The Problem With Police

I can't hear anything over the sound of this.

 

I sympathize with you, but damn, it sounds like you get robbed a lot, do you just look like an easy target? Are you leaving stuff unsecured?

 

Gotta at least keep it local. Houston SWAT may be more appropriate.

Spoiler

 

Honestly, this is why I moved out of Houston.

I had a bag get stolen with my phone, wallet, keys, etc in it about a month ago in my newer, "safer" locale. My fault, I was stupid to trust, but it sux nonetheless.

I am not going to hold it against the police that they can't find the culprit. You have no idea how difficult (usually impossible) it is to find a random thief after the fact. They aren't pursuing the investigation because it isn't going to go anywhere, and they have to decide how to use their limited resources in the most efficient manner possible. That's just life.

 

Vote Democrat for DA, and in Houston, possession = a ticket and 2 days of community service.


http://m.chron.com/news/houston-tex...calls-for-no-arrest-for-mar1juana-5647007.php

 

I wonder if that thing has a dash cam?

 

Weirdly enough I was just about to start a thread with a similar title in here.

I was just going to ask a general question and try to hopefully get reasonable (and not necessarily answers that turn this into a racial argument)

Maybe any current or ex members of the force in some city can enlighten me here on CF but it seems especially after seeing the video of the person shot by the Police in St. Louis over the weekend (for stealing and then acting erratically) that the police are extremely quick to go for the gun and pull the trigger.

Tasers are no guarantee that a suspect still ends up alive after it has been used but aren't they still miles more reasonable to use in a situation between the police and someone unarmed? Do most police forces in the USA not have Tasers for every officer yet?

I know they have a tough job and they have seconds at times to make a decision but c'mon, It's crazy just reading about various people, white, black, hispanic, etc that are shot REPEATEDLY by the police for not following an order. Eg. The St. Louis case from over the weekend( in which the police shot the guy that had stolen the soda's and was acting erratically) SIX times, THEN went to handcuff him AFTER he was already deceased.

Is there an issue with the training? Does the mentality change once they get out of the Academy and get on the street? Are tasers being used as frequently as they should?

Just want to get y'alls thoughts on this topic. Thanks.

 

I'm not a cop, but I'd imagine they care a lot more about seeing their children grow up than they do about anyone else seeing their children grow up. It's a stressful job and a dangerous one. In the past decade, an average of around 150 cops get killed in the line of duty per year. They choose to err on the side of caution which is why when you are dealing with cops, it isn't time to get cute or get aggressive.

Of course that reasoning isn't an excuse for excessive force, and those who can't handle the job should be fired.

 

Appreciate the response.

Sorry OP- for taking your thread in another direction. I didn't want to start a new thread on something with a similar topic.

 

Can't afford it. Budgets are tight these days.

 

Regarding the dude who was brandishing a knife and moving aggressively towards the police, saying "Shoot me! Shoot Me! Kill me!"... You really don't get why they killed him?

Do you understand how quickly someone with a bladed weapon can charge you and attack you with that weapon? He was about 6-8 feet away when they dropped him; most training says anyone within 20 or so feet who is brandishing a knife is a lethal threat, because it takes less than a second to cover that distance and attack. The officer even stepped back to try and increase distance. Trust me, no court in the land is going go after those cops - they were completely justified in that shooting.

If you are coming at the cops with a lethal weapon - and a knife is very much a lethal weapon - and you ignore repeated warnings to drop the knife and stop - don;t be surprised if you get a few unwanted holes in your torso. The cops are not screwing around when dealing with someone who has a lethal weapon in their hand. And they are going to keep shooting until you are down - as they should. It's called "ending the threat", and has been discussed ad nauseam.

As for why they didn't use a taser - yes, almost every cop out there has a taser. But tasers are not always effective, especially with certain types of clothing. The hooks will not always penetrate some materials, and if the hooks don't lodge then you might as well be shooting spitballs at the guy. Also, it's a single-shot device; if you miss, that's it, and now you have to use valuable time going for your firearm - with a knife-wielding maniac a split second away. The taser is not the cure-all that people think it is. It is immensely useful in a fairly narrow range of situations, and it is a liability in others - particularly when the assailant is wielding a lethal weapon. As a general rule, you do not engage an assailant wielding a lethal weapon with a LTL option.

As a demonstration. Would you rather use pepper spray or a gun against someone coming at you with a knife? Pepper spray is great and all, but if he's coming at me with a lethal weapon then you bet your a$$ I am not taking any chances - I am putting him down.

 

Did they really have to shoot him 9 times? They could have handled this situation better. But for the most part, it is justified, i guess it comes down to how much you value someones life, the easiest thing to do is to kill someone, of course if you have no problem sleeping with it.

 

Why would they have trouble sleeping with it? I'd imagine the problem sleeping would be if they were dicking around trying a less than lethal take down while their partner got knifed.

I know it's easy to sit back and talk about how you'd have pulled some criminal whisperer tactic, but if we're being real, most people would do the same.

 

You shoot until the threat is ended. It's not the movies, there is no shooting in the knee or shoulder - you aim for center mass - the upper torso where the vital organs are - and you keep shooting until the threat is gone.Very often it takes more than one hit to the vitals to stop someone; it is not unusual to hit someone repeatedly in the vital areas and have them keep coming at you. If you try to aim for a "wound" shot, you're going to miss. It happens ridiculously fast, and hitting a moving target in a short amount of time under great stress is extremely difficult.

If he goes down on his knees with no weapon in hand then you stop. If he is on the ground with no weapon in his hands you stop. If he stops and drops the weapon then you stop. As long as he is still coming and has a weapon in his hand, you keep shooting. You shoot to end the threat.

 

True, but two of the police officers were present, maybe just maybe they could of shot him 1-2 times, in the leg/stomach or w/e. Granted he can still die, but he has a better chance of surviving than being shot 9 times.

 

Read my above post. You NEVER shoot for the leg/arm or whatever. You ALWAYS shoot center mass. That crap only works in the movies. In real life it happens so fast that you are going to miss any attempt to "wound".

A firearm is not a less-than-lethal weapon; it is a lethal weapon, You ONLY employ a firearm with the intent to destroy your target - to kill. Again, not the movies.

 

He has a MUCH better chance of surviving if he doesn't steal 2 sodas to get cops called, then wait for them and charge at them with a knife. He clearly didn't care about his life, the cops cared about theirs. You fool around when it comes to crazy people and bad things happen. Real people in real situations don't aim for the legs, that's TV nonsense, you aim center mass and you pull the trigger as many times as needed for the person to be dead.

 

True, he put himself in that situation, I just don't agree with the last part of your post. If someone can avoid a fatal outcome, i don't see why not. Some people change, some criminals become fathers n family man, some don't, but when a person is dead, it doesn't get that chance, it's game over for him.

 

Vote democrat for DA and you get what you deserve