EFFECTS OF SEAT BELT USE IN POLICE VEHICLES ON POLICE RESPONSE TIMES IN AMBUSH CASES
A study using single-case experimental design
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31060/rbsp.2025.v19.n1.1932Keywords:
Police, Safety belt, Seatbelt, Gunfight, Firearms, TacticsAbstract
This study aimed to investigate the influence of safety belt use during police patrolling on the times for exiting the vehicle and returning fire in case of shots fired from the side of the police car. An experiment was taken involving four cadets from a southern Brazilian state police department. Gender, height, weight and BMI were controlled for. All participants were right-handed. Experimenters controlled for 21 potential confusion variables. A single case experimental design was used, with single baselines and between-subjects replication. Time for exiting the police vehicle and time for returning fire were registered. Three conditions have been tested: safety belt on, safety belt off and a hybrid/middleground condition. Results suggest that the use of safety belts raised the time to return fire by individual averages of 0,75s to 0,99s (25% to 33%). In a real situation, those officers could be hit by 2-8 extra shots, due to such a time difference. It wasn’t possible to establish a clear and stable baseline for the hybrid condition (condition 3). Despite that, results suggest condition 3 doesn’t have the potential to present better results than any of the other two conditions. Considering traffic accidents are more likely to victimize police officers than shootings, a cautious risk analysis is required before setting policies on the use of safety belts in police vehicles.
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