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According to David Kennedy, director at the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College, though these types of events are as rare as a “meteor strike” for most communities, police departments increasingly have come to believe that “they should have the technology ready in case one occurs.”

So it should be used as often as a "meteor strike" occurs in these communities, too.

For most communities, that means never.

Not when someone has a bench warrant for unpaid parking tickets, not when they are suspected of pilfering the neighbor's lawn gnome collection, and not even if someone who is on the confidential informant payroll thinks they might have smelled marijuana smoke walking by someone's house.

It is not a question of having the ability to use the appropriate amount of force when needed, it remains a question of the inappropriate use of force.

Those who were involved in the raid where a carelessly tossed flashbang blew the meat off a toddler's chest and face failed to assess the situation, including who was present and who wasn't. It is questionable if the raid style would have been appropriate even if the person they wanted had been there and the child had not.