Dr. Chuck J. Rylant is a Doctor of Psychology and a Federal and State Court qualified expert witness with over 27 years of professional experience in civilian self-defense and law enforcement use-of-force analysis.
He has been retained in more than 260 cases and has provided testimony in jurisdictions across the United States, including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas, Utah, and Washington, D.C.
Dr. Rylant’s work focuses on the act of force itself — whether by a civilian or a law enforcement officer — encompassing the tactical, behavioral, and scientific factors that bear on it. His areas of engagement include civilian self-defense, police use-of-force, tactics, training, de-escalation, and strangulation, including carotid restraint and vascular neck restraint techniques.
His expertise draws on peer-reviewed behavioral and performance science — including, among other areas, memory, attention, fight-or-flight response, decision-making, and perception-reaction time — applied to the physiological and psychological conditions of real-world force encounters.
He is a Certified Force Science Analyst and Advanced Force Science Specialist and has been designated by California Peace Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) as a use-of-force subject matter expert, including participation in drafting police training standards subsequently adopted into law.
Dr. Rylant is a retired police officer and detective, former S.W.A.T. member, and P.O.S.T.-certified instructor in firearms, baton, chemical agents, Taser, and arrest and control (ARCON). He served as a police academy lead instructor in ARCON and use-of-force and continues to train both civilians and law enforcement personnel.
He is the author of The Reasonableness Standard: The Psychology of Human Factors in Civilian Self-Defense; Shots Fired: The Psychology Behind Officer-Involved Shootings; and Police Use of Force Decisions: Psychological and Physiological Factors Affecting Performance Under Pressure. He is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu second-degree black belt.
Areas of Expertise
• Civilian self-defense
• Law enforcement use of force
• Private security use of force
• Arrest and control (ARCON)
• Deadly force encounters
• Strangulation / carotid restraint / vascular neck restraint
• Fight-or-flight response and stress physiology
• Decision-making under stress
• Perceptual narrowing and selective attention
• Memory encoding and recall under threat conditions
• Perception-reaction time
• Firearm attacks
• Knife and edged weapon attacks
• Disparity of force
• De-escalation
Selected Qualifications
• Federal and State Court qualified use-of-force expert witness
• Retained in over 260 cases
• California P.O.S.T. designated use-of-force subject matter expert
• Certified Force Science Analyst
• Advanced Force Science Specialist
• P.O.S.T. police academy use-of-force instructor
• P.O.S.T. police academy ARCON lead instructor
• P.O.S.T. certified firearms instructor
• Master ARCON instructor — trained and certified law enforcement instructors
• Participated in drafting P.O.S.T. training standards subsequently adopted into law
• Retired police officer, detective, and S.W.A.T. member
• Brazilian jiu-jitsu second-degree black belt
• California P.O.S.T. advanced certificate
• Multiple-time bestselling author
Scope of Practice
Dr. Rylant holds a Psy.D. — doctoral-level education in applied behavioral science — providing the academic foundation for the analysis of force encounters. His work is specialized: civilian self-defense and law enforcement use-of-force analysis, encompassing the tactical, behavioral, and scientific factors that bear on the act of force itself.
This focus applies established principles drawn from peer-reviewed behavioral science, operational experience, and accepted use-of-force practice to the specific facts of each case — the same applied framework employed in aviation safety, accident reconstruction, and law enforcement use-of-force research.
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