Improving Mandatory Firearms Training For Law Enforcement: An Autoethnographic Analysis of Illinois Law Enforcement Training

Casey Lafrance

doi:10.21428/88de04a1.391b1386

Abstract

This study employs autoethnographic analysis of the authorâs experiences in a mandatory police firearms training course in the United States. I first review relevant literature on firearms training as well as autoethnographic methodology. Afterward, I present my experiences and analyze them in the context of literature on police use of force, representative bureaucracy, and accountability. Based on this account, I offer suggestions for improving the course by integrating concepts from the literature on officer decision-making, community-police relations, and group dynamics. I conclude by recommending more course time be devoted to the decision to use force, rather than simple firearm proficiency.

Highlights

Police use of force, deadly force, in the United States has been on the forefront of scholarly and practitioner discussions for the past decade
While many recommendations have been made to reform the process by which the use of deadly force is investigated and managed post hoc, I will argue that substantive revisions in police firearms training curricula are as important
In the United States, almost all sworn officers carry a firearm while on duty and 93% of agencies responding to a Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) survey indicated that at least some of their officers are equipped with rifles and 94% of responding agencies equip at least some officers with shotguns (PERF, 2013)

Summary

Introduction

Police use of force, deadly force, in the United States has been on the forefront of scholarly and practitioner discussions for the past decade. I will present an autoethnographic account of my own experiences as a trainee and graduate of the Illinois 40-hour law enforcement firearms training course Based on this data, I will offer recommendations for revising and enhancing this course, when it comes to the amount of time spent discussing the appropriate use of deadly force. Center survey of a nationally representative sample of nearly 8,000 police officers found that 27% had used their service weapon at least once while on duty (Morin & Mercer, 2017). Given this information, it is prudent to explore police firearms training

Literature on police firearms training

Limitations of this study and future research

Findings

Conclusion and implications