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Posted this on another thread with the same story - think it bears repeating every time I read about this...

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I was in the sandbox in the eighties during the “Tanker Wars”

Our Rules of Engagement during that deployment was a defensive posture. This meant that we could only defend ourselves against actual aggression - we could only fire if someone shot at us or we had a *verified* threat. In other words, we were required to assess and guarantee the threat before opening fire.

Later, during Desert Storm and the endless garbage that followed, the ROE was a combat posture: Shoot at the enemy, or anyone who seems to threaten you. The latter because lots of enemy fighters chose to wear civilian clothes. Or were women. Or kids. You were expected to exercise judgment, but if you truly felt that you were in danger, you were cleared to shoot.

What the police and their apologists want is combat posture ROE. And if that’s their ROE, then who is the enemy?

Us. Everyone who isn’t a cop. It has to be - there isn’t anyone else...

And we could be anyone - because we don’t wear uniforms. We could be a man, a woman, a child...

Even scarier is that this is pretty much what the courts, other cops and their apologists have given them. After any shoot, the thin blue line forms a protective wall around the shooter. And if they do happen to go to trial, all they have to do is say they were afraid and even the juries are instructed to give them leeway.

Cops should be on “defensive” ROE. They should only be allowed to fire if fired upon, or there is a genuine threat assessed and verified. If they fail to do this and shoot an innocent person they should go to jail - forever.

Why? First of all because they *asked* for the job - no one forced them to become a police officer. Secondly, they’re *supposed* to be better than everyone else - at least that’s what we’re told. They’re “heroes” for doing nothing more than putting on a uniform and wearing a badge. Finally, they’re supposedly very well-trained - which is why they get to walk around in tacti-cool gear wearing shooting glasses and carrying loaded Glocks and AR-15’s.

Shooting when you’re in *fear* of losing life or limb is a defense for a civilian - not a trained police officer.

The reality is that being a cop is *dangerous* - which means that sometimes (often - depending on where you’re a cop) you will be afraid. If you can’t control your fear and remain calm enough to assess and verify an actual threat to your life prior to opening fire, you shouldn’t be a cop.

Go wash cars or something.