ABSTRACT
Every time we dial 911 for a law enforcement crisis, we expect that our emergency will be taken seriously and handled competently, due to the skill and dedication of the majority of police officers who perform their jobs skillfully and honorably every day. Historically, however, some segments of American society have come to see their relationship with local law enforcement as adversarial, and this has been highlighted recently by intensely publicized news stories that have focused on officer-involved shootings and other in-custody deaths that seem to have involved excessive use of deadly force. Some media accounts have characterized police as marauding bullies, thugs in blue, who harass, abuse, and kill innocent citizens with impunity, while, for their part, police officers have come to feel maligned and persecuted for what they see as their thankless efforts to protect an ungrateful and hostile public. This chapter explains the psychology and neuroscience of deadly force encounters, specifically, officer-involved shootings.
