MasterCaneman
Posts: 3842
Joined: 3/21/2013
Status: offline
|
This is an interesting thread, and I'd like to inject a little sanity into it. First off, let me inform those who don't know already that I am a CCW holder and have some police training (albeit a long time ago). I'm a member of a club that has a dedicated PPC team and the membership includes LEOs from four different local agencies.
First off, I'm as concerned as anyone over the militarization of police. This is as much a result of having a good number of returning vets joining the local police forces as it is the wholesale distribution of military-grade hardware and the influence of popular media.
That being said, I've talked with a few of the cops in my club, and when they're in civvies they tend to be more normal than when on patrol. We all know about the 21 foot rule, and in my opinion, it's valid. A lot of them don't trust the non-lethal weapons they're allowed to carry because they all have serious limitations when used on people with mental issues, extreme narcotic intoxication, or sometimes just pure rage and adrenaline.
Other weapons, such as nets or that goo-spray, are very expensive, take time to set up and employ, and a lot of times, they simply don't have the time to call in the fire department to 'hose the guy down', as another commenter mentioned. And they are trained to try to talk someone down, but there are times that simply isn't possible, especially if the subject is off in their own little world at the moment or their brain is fried on drugs, legal or otherwise. In many cases, you'll get a combination of mental illness, narcotic/alcohol intoxication, and whatever triggered the event.
Call 'em thugs if you want, every cop I know just wants to go home after their shift breathing and with no new scars to talk about. If they have a person who is acting in an overtly threatening manner and forces their hand, they are trained to stop that person in the fastest and most effective way they can. Unfortunately, that sometimes means they have to shoot, and as a range officer, I know how quickly forty-one rounds can go downrange.
There's a funny thing that happens when someone starts shooting-the others next to them hear it and start launching lead as well. And with a modern semi-auto, it's nothing to empty a magazine in a matter of seconds. And despite what some folks say, pistol ammo is really not that effective a killing took as they think. There are studies that show that upwards of 80% of all people shot by handguns survive their injuries (Shooting Voodoo), which points to this document, of which I can only find an abstract, as I am not about to buy a .pdf to prove a point.
As for 'shooting the weapon out of their hand'. Utter bullshit. I've been a shooter since I was nine, a handgun shooter since I was twenty-one, and I've been around some very good shots. In the dark, with adrenaline going, all manner of extraneous stimuli (flashing lights, shouts, other people/officers), it would be nearly impossible to set up a shot like that without the subject's active cooperation. I'm sure before long someone will post the video of the sniper shooting a revolver out of that guy's hand, but that was in broad daylight after a prolonged standoff with a man who wasn't as emotionally distraught as this subject. They had ample time for snipers to set up and dial it in.
Most cops I know are just able to qualify with their duty weapons. Some require follow-up training because they're not active shooters. Their sidearm is just another tool they have to carry on their belt. There was one patrol officer that required four tries to qualify in one year because he simply could not master the steps. In short, very few are capable of doing better than hitting center mass, especially in a stress situation.
Hindsight is always 20/20, especially in a situation like this. On one side there will the people who cry that the cops are murderers because they shot him full of holes. On the other are people who know about the limitations of the tools at their disposal. Somewhere in the middle is the answer. I was looking for this quote by some cop years ago who was asked what the perfect weapon would be, and he responded with "One of those phasers from Star Trek, where you could dial it in from stun to kill with the twist of a knob" or something to that effect. Since they don't exist, they are forced to work with what they got at the moment.
_____________________________
Age and treachery will always overcome youth and ambition.
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. ~ Sun Tzu
Goddess Wrangler
|
RE: Suicide by cop or manslaughter? - 
Profile
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread