Emanuel Kapelsohn, Esq. - Biographical Points€¦ · A-Class IPSC Combat Pistol. • Agencies for which Mr. Kapelsohn has conducted instructor-level training include: New York State

Testimony of Emanuel Kapelsohn, President of The Peregrine Corporation (1636 N. Cedar Crest Blvd. #320, Allentown, PA 18104), before the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Police Training and Department Accreditation, Sept. 15, 2020.

Background of and Qualifications of Witness: Emanuel Kapelsohn graduated with honors from Yale University (1974), and holds a law degree from Harvard Law School (1977). He was first admitted to practice law in New York in 1978, practiced with a New York City litigation firm, and has practiced law in Pennsylvania since 1994. He is President of The Peregrine Corporation, a law enforcement training/consulting firm. He has trained and certified police firearms and use of force instructors nationwide for 40 years, including for major agencies such as the police departments of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, Seattle, Phoenix, Trenton, Atlantic City, the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police, the New York State Police, Louisiana State Police, Missouri Highway Patrol, Oregon State Police, and many others. He is certified as a law enforcement firearms instructor for handgun, shotgun, patrol rifle, counter-sniper rifle, and submachine gun, as an instructor for use ofless lethal impact munitions and pepper spray, as a Taser Master Instructor, in shooting scene reconstruction, and as a Force Science Analyst and Advanced Specialist in Force Science. He has trained an estimated 17,000 individuals, the majority of whom are law enforcement officers and instructors. For the past 36 years he has served as an expert witness nationwide in police use of force cases in state and federal courts. His expert witness clients have included the U.S. Department of Justice, the Attorneys General of South Dakota, Wyoming, Georgia, and Pennsylvania (in cases involving the Pennsylvania State Police), the Delaware Department of Justice, several federal agencies, and cities including Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Bridgeport, and Philadelphia. In Pennsylvania he has been qualified as an expert and has testified in use of force cases before the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Pennsylvania, and before the Courts of Common Pleas for ten (10) Pennsylvania counties. He has written and consulted on the writing of use of force policies for a number of law enforcement agencies. As a consultant to the Pennsylvania Municipal Police Officers Education & Training Commission ("MPOETC"), Mr. Kapelsohn was among the several subject matter experts who wrote the firearms and use of force curriculum used for the past 10 years to train police recruits at academies throughout Pennsylvania; he had a major hand in writing the Commonwealth's police patrol rifle guidelines; and he helped design (and helped teach the pilot class and instructor training class for) the Mandatory In-Service Training program, "Police Use of Force," taught to some 25,000 police officers throughout Pennsylvania in 2016. He has for years been a presenter at national and international conferences oflaw enforcement instructors, has served for 35 years on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructor and is currently that association's First Vice President, taught in a 3-year series of Senior Firearms Instructors Classes for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, and for two years taught a senior seminar he designed, entitled "Police Use of Force," in the Criminal Justice Department of Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana. He has authored or co-authored over 120 published works, including Firearms Training Standards for Law Enforcement Persmmel and Standard & Practices Guide for Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors. The latter work has been purchased in quantity by the Department of Justice for placement in federal court libraries throughout the United States. Mr. Kapelsohn has testified by invitation before both Houses of Congress and before several other legislative bodies. He has also served as a sworn, armed special deputy sheriff for a Pennsylvania sheriffs office for the past 22 years, and served as a

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reserve deputy sheriff in Indiana for 5 years while he lived there. He has personal experience in a wide range of law enforcement tasks, ranging from response to routine calls for service, traffic control and enforcement, and prisoner transports, to vehicular pursuits, foot pursuits, service of search warrants and arrest warrants, barricaded gunman situations, and arrests of armed suspects at gunpoint.

Outline of Testimony:

1. Basic standards for law enforcement use of force: landmark U.S. Supreme Court case of Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989), interpreting the effect of the 4th Amendment's prohibition of "unreasonabJe searches and seizures," to require that force used in law enforcement must be "objectively reasonable" under the "totality of the circumstances," as judged "from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene," and that "the calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments - in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving - about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation."

The "perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene" requires that those determining police use of force policy, and thereafter those judging the officer's use of force, must have some actual knowledge about use of force principles, tactics, human performance limits, and the threat levels posed by gun, knives and the like, like police officers do, rather than that they just be media figures or "soundbite pundits."

2. "Objectively reasonable" force vs. "Necessary" force: discuss, with example (from Camden, NJ) of man advancing with barbecue grill fork toward police officer and innocent bystanders. California legislative example.

3. Specialized Knowledge May Be Necessary to Know What Force is "Objectively

Reasonable": Demonstrations: 1. Action vs. Reaction (toy guns, and hand clap)

2. 7 yards= 1.5 Seconds (the "21-Foot Rule")

4. Lateral Vascular Neck Restraints ("LVNR") v. "Choke Holds": reference to National Law Enforcement Training Center, Kansas City, Missouri. 40 years without any death or serious injury in certified law enforcement agencies. Example of policy provision re. use of flashlight as lighting instrument only, use of flashlight as impact weapon prohibited. "Weapons of Opportunity/Necessity." Policy provision: "Allowance for Extraordinary and Unforeseen Circumstances."

5. Police Training Standards and Department Accreditation: Generally, a good thing.

6. Responses to Points Raised in Other Testimony

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Emanuel Kapelsohn, Esq. - Biographical Points

• B.A. Yale College, cum laude, 1974 • J.D. Harvard Law School 1977 • Admitted to practice law in New York (1978); licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania (1994) • Has practiced law in NYC 1978-1982, and in Allentown, PA since 1994 • Certified as police firearms instructor by the FBI, NRA, Pennsylvania MPOETC, NJPTC, et al. ;

since 1978 has trained approximately 17 ,000 individuals. • Over the past 40 years, has attended firearms, tactics and use of force courses taught by the FBI, U.S.

Marshal's Service, BATFE, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Army Marksmanship Training Unit at Fort Benning, NRA, JST A, ASLET, IALEFI, ILEET A, Glock, Sig Sauer, H&K International, Defense Training International (John Farnam), International Police Academy (Master Jim Morell), Executive Security International, Scotti School of Defensive Driving, BSR, Monadnock, ASP, Taser, Gunsite (American Pistol Institute, Colonel Jeff Cooper), Thunder Ranch (Clint Smith), and others.

• Instructor, Burlington County (NJ) Police Academy, 1985-1992 • Instructor, Allentown Police Academy, 1999-2007, teaching "Use of Force in Law Enforcement" and

assisting in "Firearms" instruction • Staff Instructor, American Pistol Institute ("Gunsite"). Col. Jeff Cooper, Director. 1980-1982 • Adjunct Instructor, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, Criminal Justice Department 2009-2011, teaching

Senior Seminar, "Police Use of Force" • Special Deputy Sheriff, Berks County (PA) Sheriffs Office, 1997-present • Reserve Deputy Sheriff, Greene County (IN) Sheriffs Office, 2008-2012 • Member, Board of Directors, International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors, 1987-

present. Currently First Vice President. Former Chairman, Firearms Training Standards Committee. Former Chairman, Safety Committee. Chairman, Legal Committee. Chairman, Instructor Criteria Committee. Presenter at numerous Annual, Regional, and Master Instructor Training Conferences.

• Charter Member, American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers. Presenter at Annual and Regional Training Conferences.

• Member, International Law Enforcement Educators & Trainers Association. Presenter, Annual Training Conferences.

• Benefactor Member, National Rifle Association. Lead Instructor in Police Semiautomatic Pistol Instructor Seminars taught nationwide; Instructor in Law Enforcement Firearms Instructor Development School (USMC Base, Quantico, VA).

• Contract Instructor for Glock, Inc., 1987-1992. Helped develop Glock' s U.S. law enforcement training program, and conducted numerous Glock Instructor Courses and Armorer Courses nationwide and abroad. Continue to serve as consultant to Glock, Inc.

• Served as contract instructor for O.F. Mossberg & Sons (armorer courses), ParaOrdnance (instructor and armorer courses), Kimber Firearms (instructor and armorer courses).

• Consultant and Instructor-Trainer for Pennsylvania Municipal Police Officers Education & Training Commission, approx. 1992 to date. Helped write firearms and use of force curriculum used at law enforcement academies throughout Pennsylvania for past 16 years; helped in revision of current curriculum; helped develop Patrol Rifle Guidelines; helped develop curriculum and train instructors for mandatory in-service Use of Force Training Program taught to 25,000 police officers throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

• Instructed in 2-1/2 year series of Senior Firearms Instructor Courses for U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms taught in locations on the East and West Coasts.

• Expert witness in shooting & use of force cases in state and federal courts nationwide since 1984; has testified in 45 state courts in 18 states and 14 federal courts in 12 states. Clients have included the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorneys General of several states, Cities of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Bridgeport, St. Louis, Milwaukee and others, Palm Beach County (FL), Delaware Department of Justice, Department of the Army, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, etc.

• Has testified by invitation before both Houses of Congress on firearms and security issues.

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• Recent high-profile cases in which Mr. Kapelsohn has testified as an expert include the Yanez case (Philandro Castile shooting), Brailsford case (Daniel Shaver shooting), and Noor case (Diane Ruszczyk Damond shooting).

• Author of over 120 published articles in firearms field; Associate Editor, Standards & Practices Guide for Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors (350 pgs.); Principal Author, Firearms Training Standard for Law Enforcement Personnel; Principal Author, IALEFI Guidelines for irnulation Training Safety.

• Former Technical Editor, Police Marksman magazine; former Contributing Editor, SWAT. • Has conducted training programs in Canada, South America, the Caribbean, and Africa. • Former Director of Security, Jasna Polana, Princeton, NJ (Estate of Barbara P. Johnson); supervised 11-

man executive protection and estate security team. • Certified Instructor in Handgun, Shotgun, Submachine Gun, Patrol Rifle, Counter-Sniper Rifle, Tactical

Firearms, Defensive Tactics, Weapon Retention, Baton (PR-24 and ASP), Pepper Spray, Taser Master Instructor, Psychomotor Skill Design, Less Lethal Impact Munitions, FATS. NRA-certified Chief Range Safety Officer

• Certified in Shooting Scene Reconstruction, Executive Protection, Defensive and Counter-Terrorist Driving, Certified Force Science Analyst, and Certified Force Science Specialist.

• Expert ratings: Smallbore Rifle, Light Rifle, High-Power Rifle, Shotgun, Submachine Gun, Patrol Rifle, Counter-Sniper Rifle. Handgun Distinguished Expert. A-Class IPSC Combat Pistol.

• Agencies for which Mr. Kapelsohn has conducted instructor-level training include: New York State Police Oregon State Police Louisiana State Police Missouri Highway Patrol Philadelphia Police Department Baltimore Police Department Miami Police Department Jacksonville Sheriffs Office/Police Department St. Petersburg Police Department Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Seattle Police Department Spokane Police Department Tacoma Police Department San Francisco Sheriffs Office Trenton Police Department Atlantic City Police Department Jersey City Police Department Dallas Police Department Salt Lake County Sheriffs Office Berks County Sheriffs Office Massachusetts Metropolitan Police North Carolina Justice Academy South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Tennessee Bureau oflnvestigation Nevada State Fire Marshal's Office National Capital Park Police Henrico County Police Department New Jersey Department of Corrections New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife, Law Enforcement Branch U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Toronto Police Service, Dignitary Protection Unity and Emergency Task Force Calgary Police Service, Tactical Unit PA MPOETC Instructor Courses, PA State Police Academy and Ft. Indiantown Gap M4 Use of Cover and M9 Handgun Training - Joint Base Myer - Henderson Hall, Virginia Atlantic County (NJ) Firearms Instructor Recertification Courses (for the past 24 years)

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