One of the most controversial elements in teaching defensive deadly force is what to say to the police when they arrive. A near-death experience alters perceptions and memories: you are unlikely to be able to correctly answer questions like \u201cExactly how far away was he when you fired? How many shots did you fire? What exactly was said before the shooting started?\u201d And those predictable innocent mistakes can easily be seen as lying about it later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, the conventional wisdom of \u201cSay nothing to the police without a lawyer present\u201d is great advice for guilty people but sub-optimal for those who fired in legitimate self-defense. If the cops don\u2019t have your side of the story, they don\u2019t know what evidence to look for, what witnesses might support your account of events, etc. You will have left them without your side of it, without the truth of the matter. I\u2019ve told my students for years that \u201cA guilty man\u2019s lawyer who gives you a guilty man\u2019s advice and a guilty man\u2019s defense is likely to get you a guilty man\u2019s verdict.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I present one voice of experience that\u2019s in agreement with me, and with the limited statement of my five-point checklist of what needs to be established right off the bat. You\u2019ve seen me quote Greg Ellifretz here before. He is a voice of experience in law enforcement and in use of force training, and one of our great instructors today. I strongly recommend that you subscribe to his Weekly Knowledge Dump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n