Re:'Siri I'm getting pulled over': New shortcut can automati...
by grecy on Thursday October 04, 2018 @03:06PM
(#18142677)
Why would a cop drawn their weapon and then not point it at someone? That doesn't make any sense.
You're right I don't have hard citations, only first-hand evidence from someone with 30 years actually doing it.
Re:'Siri I'm getting pulled over': New shortcut can automati...
by AcerbicZero on Thursday October 04, 2018 @04:06PM
(#18143213)
A pre-drawn handgun reduces the "get stabbed before I can react" range dramatically. The general rule of thumb is you need a knife threat to start at least 21 feet away to draw, aim and fire(See - Tueller Drill). When already at the low-ready that range drops down to ~10-14 feet, if I recall.
So if you might need to defend yourself, but you want to avoid escalating the situation by aiming a gun at someone, it makes sense.
Re:'Siri I'm getting pulled over': New shortcut can automati...
by EliRivers on Sunday October 07, 2018 @04:31PM
(#18162465)
Because pointing a gun at someone is a very dangerous thing to do. It massively escalates the situation. At that point, if they or anyone else in the situation thinks they can shoot first, it becomes a real option and is also the only way to definitely protect yourself from the gun-pointer. Even if it's not a real option, people under that kind of sudden pressure don't think straight. A police-officer who habitually points a gun at people in situations that don't justify it is a danger to themself and everyone around them; the unlucky person staring down the barrel, other police-officers and unlucky bystanders in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Once a gun is pointed at a person, there are no more steps of escalation, no more ways to express how much you want them to do something; the only next step is to pull the trigger. The situation has suddenly become extremely dangerous and very volatile.
Here are a number of LEOs discussing how frequently they draw their weapon, but again nothing about actually pointing it at someone: https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=432377 Other such discussion seem to indicate similarly; that even drawing is not common.
On such forums, detectives seem to indicate that they have even less need to draw firearms.
The 2016 LAPD review use-of-force review indicates that in 2016 there were 40 officer-involved-shooting. I understand the LAPD employs on the order of 9000 to 10000 police officers, so on the order of 95% or more of those police officers didn't shoot at anyone. However, it looks like they don't record drawing a firearm or pointing firearms at people's faces.
I suspect citations for your hypothesis - that LAPD beat cops draw and point their weapons every day - will be similarly hard to come by, but if you have some, please do present them.