What to Expect From An Attacker

A common theme taught to Officer Candidates in military strategy is, "Know thy Enemy". So too is it wise for people preparing for self defense to know what to expect should they encounter someone planning on doing them great harm.

A good starting place is a fairly recent FBI study report on how the bad guys train, what their tactics are, and the weapons they chose. Among other things, the data reveal that most would-be killers:

• show signs of being armed that even law enforce officers miss;
• have more experience using deadly force in “street combat” than their intended victims;
• practice with firearms more often and shoot more accurately;
• have no hesitation whatsoever about pulling the trigger. "If you hesitate," one told the study’s researchers, "you’re dead. You have the instinct or you don’t. If you don’t, you’re in trouble on the street..."

These and other weapons-related findings comprise one chapter in a 180-page research summary called "Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation's Law Enforcement Officers." The study is the third in a series of long investigations into fatal and nonfatal attacks on POs by the FBI team of Dr. Anthony Pinizzotto, clinical forensic psychologist, and Ed Davis, criminal investigative instructor, both with the Bureau’s Behavioral Science Unit, and Charles Miller III, coordinator of the LEOs Killed and Assaulted program.

When it comes to a choice of weapons, most of the criminal element will use whatever is available to them by purchasing stolen firearms on the street. While semi automatic center fire pistols are preferred, circumstances often arm them with revolvers.

Nearly 40% of the offenders had some type of formal firearms training, primarily from the military. More than 80% "regularly practiced with handguns, averaging 23 practice sessions a year," the study reports, usually in informal settings like trash dumps, rural woods, back yards and "street corners in known drug-trafficking areas."

Over 40% had participated in multiple shooting incidents both as aggressor and victim, with some reporting being involved in shootings as young as the age of 12. A number of interviewees reported being shot as young as the age of 12.

Most criminals carry their firearms stuffed into their front waistband without a holster. A few carry on a tether of some sort hanging around their neck and under their clothing.

60% of the criminals interviewed reported advanced training in "instinctual shooting" (much more practical in a short range gunfight with handguns) which is more advanced than most law enforcement officers ever get as it takes 1000s of rounds and considerable coaching to be skilled in this form of shooting.  The report also contained a startling statistic: 70% of all the criminals reported accomplishing disabling hits on their victims, while law enforcement officers only average around 30-40% accuracy in accomplishing disabling hits. (In some federal agencies, the percentage is often as low as 20%.)

Unlike the average citizen who carries for self protection, or even law enforcement officers, the average criminal has little or no restraint slowing them up from shooting or killing their victim. They hesitate less, if at all, making them faster and often better shooters than their victims.