What a Cop Killer’s Face Can Teach You — And Why We Don’t Look Away
By Ron Barber | In the Line of Duty – Updated May 19th, 2026
Over 20 years ago, In the Line of Duty produced one of its most enduring training programs: Interview with a Cop Killer.
I traveled to South Carolina and interviewed Trooper Mark Coates’ murderer, Richard Blackburn, at length — and if you’re an officer training online today, that program was made specifically for someone in your position. Not for administrators. Not for journalists. For working cops who need to understand what happens inside the mind of a man who kills one of their own.
To my knowledge, it was the very first time a convicted cop killer had ever been interviewed about his crime on camera, with the complete, horrific incident captured on not one but two cruiser cams. As of 2018, it remained one of our most-watched training programs ever. It still is.
→ Watch: V01P04 – Trooper Coates Shooting (included in your Line of Duty subscription)
When the corrections officers brought Blackburn into the interview room in a wheelchair, he looked pathetic — lost, obese, a man serving a justifiable life-without-parole sentence. Believe me, there wasn’t a cop alive in South Carolina who didn’t want to see Richard Blackburn executed long before I sat down across from him.
But he cooperated. He didn’t dodge a single question I threw at him.
I asked him first what prompted him to ultimately explode in fury at Trooper Coates. He said he initially felt put out — singled out — because Trooper Coates had picked his old beater for a speeding stop when, Blackburn claimed, other newer-model cars had sped by him going faster. That’s it. That’s the grievance. That’s what it came down to.
If you’re an officer making traffic stops — and you are — that psychology is worth sitting with.
→ Watch: V02P04 – Trooper Coates’ Killer: Richard Blackburn Interview (included in your Line of Duty subscription)
It’s an invaluable program — one that truly tried to get inside the psyche of a cop killer. Apparently, over the years, many law enforcement officials agree, because it has been watched and studied so very often. Still is.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol didn’t stop at grieving Trooper Coates. They studied what happened and made real changes in his memory. If your department has ever lost an officer and asked what do we do differently now — that’s exactly what this program examines.
→ Watch: V15P01 – Killing of Trooper Coates: What Has Changed Since (included in your Line of Duty subscription)
This program is dedicated to Trooper Coates and to the 49 other SCHP troopers who had given their lives since the patrol was organized in 1931. It is in their memory that we keep training.
Which gets me to my point. Thanks for reading this far.
When a Florence, SC officer was shot to death and several other cops were wounded earlier this week, I tried to stay on top of it and post every breaking development. That included ultimately posting a photo of the officer’s alleged killer.
Plenty of you responded negatively and implored me to delete the subject’s photo.
You had a damned good reason, too. He’d just killed a great veteran officer and seriously wounded several others. Why give him a scintilla of publicity?
I hear you, I really do.
However — as a journalist who actually tries to provide as much fact as I can in a major story — this man’s photo and background seemed critical to me. Without his heinous actions, there would have been no story. If the Chicago Tribune over 50 years ago didn’t publish the photo and background of Richard Speck next to the student nurses he’d methodically murdered, it would have been an unspeakable oversight.
When a cop is slain in the line of duty, don’t you think it’s absolutely imperative to show that officer’s photo and as much of his or her background as humanly possible? Don’t you want to learn from absolutely any aspect of the killer’s personality, background, motive, or reasoning?
That, of course, includes his photograph — or multiple photographs — which can supplement your understanding of exactly who this person is and why he did what he did.
20 years ago, if I’d provided only an audio interview with Richard Blackburn, wouldn’t you have much rather seen this man — watched his expressions, studied his mannerisms, learned from his physical machinations? I absolutely think so.
Personally, I think it’s truly reprehensible when a media outlet does not provide photos and as much descriptive information as possible about a cop shooter or cop killer. I see that more and more often when the suspect is a minority, and I hate to say that, but it’s the truth.
I choose the high ground. I will always give you every iota of information on a cop killer — including photos. We must learn from tragedy, and that means learning all we can about the people who cause it.
Not yet a Line of Duty subscriber? These three programs are available individually in our store — no subscription required:
- 🛒 The Killing of Trooper Coates: 20 Years Later
- 🛒 Interview with a Cop Killer – Richard Blackburn
- 🛒 Trooper Coates Shooting
Or access all three — plus 400+ reality-based law enforcement training courses — through a Line of Duty subscription. Individual officer access starts at $150/year.
View full pricing here. Questions? Call 1-800-462-5232 or email sales@lineofduty.com.
Always in officer safety,
Ron Barber In the Line of Duty