In preparation for my presentation at the 2012 ILEETA Conference entitled “Fight Like a Fighter Pilot” I did a lot of research regarding John Boyd’s OODA Loop and his combat strategies. One of the big killers of law enforcement officers is shooting that occur at close distances.
The statistics tell us that the majority of officers shot and killed in the line of duty are killed at distances of 10 feet or less, with more than half occurring at five feet or less.
The crux of my presentation was setting law enforcement officers up to win in physical and armed confrontations by applying Boyd’s’ principles. The first step in the OODA loop is observation, so I did some research regarding what would seem like a logical next step, spotting concealed weapons.
We Know This Stuff, Right?
Initially I was concerned that the information would be common knowledge to an audience comprised of some of the world’s best law enforcement trainers. In Brian McKenna’s class while talking about training issues that related to the Lakewood Four shooting, I polled a large audience, asking how many of them had training on how to spot hidden firearms. I was quite honestly surprised to see that only about 10 percent of the large group indicated they had such training.
In fact my comment to the class was, “Now, isn’t that scary?”
Based on that response I believe that training in this critical area of officer safety is greatly lacking in law enforcement. When I returned from the ILEETA Conference that concern was again confirmed when I received an email from the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors (IALEFI). The message indicated that at the annual conference in Nashville they will be hosting a study headed by the Adversarial Modeling and Exploitation Office of the US Naval Laboratory.
The class is entitled, “The Walk Not the Talk: Behavioral Indicators of Illegal Gun Carrying.”
They are conducting ongoing research into the behavioral cues that indicate someone is carrying a concealed weapon which, “overall goals is to better understand these cues and enhance police officer training to both interdict with persons carrying illegal guns and improve officer safety.”
I forwarded the information that I have to IALEFI to help in that research.
To that end here is the information I have gathered. Here is a website with a poster showing some of the indicators. The graphic is credited to Richard Gallagher NYPD (ret.). In my opinion every police officer should be in possession of this poster. The other sources were the Uniformed Secret Service and Force Science Research Institute.
How to Spot Concealed Handguns
Physical Indictors
1.) Walks only swinging one arm- other arm pinning weapon or clothing down to prevent being seen.
2.) Shorter gait on the carry side.
3.) Shorter arms swing on the carry side
4.) Looking at the location of the gun-see if it’s showing.
5.) Touching the location of the gun-reassurance, adjustment, covering it.
6.) Keep the hand in the pocket closest to the gun to keep it from falling out of the waistband.
7.) Right handed person using the left hand-shaking hands.
8.) Shifting the upper body so that the weapon side is away from the view of the police.
Clothing Indicators
1.) Shirt buttoned at the top, loose at the bottom.
2.) Jacket open on a cold day.
3.) Wearing a jacket on warm day.
4.) Jacket sagging on one side from the weight of a weapon.
5.) Look for the triangular shape formed by the rear sight, muzzle, and butt of a handgun printing through the clothing.
6.) Shirt un-tucked.
7.) Glove on one hand, other in the pocket on cold days.
Location of Carry
1.) About 80 percent of the time the weapon is carried in the waistband on the dominant side, between the hip bone and the navel.
2.) In the rear pocket or behind the hip in the waistband is the second most common.
3.) Cross draw-hip opposite the dominant hand comes in third.
4.) In only the smallest percentage was the gun carried in a holster by the suspect.
Drawing Pre-Attack Cues
1.) Pre-draw touch — to reassure the weapon is in place.
2.) Thumb flair — “gunfighter claw” — the thumb opens to slide between the body and the grip of the gun. Normal gripping of objects like the wallet doesn’t require this hand position.
3.) Pre-draw grip in the pocket or under clothing in preparation of the assault.
4.) Sweep draw — the hand has to get inside the clothing to get to the weapon concealed in the waistband. Clothing is moved to the side. One or two hands can be used.
5.) Lift Draw — clothing must be lifted up and off the concealed weapon to reveal the weapon. Usually requires the use of two hands-one to reveal the weapon the other to grasp it.
6.) Combination requires both hands.
Many of the cues are things that we as law enforcement officers do, sometimes unconsciously. Remember back to when you first started to carry off-duty? I am sure you did (and probably still do) many of these things. Use that knowledge to spot suspects carrying illegal firearms — it’s a critical officer safety issue.
I’ll keep you posted of any news from the study.
Train hard — for the day will come.
