![]() That said, in the wake of high-profile distortions, leaders in our profession thought it wise to reinforce the premise of Tueller’s work. Even now many of you are remembering the times you could have lawfully used force, even deadly force, but instead generated voluntary compliance. Some reform advocates went so far as to suggest this unreasonable approach reflected the “culture” of policing.Īnyone taking an unbiased look at the police profession knows that American police resolve the overwhelming majority of deadly force encounters without firing a shot. Nevertheless, the 21-Foot Principle came under scrutiny as critics sidestepped Tueller’s published work, and instead offered anecdotes as evidence that “some” officers believed they could use deadly force based solely on an armed suspect standing closer than 21 feet. Gordon Graham: Law Enforcement Officers and the 21-Foot Rule Or that officers were presumptively safe from anyone outside of 21 feet. But a fair reading of Tueller’s work would never result in the belief that officers could simply shoot anyone they perceived as being armed and within 21 feet. ![]() Tueller conceded that, despite an officer’s best efforts, firearms may be needed to stop sudden, close quarter, armed attacks. Tueller advised officers to give verbal warnings and cautioned that even perfect shots on a charging suspect may not be enough to overcome their forward momentum. As soon as you recognize that an armed suspect is close enough to reach you, look for cover, draw your weapon, utilize available barriers, buy time where you can, and even consider tactical withdrawal. To get the word out, Tueller authored “ How CLOSE Is TOO CLOSE?” an article first published in the March 1983 issue of SWAT magazine. ![]() Dennis Tueller thought this insight might be important for officers who would face suspects armed with edged or blunt weapons. Incidentally, that’s about the same time it takes an officer to draw a firearm and fire two unaimed shots.” And if we’ve been doing our job as police trainers, most of you will be thinking, “It’s not a rule! It’s simply the principle that an average person can sprint 21 feet in roughly 1.5 seconds. Originally published on the Force Science Institute website.
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