...as an ex military man, let me assure that shooting to injure is a myth perpetuated by Hollywood. All Military personnel and I dare say all police are trained to hit centre mass, it is the only effective way of stopping someone. If a cop injures someone it probably means he aimed for centre mass and was a bad shot, or nervous or both.
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That's all good and well, Pete, if you know that the "enemy" is armed and intends to take your life...of course I would use those same tactics as Larry (and you) described, it's kill or be killed in combat.
Stopping someone for a traffic violation (or even investigating a complaint called in by a citizen) is not a combat situation (although, given the recent events that brought about the Dallas tragedy, it is obvious that LEOs must believe that stopping a black man WILL BE a combat situation--that is what the "Black Lives Matter" movement is all about), and the biggest mistake that can be made is to shoot an innocent person, regardless of gender or the color of their skin. Law enforcement personnel are charged with the responsibility to "...serve and protect" the general public, not treat them as enemy combatants.
Our legal system, as rigorous as it is, functions under the belief that it is better to exonerate a hundred guilty parties than to wrongly convict even one. Now, for the life of me I can't imagine why an LEO would presume that it is their option to circumvent that process and kill a civilian just because he may be taking longer than they like to follow directions, or even if the subject were resistant. That is not his job, his job is to subdue a suspected perp so that our legal system can make that determination. If we would rather see 100 guilty parties not convicted than have one wrongly convicted, surely you can realize how exponentially worse it is to kill one innocent party...there is no appealing and overturning THAT "sentence".
By the very nature of the authority our police officers have, they MUST be held responsible for their actions...to do any less would leave them to believe they are omnipotent and subject to no internal restraints at all.
Would you like for you or your wife to be stopped by a trigger-happy cop, particularly one who knew he could commit murder and not have to pay for the consequences of his mistake?
I would not...this is NOT war, and when cops use war-like tactics it is understandable how an ex-military person could use HIS military training against THEM. It happened in Dallas...5 deceased, 7 injured...all by an ex-soldier who was angry over just 2 unfortunate mistakes...LETHAL mistakes.
I've seen it coming for a long time, have even mentioned it a few times on this forum prior to this tragic event.
The protesters are right...ALL lives matter, Pete, not just black lives...it just seems to happen way too often to people with black skin.., at least here in the USA :sad:
Cheers, Pete, :thumbsup: to you for exercising what I call "elegant restraint" in stating your case...you can certainly see that not everyone here does.
Doug