Field Guide
Guided Orientation
The Field Guide is designed for readers who want to understand the subject before moving into EWRL’s full research collection.
Each guide introduces a major issue in plain language, places it within the incident lifecycle, identifies what matters most, and connects readers to the deeper research, legal analysis, data, and source material behind it.
The guides are not intended to replace the underlying research. They provide a starting point.
From 911 Call to Officer Knowledge
How information changes between the first call and officer arrival—and why what was known later is not necessarily what an officer knew at the time.
Read the guide →Mental Illness and Crisis
How crisis information shapes dispatch, communication, tactical options, and interpretation of behaviour throughout the incident lifecycle.
Read the guide →Distance, Cover, and Time
How positioning, containment, cover, and time interact—and why there is no universal safe distance in edged-weapon encounters.
Read the guide →Communication and Opportunity to Comply
Why a command and the ability to comply are not the same thing—and what shapes the meaning of apparent noncompliance.
Read the guide →Weapon Possession, Posture, and Threat
Why "armed with a knife" is a starting point for threat assessment, not a conclusion—and how to read possession, posture, movement, and distance separately.
Read the guide →Less-Lethal and Lethal Intervention
How intervention options differ in mechanism, effective range, limitations, failure modes, and risk—and what that means for understanding edged-weapon encounters.
Read the guide →Video, Perception, and Hindsight
What cameras reliably establish, where they fall short, and how repeated review can create an illusion of certainty that participants did not have.
Read the guide →What Happens After Force
The post-incident processes that follow a serious use of force—medical response, investigation, administrative review, civil litigation, and policy change—and what each one actually decides.
Read the guide →Follow the incident lifecycle
Edged-weapon critical incidents rarely begin at the moment force is used. The EWRL organises its analysis around four incident stages—from the initial call through post-incident review.
Looking for the source material?
The Field Guide provides orientation. EWRL's research collection contains the underlying material:
- Reports
- Original, versioned EWRL research.
- Evidence Base
- Research on police intervention options.
- Law & Policy
- Legal and policy backgrounders.
- Bulletins
- Concise synthesis connecting research, law, policy, and field practice.
- Annotated Bibliography
- Leading research with annotations and DOI links.
- Table of Authorities
- Cases, statutes, and constitutional authorities cited across EWRL.