4 ms·

Agreed. But, it could also be a training issue. From what I understand, police departments do not have enough funding to adequately train their force. I beli

by ap22213 10y ago

Agreed. But, it could also be a training issue. From what I understand, police departments do not have enough funding to adequately train their force. I believe around here (Northern Virginia), the police are trained to shoot if the situation seems 'threatening' (subjective). However, recently a couple of notable cases (that I know of) seem extreme. 1) police responded to a teenager who was threatening suicide. Apparently, the teen raised the knife, and the police shot and killed him. 2) police responded to a Costco employee that was acting erratic. The employee raised a knife, and the police shot and killed her. As a tax-paying citizen, I would rather the police are trained to first try to diffuse the situation, then try to neutralize, then shoot as last resort. It seems instead that they panic and shoot immediately.

modoc 10y ago
I agree 100% that police could use more training, and more skills around defusing situations, people management, and frankly hand to hand combat. That takes budget and you CAN help this process along in your town! Please do keep in mind, for folks who lack this training, a person with a knife can very easily injure or kill and absolutely poses a deadly threat (to the officer or nearby civilians). The old metric is the 21 foot rule (if your gun is in your holster a person with a knife who is 21 feet or closer can kill you before you can defend yourself with your firearm) so if you are within 21 feet of someone with a knife (acting erratically, raising a deadly weapon, etc...) then you are SUPPOSED to have your gun out and ready. That said it should be at a low ready, not pointing and shooting... I'm not defending the police in those incidents, I don't know enough about the details to defend or attack their actions from here. But I feel like people very often forget that most police are under-trained, and put in life threatening situations that most people commenting have no real experience with.
newman314 10y ago
As a taxpayer, you should also ask questions about what you are getting for your money. Simply throwing money at the problem isn't the solution. http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article2573210.html http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article2573210... There are plenty of examples where police in other countries are taught to de-escalate rather than escalate as a first order so it's a shame that this does not happen here.

by ap22213 10y ago

modoc 10y ago

I agree 100% that police could use more training, and more skills around defusing situations, people management, and frankly hand to hand combat. That takes budget and you CAN help this process along in your town! Please do keep in mind, for folks who lack this training, a person with a knife can very easily injure or kill and absolutely poses a deadly threat (to the officer or nearby civilians). The old metric is the 21 foot rule (if your gun is in your holster a person with a knife who is 21 feet or closer can kill you before you can defend yourself with your firearm) so if you are within 21 feet of someone with a knife (acting erratically, raising a deadly weapon, etc...) then you are SUPPOSED to have your gun out and ready. That said it should be at a low ready, not pointing and shooting... I'm not defending the police in those incidents, I don't know enough about the details to defend or attack their actions from here. But I feel like people very often forget that most police are under-trained, and put in life threatening situations that most people commenting have no real experience with.

newman314 10y ago

As a taxpayer, you should also ask questions about what you are getting for your money. Simply throwing money at the problem isn't the solution. http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article2573210.html http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article2573210... There are plenty of examples where police in other countries are taught to de-escalate rather than escalate as a first order so it's a shame that this does not happen here.