Officer Survival Spotlight Foot Pursuits: Keeping Officers Safe

By Brian McAllister

7/8/201

Instructors for the FBI’s Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Program begin each class addressing foot pursuit by asking students, How many officers received some form of foot-pursuit training from their respective agencies? On average only 1 to 3 percent of class participants give an affirmative answer. In courses dealing with facing a drawn gun, trainers ask, How many officers’ agencies provide training for drawn-gun scenarios? Approximately 10 to 20 percent of students answer that they received this type of instruction.

Statistically, officers’ chance of becoming involved in a foot pursuit greatly exceeds their likeliness of ever facing a drawn-gun scenario. Yet, how many foot pursuits could end with an officer encountering a drawn gun? If proactive training is a key to reducing risk to law enforcement personnel, agencies should train for foot pursuits beforehand to minimize the chance of officers facing a drawn gun while on duty.