I read somewhere that police are conditioned to shoot to kill because of this. You're less likely to get in trouble if you kill the person because you never get to hear their side of the story. Of course none of that really matters anymore because you can clearly get the whole thing caught on video from 5 different angles, and still not get in trouble.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I read somewhere that police are conditioned to shoot to kill because of this.

I read that martians control our politicians. It's just as false.

Simple fact: when shooting someone rushing you, it's easier to hit the big part of the person, ie the torso. Our police - not American , so YMMV - draw their weapon when it's the only option left - ie they can't safely flee - and at that point they all understand someone's going to be greviously injured in the next 4 seconds and they're choosing not-them vs them. It's like choosing Trump or not-Trump at that point.

This has a high probability of killing a person, but the main goal is they stop being a threat by lying down and being an injured person. It's just.that.simplified . Comically, the po-po is usually the one to render aid, as they're usually trained to do so and they're of course the first person on the scene, and the survival of the injured person is vastly improved from None to Slim by having the cop begin first aid .. for the mortal injury .. the cop causes.

Look: Our cops have deadly weapons to use when the situation becomes deadly. A sidearm is the compromise between "batons and harsh words" and "c7". From there it's this silly tree of if-thens that result in a cop trying to stop someone from dying of a wound they caused -- but there is absolutely no doctrine that says "kill 'em so they can't sue".

...at least, not in my region.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago

Yeah, the bigger issue is cops being taught to shoot at the slightest hint of fear and being actively confrontational in situations where it would be safer for everyone for them to either deescalate, call in backup to ensure safety, or fall back and approach the person differently. If a nonviolent criminal is fleeing cops should be taking notes to identify and fine them, not shooting. High speed chases should be a last resort. They need to be engaged in community policing rather than the "warrior mindset" that just gets people killed