Home -> Research Groups -> Human Factors and Ergonomics -> Projects -> Law Enforcement Research Initiative

Project
Law Enforcement Research Initiative
Funded by Internal CAVS
Grant Number HSE.23
November 1, 2006

In Collaboration with:
Mississippi State University Police Department
Starkville Police Department

PI: Daniel Carruth, Mark Thomas
Team Members: John McGinley, Teena Garrison, Chris Blackledge

Capabilities: MobileEye Portable Eye Tracker, IR Camera Motion Capture System, Exo-skeleton Motion Capture Suit, DriveSafety Driving Simulator

Description:
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The Law Enforcement Research Initiative is an effort to work with the local (city and university) and regional law enforcement communities to investigate human factors issues in officer task performance and training.

By collaborating with local law enforcement such as the MSU and Starkville police departments, we can support the law enforcement mission, investigate human performance in very dynamic, complex, and real-world tasks, collect valuable data for the development of digital human models, and attempt to apply biomechanics, human factors, industrial engineering, ergonomics and psychology to improve and support officer training and operations. Over the course of this project, we anticipate the opportunity to identify factors that separate expert and novice task performance and develop methods for evaluating and improving the skill level of law enforcement officers.

The data that we collect may be of immediate use to local law enforcement collaborators during training and operations and may lead to many future projects. Although prospective projects may depend on the success and efficacy of the new technological devices being used to collect data, if successful, prospective projects include task analyses and studies to: 1) determine the best methods to train law enforcement officers for urban tactical operations, 2) discover methods to improve target identification and acquisition while shooting, 3) evaluate methods to improve overall shooting performance, 4) and evaluate and improve design of law enforcement equipment and armors.