Actually the various targets are to get the Officers to see the threat rather than the “person “.
The little old lady looks just like everyone’s grandma, but the Joe Biden special (double barrel scattergun) in her hands will ruin your day just as certain as if it were in the hands of an MS13 member.
There is a dangerous attitude where we want to protect the old, the infirm, the children against the dangers, and that becomes dangerous when those are the ones with the weapons.
You can’t imagine the difficulty with training Officers to deal with active shooters. Its one thing when its a 45 year old biker, but put the AK in the hands of a 14yo girl, Officers and especially those with kids of their own have problems with that.
Bad things happen every day, the last couple of ambushes where bad guys just walked up to Officers in their cars and started shooting, for no reason.
Its one thing to Monday morning quarterback a situation or incident. But you have to remember that you have to look at from the Officers point of view, what did “he” know, what did “he” see?
My first night on the road, I came within mere seconds from shooting a drunk who wasn’t compliant and was making a furtive movement. He came out of the passenger side of a pickup, fast and without being instructed (felony stop), and with his right hand under his shirt as if grabbing a pistol. The only thing that saved him, his hand was open when it came out. I saw fingers.
Had he come up with anything, wallet, gun, didn’t matter, by the time I could have identified the item, he could have shot me or my training Officer.
The lady who got shot playing video games, that was bad timing. She got up and had taken her gun out and pointed it at the window. Outside the same window was an Officer who saw a woman pointing a gun in his direction. He didn’t know intent, but reacted to the threat.
Is that criminal? Who should be punished?
Anybody else remember the cap guns in the late 70’s and early 80’s? With the little red plug, inside the barrel. Somebody whips that out and points it at you, especially in the dark, what happens? It did, more than once. And the Officer gets to second guess himself (or herself) for the rest of their career. Which often is suddenly very short, because everyone sees you as a murderer, true or not.
Would you like to be tried in the court of public opinion? It happens with every incident, right or wrong.
Ferguson Missouri. Darren Wilson was tried and convinced by the media, the public and the politicians almost before the crime scene had been cleared. The fact that the “witness” lied, the evidence hadn’t been collected or analyzed yet, didn’t matter.
His career was over. The Chief of Police was ruined by the Feds, despite being right and having done the right things. His career was over also.
Cops don’t like dirty cops. They make “us” all look bad.
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This reply was modified 7 months, 3 weeks ago by
Whirlibird.