Faculty

Emanuel Kapelsohn

Adjunct Instructor in Criminal Justice
J.D. Harvard Law School 1977

Emanuel Kapelsohn has been professionally involved in the law enforcement training field for thirty years.  As a practicing attorney, he represents federal agents and police officers involved in fatal shootings, and writes and reviews law enforcement agency use of force policies.  He has authored or edited several widely-used works on police training standards and practices.  He regularly serves as an expert witness in civil and criminal cases involving the use of force by police, and as a consultant to states and law enforcement agencies in the development and implementation of police training standards and curricula.  He has done extensive research, and has particular interest, in the areas of physiological and perceptual effects of stress during force confrontations, involuntary muscular contraction as a cause of unintentional discharge of firearms, psychomotor skill development, human reaction time, proximity and threat level assessment. Since 1979, he has trained over 15,000 law enforcement instructors and officers nationwide in the tactical use of firearms and other use of force disciplines.  He has served on the board of directors of the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors since 1986, and as a vice president of that organization since 1990.  He has been a reserve deputy sheriff in Pennsylvania, and currently serves as one in Indiana.