Posted on 12/11/2018 6:43:17 AM PST by marktwain
Armed citizens and police officers are natural allies, and teammates in the fight against crime. There is no segment of the community more supportive of law enforcement than their fellow citizens who are lawfully armed.
So why are they accidentally killed by police with such distressing frequency?
2018 has been a tough year
This has been a tough year for police and armed citizens alike. In 2018, we’ve seen a number of tragic mistakes made by police officers who shot and killed lawfully armed citizens in error, including a homeowner in Aurora, Colorado, a security guard in Chicago, Illinois, and a Thanksgiving eve shopping mall patron in Hoover, Alabama, among others.
In each of these situations, the officers believed they were using force to stop someone who had endangered innocent life, but they were sadly mistaken. The officers were thrust into a dynamic and dangerous situation where they had to act quickly based on imperfect and incomplete information, and each of them made a fatal error that cost a life.
We still don’t understand the details of how these particular events unfolded, so it’s inappropriate to comment directly on the circumstances or assign blame. There were probably mistakes made by all parties – both armed citizens and police – which led to the unhappy endings of these stories, and this is not the place to hash that out.
Tactical considerations
Instead, I’d like to suggest some things for police to consider in order to avoid a tragic repeat of these events:
More Here at Policeone.com
(Excerpt) Read more at policeone.com ...
Great article.
Thank you!
“Depending on the type of call, there can be break downs in any part of the process. If it’s a disturbance call, the information flows to the crew and they MAY or MAY NOT know there is an armed citizen at the scene. They get that information when they arrive. So now you have the original disturbance call AND a man with a gun. The cop has a very short period of time to process the information and make the correct decision, EVERYTIME.”
I have called 911 several times. Once it was late at night after seeing cars being broken into in driveways near my brother’s house. Good neighborhood - wealthy targets. Easy pickings for the punks or so they thought. I made sure the 911 operator knew I was armed, gave her my name and descriptions of myself and the perps, and verified she would inform the first responsees (police) of the information. She actually kept me on when she called the dispatcher and asked if I wanted to add anything.
When I saw the officer enter the street about 3 minutes later, I placed my hands on a fence in clear sight. The officer rolled up, got out of his cruiser, and calmly walked up. I made no sudden movements, indicated I was (heavily) armed, and offered to surrender my arms to him. His response: “That’s not necessary, Mr. #######, just tell me what you saw.” All calm, all good. Additional officers arrived within a few minutes including K-9 units. They scrubbed the area. Bad guys got away - but never came back.
The point: very well trained and professional police from top to bottom. I also made sure the officers never felt threatened.
Now could it have gone bad? Sure, but you can slip on soap in the shower and get killed. Everyone behaving professionally, calmly, and with good communication made the risk very low though.
I don’t know. Maybe drop the gun and put your hands in plain sight? Just saying
Maybe.
The police have become trigger happy on not only armed citizens but on unarmed citizens as well.
Their standard seems to be, shoot anyone who is not completely and totally obedient. Whether the police have any authority in the situation or if they are on or off duty. They also shoot when they are "startled" or "feel unsafe".
So frankly I am not sure that they were "mistaken" or just following their training. Shoot everything that you want . No hesitation. After all the only thing that matters is that YOU, the person who wears the magic blue clothing, gets home safely.
The rest of the citizens of the country are expendable to that.
“1) It’s fairly obvious that few people on this thread actually read the article.”
Uh, guilty.
Had a somewhat similar situation occur in broad daylight a couple of weeks ago.
People messing with an abandoned car were wearing surgical gloves...
I called the police, and gave fairly detailed descriptions of the man and woman involved.
Somehow, the responding officer got the information it was two males...
Lots of potential for misinformation.
Some departments are incorporating a technology that allows the dispatcher to put the caller directly in contact with the responding officer.
Very useful in stressful situations.
Which is the way subjects act, not free people.
“Which is the way subjects act, not free people.”
Sure beats getting shot dead.
A lot of these episodes I read have the cops coming in shooting, so where is the time to put your gun down? You may not even know they are there until you are shot.
“If I am ‘carrying’ I should take my dog with me?”
No no! You should carry a ‘throw down dog’. Then if you encounter some LEO you can toss the dog down and you will have time to stow your weapon and present your hands while the LEO is gunning down that dog.
“Maybe drop the gun and put your hands in plain sight? Just saying”
Most of the situations I have read about the citizen was shot from behind before they had time to realize law enforcement had arrived.
That scenario may be a little extreme, but I could see a situation where disarming may not be advantageous in certain situations. We don’t get to control the events. It can be a very difficult situation.
And that is exactly how it should happen, but rarely does.
Every time I encountered a civilian with a gun on a call (good guy) there was no prior knowledge of their presence. I had one guy prowling his neighbor’s yard because he thought he saw something. His wife called it in and never mentioned her husband was outside with a long gun.
Did an entry and found an elderly lady sitting in a chair with a .380 in her hands. She wasn’t aware her grandson dealt drugs out of her house.
And the one that still haunts me is a college kid and his buddies running around our downtown at 3am with paintball guns. This, prior to the requirement that the tips be painted orange. Someone called it in and the kid came running around the corner with a very realistic looking 1911 replica.
Would I have been justified in shooting any of these civilians...probably. But instinct and time in the district said these were no-shoot scenarios. Fortunately, no one got hurt.
I commend your actions on the scenario your related. Judging by some of the comments on this thread, I don’t think many would have the presence of mind to make sure ALL the information was relayed to the responding crew. I make no judgement about any of the shootings between cops and civilians. I wasn’t there so I don’t judge. But some of the broad brush comments I’ve read make me take pause in how many are actually “mature” enough to handle a firearm. We have enough “bad actors” in the law enforcement community. We certainly don’t need the “John Wayne” types attempting to do our job.
My mother always taught me....”Never argue with a lunatic”.
I’m taking her advice. Have a nice day.
I familiarized with getting Busted,,,
The article suggests there are numerous ways of understanding the intent of the armed person. The encouragement was to have the officer use that information to make better decisions in dealing with the stressful situation.
Bingo. And the more the lawful gun owner follows the proper protocol when encountering a LEO, the easier it is for an officer to make the RIGHT decision.
You assume the polices identified themselves and did not come in blazing away as soon as they saw a gun. How is the CCW holder supposed to know who is threatening to shoot him?
or shooting them first, for their failure to uphold the Constitution or long reason short, treason?
Then there are incidents like this:
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.