Miata Mailing List: March 2001, Message #1392

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>He was unarmed AFAIK
So in reality, you don't know with absolute certainty. And neither did the
officers. Besides that was only one a virtually infinite paths the
perpetrator could have continued upon.

>These were UNTRAINED officers? New situation?
>they lost their cool.  Poor training I'd guess.
Almost every single life threatening situation for officers is new - in
reality it doesn't happen often. It's similar to saying that your curriculum
for your degree prepared you for everything that has ever happened or will
ever happen in your career.

>Do we get trained at the Police academy first or just handed guns?
When there are more teenagers carrying firearms than police, I'm going to
have to conclude we are just handed guns. But that's another conversation in
itself. :)

My main point being: there is a world of uncertainty out there. The chase
could have been a good decision if the perpetrator was a known criminal and
planning to blowup a government building or the passenger was minutes away
from being sexually assaulted and killed. Or it could have been a bad
decision (bystanders could have been injured/killed) if it was only GTA or
unpaid traffic tickets and they just didn't want to get caught.

I maintain it's difficult or impossible to determine if possible
consequences of letting a 'runner' go without chase. Personally I'm against
them in virtually all cases. Use the radios - can't out run Motorola. But
then again, we don't want to pay the extra taxes for the "extra" patrol car
that could have made a chase, halting road block?

It's just a vicious cycle. Let's go enjoy our cars instead. :)

-cory-



-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Reuter [mailto:jreuter@awod.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2001 9:55 AM
To: Cory Mercurio; Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: MIATA (White M1) to be on Fox's Wildest Police Video's
(NMC)

> If the driver was aware of auto mechanics and knew that a toasted radiator
> was going to lead to a halted car, he may have resulted to other uses of
> force to escape - he was obviously determined/desperate to get away. With
a
> busted car, what if he decided to shoot the officers so to allow an easier
> foot getaway?

He was unarmed AFAIK
>
> It's easy to look on a situation after the fact (especially one we were
not
> involved in) and come up with a better way to handle said situation.
> Split-second decisions don't allow the luxury of brainstorming.

These were UNTRAINED officers? New situation?

The officer
> felt his partners and/or his life was in mortal danger and reacted
> appropriately to that threat.

BS, they lost their cool.  Poor training I'd guess.

True, it wasn't perfect, but could any of us
> claim, in all honestly, we would have made the perfect decision in such a
> situation?

Do we get trained at the Police academy first or just handed guns?

Jerry