I voted yes mainly because there are an awful lot of people shot by police that were not attacking police. Lots of video evidence of that.
Good. Power-flaunting is not something I allow my mods to do. And here at PF, it's not common. Anyway, even though this exchange will be deleted in minutes.... back on topic.
Yeah, I understand.... I just think it is a question with way too many variables. It doesn't lend itself to being "uninfluenced". But..... if we just say some guy "attacks a cop"... well, we can expect that if he is shot... it's justified. Will he? who knows. But if some one is being led off in handcuffs, and his overly emotional mother starts slamming the bottoms of her fists on the cops back as he walks away.... I don't think he is justified in shooting her. Arresting, yes. Cops know what position they are putting themselves in. They have to understand they are not liked by certain people....especially, as in my example, family members of criminals. Shooting is not always the answer, and despite the liberals, and libertarians.... it's not that common. Hard to answer your poll.... so I'll say "other".
I guess so - attack a cop and you're likely to get shot (or at least arrested). I don't think the cop is always justified - if they're initiating force rather than retaliating, then yeah - I have no problem with someone shooting that cop. Depends on the situation.
Too vague. In my time on the job I was "attacked" in more ways than I can list. Some did require the presentation of my weapon to cease the offender's anti-social behavior, but thankfully I never had to take a life. We didn't have the benefit of Tasers, but we had Mace. That I did use. As far as the 5 yr. old's temper tantrum, you can never be sure what's going to happen. There have been cases of killers as young as 7. Enjoy!
A cop is a citizen too, and has every right to defend himself that any other citizen has. He should exercise good judgment when assessing the situation. If a cop is attacked by a 5 year old with a teddy bear, he probably would not be justified in shooting to defend himself. If he's punched in the face by a strong-arm robber he is attempting to apprehend, he probably is justified. But even then maybe not, depending upon the situation. As I said, there is no yes/no answer to the question posed. It depends on the individual situation.
Ok, if we want to be less generalist, it depends not only on the situation, but also on the country where the aggression happens. In Italy the rules for policemen and usage of firearms are more restrictive than in US. Furthermore, also about the usage of not lethal weapons here there are more limits. About the aggression of the robber, there is absolutely a scale of levels of reactions, all to be evaluated by competent authorities. Usually the emotional context of the situation is kept into suitable consideration. If a policeman undergoes a violent aggression and he is wounded, confused and looking for a way out ... the usage of a weapon is quite natural. The accuracy in using it, in such a situation cannot be expected.
Attacking someone is rarely a well thought out action. A woman seeing someone put cuffs on her child, a woken drunk imagining he's being attacked himself, a frightened kid with marijuana in in his pocket... those are the folks most likely to attack a cop. I'd question that any of them are thinking they're going to get shot. Or thinking at all. Cops are the folks we call to deal with situations that have spun out of control. Occurrences most of us aren't trained or equipped to deal with, but cops are. The cop is the one person on the scene who's been told what might happen, simulated different possibilities, been walked through options to safely diffuse or control each. How he angles his body, how he words his commands, how close he lets folks get, where he holds his hands... everything he's been trained to do is about calming the situation and controlling it. If a person attacks a police officer will they get shot? It's possible, they could be shot walking down the street. But in general no -- no one should get shot. Cops aren't soldiers. The goal is never to kill the bad guy, it's to control the situation. To keep the peace. If someone dies, the situation wasn't controlled -- something went wrong.
I would not attack anyone armed with a gun who has the right to bust a cap on me. That's just stupid.
Well I can not argue with logic, and what you say is very logical. However, I would hate to be at the wrong end of a bullet saying,,,''HEY, you were not supposed to do that...I think...ug!'' To me, if I decide to attack an officer, then I best be ready to suffer the consequences......
I would not want anyone on the street armed with a gun who has the right to bust a cap on me. For the same reason.
You're saying you do want someone on the streets armed with a gun who has the right to bust a cap on you?
I'm saying that cops are armed....Whether one likes it or not so....DO NOT try to bum rush them 'cause you might get SHOT whether you are armed or not and, whether you think you are in the right or not.
Police officers are given power by We the People to maintain law and order. My advice is to respect them and their power in any confrontation because the decision to act using deadly force is each officer's decision and right or wrong you could become room temperature.
No, it's not. Cops don't have a "have a right to bust a cap" on us. The rules as to when and how force may be applied are set for them by "we the people." We're the ones with the power. You should respect people, including people who happen to be cops. But cops don't get to decide who lives and dies. It's not their decision who becomes "room temperature."
