Factors Influencing Marksmanship in Police Officers: A Narrative Review
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Eligibility Criteria
2.2. Information Sources and Search
2.3. Study Selection, Data Collection and Synthesis
3. Results
3.1. Study Selection, Data Collection and Synthesis
3.2. Physical and Physiological Factors
3.3. Psychological Factors
3.4. Other Factors
4. Discussion
4.1. Grip Strength
4.2. Physical Exertion
4.3. Tactical Load
4.4. High-Threat Scenarios
4.5. Other Factors
4.6. Limitations
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Inclusion Criteria | Exclusion Criteria |
---|---|
Peer-reviewed publications reporting original research. | Studies that only reported results for weapons other than handguns, or results for handgun were not separately reported. |
English availability or translatable to English. | Studies assessing marksmanship via virtual reality, simulators, or in competitions. |
Subjects were police officers or police recruits. | |
Objective assessment of marksmanship. | |
Reported handgun shooting accuracy. | |
Investigated the impact of at least one factor on marksmanship. |
Police | Marksmanship | |
---|---|---|
(“police”[MeSH Terms] OR “police”[All Fields] OR “polices”[All Fields] OR “policing”[All Fields] OR “law enforcement”[All Fields] OR “tactic”[All Fields] OR “tactical”[All Fields] OR “tactically”[All Fields] OR “tactics”[All Fields] OR “sheriff”[All Fields] OR “sheriffs”[All Fields]) | AND | (“marksmanship”[All Fields] OR ((“perform”[All Fields] OR “performance”[All Fields] OR “performances”[All Fields] OR “accuracies”[All Fields] OR “accuracy”[All Fields] OR “precise”[All Fields] OR “preciseness”[All Fields] OR “precision”[All Fields] OR “precisions”[All Fields] OR “efficiency”[MeSH Terms] OR “efficiency”[All Fields] OR “efficient”[All Fields] OR “efficiently”[All Fields] OR “lethal”[All Fields] OR “lethalities”[All Fields] OR “lethality”[All Fields] OR “lethals”[All Fields] OR “handle”[All Fields] OR “handled”[All Fields] OR “handles”[All Fields] OR “handling”[All Fields] OR “han-dlings”[All Fields] OR “skill*”[All Fields]) AND (“handgun *”[All Fields] OR “weapon *”[All Fields] OR “gun”[All Fields] OR “shoot *”[All Fields] OR “firing”[All Fields] OR “firings”[All Fields] OR “pistol *”[All Fields] OR “rifle *”[All Fields] OR “shot”[All Fields] OR “firearm *”[All Fields]))) |
Reference /Study Design | Population | Variables | Results |
---|---|---|---|
Anderson and Plecas 2000 [5] Cross-sectional design | * Police Recruits (n = 65; 54 males) * Mean age: NR * Mean experience: NR | * 30-trigger pull test * Balance * Forearm girth * Grip strength * Hand breadth * Hand length * Handgun type: # Beretta 94F # Glock 22 * Height * Humerus length * POPAT * Sex * Static push-up * Thumb length * Trigger finger length * Ulnar length * Weight * Wrist breadth | * When males and females were analyzed together, shooting scores were significantly correlated with: # Forearm girth # Dominant grip strength # Combined grip strength # Second ray length # POPAT times * No significant relationships were found in the sex-specific groups * Participants using Beretta had significantly lower qualifying scores than those using Glock * No other correlations were found |
Billich et al. 2014 [2] Quasi-experimental design | * Specialist Police Officers (n = 8) * Mean age: 30.3 (±3.5) y | * Physical exertion | * The distance between hits significantly increased after physical exertion * Physical exertion negatively affected shooting precision |
Bock et al. 2016 [15] Cross-sectional design | * Police Recruits (n = 53) * Minimum age: 18 y and 4 months * Mean age: NR * Mean experience: NR | * FMS score | * FMS scores were similar when comparing those passing to those failing the marksmanship assessment |
Brown et al. 2021 [16] Cross-sectional design | * Police Officers (n = 118; 86 males): # Constables: 79.6% # Corporals: 14.2% # Sergeants: 5.3% # Staff Sergeants: 0.9% * Mean age: 36.2 (±7.8) y | * Grip strength (dominant hand) * Sex | * Grip strength was significantly positively correlated with PPQ scores (only when sexes were analyzed together) * Grip strength values in the range of 36.3kg and 56.7kg (80 lb and 125 lb) were needed to score approximately 85% and 90% on the PPQ (passing scores), respectively * Female officers achieved lower PPQ scores and had lower grip strength compared to their male counterparts |
Brown et al. 2013 [17] Quasi-experimental design | * Police Officers (n = 8) * Mean age: 30.1 (±5.9) y * Mean experience: 4.4 (±2.0) y | * HR * Physical exertion (85% HRmax or exhaustion) | * Neither HR nor physical exertion were correlated with shooting performance * Similar shooting performance between pre- and post-exercise |
Carbone et al. 2014 [18] Crossover trial | * Specialist Police Officers (n = 6) * Mean age: 33.3 (±4.1) y * Mean experience Police Officer: 10.9 (±5.1) y * Mean experience Specialist Police Officer: 4.0 (±2.8) y * Minimum fitness standard | * Shooting trials: # Static trial # Mobile trial * Tactical load (mean weight 22.8 ± 1.8 kg) | * In both trials, DCOT and vertical dispersion (Y) were similar when comparing loaded and unloaded conditions * In the static trial, the horizontal shot dispersion (X) significantly improved when tactically loaded; however, no difference was found in the mobile trial |
Colin et al. 2014 [19] Randomized controlled trial | * Police Officers (n = 66; 53 males) * Mean age: 29.7 (±9.1) y * Mean experience: 6.1 (±7.2) y | * Shooting conditions: # LT: opponent armed with a dummy handgun (Bluegun®, Walther P5; no trigger) # HT: opponent armed with a real handgun (Walther P5), with the opponent occasionally shooting back using colored-soap cartridges | * The CG performed significantly worse when shooting in the HT condition, compared to the performance in LT * No difference in shooting accuracy was found between LT and HT conditions for subjects in the execution imagery and execution-emotion imagery groups * Both execution imagery and execution-emotion imagery groups performed significantly better than the CG when shooting in the HT condition |
Copay and Charles 2001 [20] Cross-sectional design | * Police Recruits (n = 149): # Less skilled shooters (n = 65) # Skilled shooters (n = 79) * Mean age: NR * Mean experience: NR | * Night shooting conditions: # Back-lighted target # Front-lighted target # With flashlight (three different types) # Intermittent lights * Shooting skill * Use of night sights | * Skilled shooters performed significantly better than less skilled shooters when firing in the back-lighted, front-lighted, and flashlight conditions, regardless of night sight use. No difference was found between shooting skills in the intermittent light condition * For both less skilled and skilled shooters, shooting scores using flashlights were significantly lower than the scores in the front-lighted target condition * Type of flashlight used did not affect accuracy * For both less skilled and skilled shooters, the shooting scores in all four shooting conditions were significantly higher for officers who used night sights compared to those that did not |
Copay and Charles 2001 [21] Quasi-experimental design | * Police Recruits # CG: n = 91 (81 males) # EG: n = 96 (79 males) * Mean age: NR * Mean experience: NR | * Grip strength (dominant hand) * Sex | * Shooting scores significantly improved for both CG and EG after 8 weeks of training, with no significant differences between the groups * Grip strength was positively correlated with marksmanship performance and was a predictor of the shooting scores in the post-training assessment * In both pre- and post-training assessments, female recruits had lower grip strength and marksmanship scores than their male counterparts * Sex was not a predictor of shooting performance when grip strength was accounted for |
Do Nascimento Neto et al. 2017 [22] Quasi-experimental design | * Specialist Police Officers (n = 15) * Mean age: 34.1 (±5.4) y * Mean experience ≥ 6 y | * Aerobic capacity (VO2 peak) * Physical exertion (85% HRmax) | * VO2 peak was not correlated with marksmanship performance when shooting at rest and after the exercise intervention * Physical exertion did not affect shooting performance |
Hornsby et al. 2021 [23] Quasi-experimental design | * Police Officers, n = 10 (8 males) * Mean age: 32.2 (±9.4) y | * HR biofeedback | * The use of HR biofeedback did not improve marksmanship accuracy |
Kayihan et al. 2013 [3] Cross-sectional design | * Police Recruits (n = 237) * Age range: 19-20 y | * Aerobic capacity (20-MST) * Age * Anxiety (state anxiety, trait anxiety, change in anxiety) * Balance (Stork Balance Standing Test) * Biceps circumference * BMI * Calf circumference * Coordination (Alternate Hand Wall Toss Test) * Femur diameter * Flexibility (sit and reach test) * Grip strength (dominant hand) * Height * HR * Humerus diameter * Muscular endurance (curl-up test: 30 and 60 sec) * Reaction time * Skinfold thickness (abdominal, pectoral, thigh) * Weight * Wrist circumference | * Significant correlations were found between shooting efficiency and: # Anxiety variability (negative correlation) and state anxiety (negative correlation) # Balance (positive correlation) # Biceps circumference (positive correlation) # Coordination (positive correlation) # Femur diameter (positive correlation) # Flexibility (positive correlation) # Grip strength (positive correlation) # HR variability during shooting (negative correlation) # HRmax (negative correlation) # Mean HR (negative correlation) # Wrist circumference (positive correlation) * No other correlations were found |
Landman et al. 2016 [24] Cross-sectional design | * Police Officers (regular officers; n= 14) # Mean age: 34.6 (±9.4) y * Specialist Police Officers (AU officers; n = 15) # Mean age: 29.4 (±3.1) y * Officers enrolled to start Specialist Police (pre-AU officers; n = 11) # Mean age: 30.6 (±5.0) y | * Anxiety (STAI) * BIS * Experience (work experience, experience with violent situations, army experience) * FI * Self-control strength (AOD, AOT) * Shooting conditions: # LP: opponent fired a blank cartridge # HP: opponent fired blank and colored-soap cartridges * TAS | * AU officers shot significantly more accurately than the regular officers * Officers (combined) shot more accurately in the LP condition than in the HP condition * HP shooting accuracy was positively correlated with: # AU experience # TAS # Violence experience * HP shooting accuracy was predicted by: # AU experience # BIS # LP shooting accuracy # Order of conditions (LP x HP) # TAS * No other correlations were found |
Landman et al. 2016 [25] Cross-sectional design | * Police Officers (n = 42; 37 males) * Mean age: 32.9 (±8.3) y * Mean experience: 9.0 (±7.6) y | * Anxiety (STAI) * Age * Experience (work experience) * Self-control strength (AOD, AOT) * Sex * Shooting conditions: # LP: the opponent was a life-size mannequin dressed in a black protective overall, facemask, throat protector, and hand gloves # HP: the opponent was an experienced police firearms instructor wearing the same clothes and protective gear as the mannequin in LP, occasionally firing colored soap cartridges | * HP shooting accuracy was positively correlated with: # AOD # Sex (male) * HP shooting accuracy was predicted by: # AOD # LP shooting accuracy * No other correlations were found |
Muirhead et al. 2019 [26] Retrospective cohort | * Police Officers (n = 33) * Mean age: 40.5 (±6.7) y | * Aerobic capacity (20-MST) * Grip strength (dominant hand) * Isometric leg/back strength * Shooting scenarios: # Static # Dynamic # Positive identification * Vertical jump | * Static scenario: # Shooting accuracy was positively correlated with 20-MST * Dynamic scenario: # Shooting accuracy was negatively correlated with dominant grip strength * Positive identification scenario: # Shooting accuracy was positively correlated with leg/back strength * No other correlations were found |
Nieuwenhuys and Oudejans 2010 [27] Cross-sectional design | * Police Officers (n = 7; 6 males) * Mean age: 23.8 (±2.0) y * Mean experience: 3.4 (±2.4) y | * Shooting conditions: # LA: the opponent was a life-size mannequin dressed in a black protective overall, facemask, throat protector, and hand gloves # HA: the opponent was an experienced police firearms instructor wearing the same clothes and protective gear as the mannequin in LP, occasionally firing colored soap cartridges | * Shooting performance was significantly lower under HA compared to LA |
Nieuwenhuys and Oudejans 2011 [28] Randomized controlled trial | * Police Officers (n = 27; 25 males) # CG n = 14 (13 males); mean age: 34.8 (±6.4) y; mean experience: 11.5 (±5.7) y # EG: n = 13 (12 males); mean age: 34.6 (±7.4) y; mean experience: 11.6 (±7.0) y | * Shooting conditions: # LA: the opponent was a life-size mannequin dressed in a black protective overall, facemask, throat protector, and hand gloves # HA: the opponent was an experienced police firearms instructor wearing the same clothes and protective gear as the mannequin in LP, occasionally firing colored soap cartridges | * Pre-test: # Both EG and CG performed significantly worse under HA compared to LA * Post-test: # Shooting performance in the CG significantly decreased from LA to HA # Shooting performance in the EG was similar between HA and LA # The EG performed significantly better than the CG when shooting under HA * Retention test (at 4 months): # Shooting performance in the CG significantly decreased from LA to HA # Shooting performance in the EG was similar between HA and LA # The CG performed significantly better shooting under HA compared to shooting under HA at the post-test |
Oron-Gilad et al. 2008 [29] Cross-sectional design | * Police Officers (n = 62; 52 males) * Mean age: 37.0 (range 22–56) y * Mean experience: 11.0 (range 1–32) y | * Age * Experience (years of service) * Night shooting tasks: # Warmup task # Flashlight task # Barrel task # Metal task * Subjective workload (RTLX scores) | * Age and years of service were not correlated with shooting performance * RTLX scores significantly increased and shooting performance significantly decreased from: # Warmup task to flashlight task # Warmup task to barrel task # Flashlight task to barrel task * Performance was similar comparing shooting in the flashlight task and in the metal task, despite a significant increase in RTLX scores (higher in the latter) * Performance in the warmup task was predictive of their performance in the other tasks * Performance in the warmup, flashlight, and barrel tasks were correlated with each other * Performance in the metal task did not correlate with any of the other tasks * In the metal task, shooting performance was negatively correlated with task duration |
Orr et al. 2018 [30] Crossover trial | * Specialist Police Officers (n = 6) * Mean age: 34.0 (±7.4) y * Mean experience: 6.0 (±6.8) y | * Tactical load (mean weight 23.5 kg ± 2.8 kg) * Shooting trials: # Short forward movement # Mobility task * Subjective perception of the impact of load carriage on performance | * Marksmanship accuracy was similar when comparing performance under loaded and unloaded conditions in both shooting trials * Officers perceived improved marksmanship when tactically loaded * No other correlations were found |
Orr et al. 2017 [7] Retrospective cohort | * Police Recruits (n = 169) * Minimum age: 18 y and 4 months | * Grip strength | * Grip strength (both right and left sides) predicted marksmanship score * Individuals who passed the marksmanship assessment had significant higher grip strength (both right and left sides) than those who failed |
Orr et al. 2021 [31] Cross-sectional design | * Police Officers (n = 12; 6 males) * Mean age: 38.1 (±6.2) y * Mean height: 174.4 (±7.3) cm | * Grip strength (dominant hand) * Hand size (dominant hand): # Palm width across the MCP joints # Hand span (measured from the tip of the pollex to the tip of the 5th phalange) * Sex | * Neither hand size nor grip strength were correlated with marksmanship performance * Non-significant trend towards better DCOT scores for: # Female officers with higher grip strength # Female officers with larger hand span * Non-significant trend towards worse DCOT scores for: # Male officers with higher grip strength # Male officers with larger hand span |
Oudejans 2008 [32] Quasi-experimental design | * Police Officers (n = 17; 15 males) # CG (n = 8; 7 males); mean age: 39.0 (±8.5) y; mean experience: 14.0 (±8.0) y # EG (n = 9; 8 males); mean age: 35.0 (±9.5) y; mean experience: 9.0 (±5.4) y | * Shooting scenarios: # LP: shooting at cardboard targets # HP: shooting against a certified firearms instructor dressed in a black protective overall, facemask, throat protector, and hand gloves, carrying a fake knife and a handgun, occasionally firing marking cartridges | * Pre-training: # Shooting performance was worse under HP compared to shooting under LP for both EG and CG * Post-training: # EG had similar performance when shooting under HP and LP # CG had lower shooting performance under HP compared to LP |
Thomas et al. 2018 [33] Quasi-experimental design | * Specialist Police Officers (n = 12) * Mean age: 33.7 (±5.2) y * Mean experience in law enforcement: 8.8 (±4.4) y * Mean experience in SWAT: 4.8 (±4.6) y | * Tactical load (mean weight 14.2 ± 2.0 kg) | * No differences when shooting under loaded and unloaded conditions during the STT |
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Simas, V.; Schram, B.; Canetti, E.F.D.; Maupin, D.; Orr, R. Factors Influencing Marksmanship in Police Officers: A Narrative Review. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 14236. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114236
Simas V, Schram B, Canetti EFD, Maupin D, Orr R. Factors Influencing Marksmanship in Police Officers: A Narrative Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(21):14236. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114236
Chicago/Turabian StyleSimas, Vini, Ben Schram, Elisa F. D. Canetti, Danny Maupin, and Robin Orr. 2022. "Factors Influencing Marksmanship in Police Officers: A Narrative Review" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 21: 14236. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114236