The use of force by police

I have to laugh when people say being a cop is not all that dangerous. I have listened to the public and the uninformed talking heads on CNN/MSNBC opining the use of force by police as unecessary and cant figure out why they do what they do in these situations.

First, to those who say being a cop is not dangerous, go to your local PD, fill out an application, take the training and do the job...then you can talk.

As for some of the misconceptions about the training and use of force for police, here are the facts:

The first thing you must understand is that EVERY situation you go into there is always one gun present...YOURS. And this gun can be used against you.

When you employ deadly force you do not shoot to wound. (You do not fire a warning shot.) When you are in the "fight or flight" syndrone your senses suffer. So you are taught to aim for the biggest target in order to better achieve a hit to STOP THE THREAT. And you must keep shooting until the threat stops. The biggest target is CENTER MASS on the human torso. Warning shots, shooting to wound in a crisis situation is an invitation to killing an innocent bystander. The officer is responsible for EVERY bullet that leaves his gun.

Before modern police training cops were being killed by people who were shot once or twice when the officer paused to see if the offender was dead or incapacitated. Officers are trained to handcuff the shooter after being shot because in the past there "dead" people have been known to kill the officer.

The offender ALWAYS has the upperhand in a fight because he knows what he's going to do...the officer has to guess. If the offender is not complying, i.e. not taking his hands out of his pockets then makes an aggressive move the officer HAS to assume he has a gun and is going to use it and the officer must shoot first in order to live. If a police officer is chasing a subject and the person stops and spins around the officer MUST assume theat he is turning to fire; if he doesn't he could end up dead.


If an offender is with in 21 feet of and officer with an edged weapon and makes any movement forward, the officer must shoot. It has been proven that an aggessor can cover that distance and kill the officer before the officer can shoot. Even if you shoot as him just before he reaches you he will still have enough oxegenated blood in his system to kill you. Only a CNS (central nervous system) hit will drop him and THAT is a VERY small target, i.e. lucky shot. There is a famous case of an offender who was shot point blank in the heart with a .357 magnum who ran down 2 flights of stairs and 50 feet before collapsing. Using pepper spray/taser in this situation is an invitation for the officers demise.

Disparity of force. If a 300 pound 6 foot tall man is fighting with you, a 160 pound 5'9" police officer for your gun and you are injured to the point that you may lose your gun, you SHOOT the offender. If the person is getting away from you and the only way to affect the arrest is to shoot him, then you do so. (it's called the fleeing felon law) The requisite is if the fleeing felon is a violent felon and could be a futher danger to other police or the public. Beating an officer almost to unconsciousness trying to get his gun more then qualifies. The fact that he beat an officer to the point of unconsciousness and tried to get his gun is prima facia evidence of a continuing danger to others.

If the perpetrator disengages then starts back torward the officer he has to assume that if re-engaged he could lose his gun and it could be used on him, so he MUST shoot.

Officers recieve only minimal trainging in the use of their fists when defending against an attack because you can't "certifiy" a person in the use of his fists. You can certify them in the use of pepper spray, baton, taser, and firearm. The need to be certified is a civil liabilty requirement to reduce exposure to lawsuit.

The above tactics were not developed because someone thought they sounded good, they were implemented after hundreds of police officers were killed.

THE REASON THAT IT APPEARS THAT BEING A POLICE OFFICER IS NOT A DANGEROUS JOB IS BECUASE OF THIS TRAINING AND THESE TACTICS MORE POLICE OFFICERS ARE SURVIVING VIOLENT ENCOUNTERS.

This was NOT the case during the 60's and 70's.

If you do not want to be shot by the police...comply with their orders. If you think they wrong, address it LATER.