Here's the case; One night several years ago in my small city (pop 23,000, and in my neighborhood) local police were in foot pursuit of a Black teenager with warrants for drugs and/or theft, I forget. At one point, while still running, he turned and pointed a handgun at them. The officers drew their weapons and took cover. He continued running, dropped the gun (found loaded) and was later taken into custody with no injuries to anyone involved. NOW, had this occurred in a big city odds are the second he pointed the gun he'd been shot so full of holes he wouldn't have cast a shadow on a sunny day! So IS there a difference in policing a big city vs a small one, and why? I'm sure there's reasons, some valid and some pure BS. I'm curious what other members thoughts are on this subject.
Some of it may be pavlovian response based on more frequent events like that in large cities. Some of it may be cultural within the police departments. I live in a city a little larger than yours but not huge. The police will shoot you if you pull a gun or a knife and that is just a fact. If you don't pull a weapon, you will probably get tasered first and then piled upon or beaten down with the baton if enough people aren't there for a proper pile-on. There was an incident a few years ago in which a car pursuit ended up in a lethal shooting that was kind of funny at first on the dashcam. They basically tightened the noose around the car and ended it up on a dead end street. The driver then try to go muddin in a low rider and got stuck in a ditch. The police were in no hurry to do anything figuring he would see it was over and surrender. Instead homie went for the gun in the center console and they disintegrated that car with gun fire.
I'm not sure if allowing a fugitive, armed and dangerous, to get away is good. Had a case here where a young lady was run over and killed by a police cruiser as she ran from the police firing back at them. The reasoning being she was armed, dangerous and willing to shoot people.
Thanks for responding. It may be cultural, or how the upper management decree how officers respond with force. I've lived here all my life and while there's been incidents in which the police would have been fully justified using deadly force I can't recall anyone being shot. We are fortunate here as violent crime is virtually nonexistent. I'm aware most major cities have areas where the only difference with a war zone is the absence of roadside IEDs (for now), so that may have much to do with the difference.
Our culture was changing with Chiefs but the straw that really broke the camel's back was really one of those little yappy purse-size dogs. A cop shot someone's little yapper in the front yard and played it up like he was being attacked and then when the family released the photo of this tiny ferocious dog that wasn't much bigger than a puppy, the use of lethal force against human or animal got a big redo.
The location of crimes, big towns versus small towns, and the criminals that commit them is not really the issue here, Joe. In some situations, the police may have the LUXURY of being able to tolerate having a hostile, gun-wielding criminal point the weapon at them while actively evading arrest -- and in others, they may not. No two situations are exactly alike. But, what police academies teach their students is to defend themselves and the public, first and foremost. If a 'perp' threatens either the police or public 'civilians', the cadets are taught to put two rounds in the perp's chest, and one in the head. And, in the vast majority of instances, that works just FINE.... Moreover, it HAS worked just fine for many decades in this country!
Ironically, in some of the more affluent areas where the police are overfunded and don't have much to do because the crime rates are low, they can take on a very military-style mindset, because of all the expensive "toys" they can afford to buy. Sometimes when you're dressed for the part, and have all the military tools, that can affect the psychology of how situations are approached. Then they take on special training from military people for extreme situations (the more exciting stuff) which affects their automatic response to much more mundane ordinary situations. When you approach policing like there is a war going on, there are going to end up people getting killed unnecessarily. That's just one side to the coin.
Simply put, the officers in small cities obviously aren't trained as well as though in large ones. Sorry but if you're a cop and someone points a gun at you then you shoot and hope you shoot first, you don't run and hide. Whoever heard of such a thing.
