See NCJ-175532)

NCJ Number
175536
Author(s)
A Vrij; J van der Steen; L Koppelaar
Date Published
1997
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effects of street noise and officer field independence on tension, perception, and performance in shooting incidents.
Abstract
A total of 49 patrol officers participated in the experiment, 89 percent of whom were male and 11 percent of whom were female. The average age in the sample was 33 years old. The experiment was conducted among local police forces during regular shooting exercises. Each subject was placed in front of a large video screen and asked to act as he/she would act in real life, such as shouting, shooting, running away, taking cover, etc. Then, by means of video and laser disk displays, a scenario was projected on the screen. The images were in full color and full size. The camera's point of view was similar to the subject's point of view. Consequently, what the subjects saw and heard is what they would experience in reality. The weapons used were not live rounds but laser beams. Two independent variables, the amount of street noise and field independence, were introduced in the experiment. In the experimental condition (n=22), additional street noise (the sound of a drill) was introduced. Subjects were randomly assigned to the control or experimental condition. Field independence was determined with the Hidden-Patterns Test (Feij, 1976; French, Ekstrom, and Price, 1963). Tension was investigated with the Liebert-Morris scale. Findings show that street noise did influence the police officer-offender confrontation. As a result of noise, police officers forgot to take cover. Noise generally reduced officers' performance on secondary tasks, thereby increasing their risk of getting hurt, wounded, or even killed in shooting incidents. As was predicted, high field- independent subjects performed better on both the primary and secondary tasks, and they gave a better description of the witnessed event. Implications are drawn for police assignments and police training. 2 tables and 17 references