The militarization of the police force precludes this. Whatever's in the house is Al Quaeda, and our hero boys in blue are here to frag some shit. /s

At which point, if you're up against armed individuals, you've lost the element of surprise, and have created a hostage situation at best, and a shootout in a suburban neighborhood at worst.

Or, someone walks out and defuses the police, then their compatriots wipe all the police out unopposed.

This mindset is exactly what's wrong with policing in America. Every single part of training seems to be designed for worst case scenarios. There's no room for common sense or judgment.

Because if you consider average case scenarios, logic will inevitably force you to make a choice: what percentage of cops should die during their career? The police chiefs decided the answer is zero. That leads to extreme aggressive tactics.

Too bad the owners of mines, oil rigs, logging operations, etc. don't share a similar concern for their employees' lives.

Most cops never get shot at their entire career.

Cops are far more likely to die of heart-attacks, cancer, and a dozen other causes than to be killed in the line of duty.

Being a cop isn't much more dangerous than the average jobs.

If "zero" were really the decision, they wouldn't be involved with made-up crimes like drug possession.

Mining, logging, etc. certainly make trade-offs, but at least the trade-off is between safety and the viability of the business. The trade-offs that cops have made are between safety and indefensible political goals.

Why in the hell do you need "the element of surprise" unless your goal going in is "shoot the shit out of somebody?"

If you are genuinely trying to deescalate a situation, you need to talk to the people involved. If we're genuinely that worried about people getting shot, why aren't we rolling "Officer Robot" up to the front door to say hello?

Even if there IS a hostage situation, these SWAT events demonstrate that the hostage is probably in more danger from the SWAT team than the hostage taker.

"Element of surprise" implies shoot first, ask questions later. And that NEEDS to change.

You've lost the element of surprise to someone who called you and asked you to send a SWAT team to their house?

The element of surprise in coming to the house of the person who had supposedly called them in the first place? A possible hostage situation in what was described to them on the phone as an already-existing hostage situation?

Also, who are these multiple individuals and 'compatriots'? I thought this was about a guy who claimed to have shot a family member and was holding others hostage while threatening to burn the house down. When did this one guy turn into a foreign invasion force?