The Relationship Between Stress, Training, and Performance in a Highly Realistic Lethal Force Scenario

To determine whether an officer’s use of force is reasonable, courts consider the totality of the circumstances known at the time of the incident by the officer and consider whether other reasonably prudent officers would have responded in a similar way. The results of the source article suggest it is unreasonable to expect officers to perform perfectly in high-stress situations. Regardless of their training and experience, officers often make errors in such situations and experience a range of performance problems. Training standards need to be set in an attempt to minimize poor officer performance. Realistic scenario-based training should be used, which elicits stress responses and focuses on the development of skills that have been shown to improve performance under stress.