I would almost guarantee the PD has a policy or ROE document that Barney Fife can hide behind, no matter what ammo he may have used. But that doesn't stop this from being one of the more wanton and stupid applications of police power that I've heard of in a while. In my experience, rural cops are more sensitive of property owners rights than this. Unless there serious "in progress" situation nearby they are likely to knock politely and ask permission to be on your land. Nobody should want an armed confrontation, least of all the PD.
Unless there serious "in progress" situation nearby they are likely to knock politely and ask permission to be on your land.
To me the property owner rights come first unless as you said "serious in progress situation" is in progress. That subject has been talked about at great length in this thread.
The fact that the officer, police department nor DNR had not contacted Mr Carpenter before the shooting started is disturbing. A knock on the door and a 15 minute conversation about a "hazard" between two sensible people should resolve the problem. If an agreement can't be reached about removing the hazard the next logical step would be a written warning, issuing a summons or even a court order based on how serious is the problem and how quickly it needs to be corrected. As reported in the media there was no attempt to contact the property owner as the first step.
In mid January sunrise doesn't occur until 7:45AM in Forest Lake, MN. In other words at about 7AM it is still dark even on a day with no clouds.
The officer was shooting in a residential area in darkness or semidarkness using his department-issued shotgun. A 12 gauge shotgun is the normal issue, as is 00 Buck Shot. 00 Buck shot is lethal at 100 yards, slugs up to 1/2 mile.
At 7AM on Saturday morning many people sleep in and the entire family is still in bed, yet here was the officer acting like Rambo, putting them in danger because of his actions. No warning, no contact with the homeowner, the officer could have been mistaken for a criminal and his life placed in danger.
As you said it is very unusual for a officer from a rural area to act in this manner.
It has the ring of some kind of power trip on his part and a complete disregard for the safely of humans.