Police Shootings

Police Shootings

This article is about a police shooting where 10 cops opened fire at one suspect. I don't understand why people always think this sort of thing is excessive. Each cop has their own threshold, and when they think that threshold has been crossed they'll start shooting. That often means that many or all of them will begin shooting at once. I agree that it's wasteful and often way overkill, but that doesn't provide an alternative. Should they have a conference to see who gets to shoot?

Furthermore, once one policeman (or policewoman) starts shooting, the others will automatically think that the suspect has done something dangerous and will also start shooting. That's their job.

Finally, once they start shooting, I don't think it's that much of a stretch for them to keep shooting. If they think that a suspect is so dangerous that killing him is the best option, why would them not keep shooting?

So when I read a story about 10 policemen firing 160 rounds at this suspect, I can agree that it was overkill, but once there were 10 officers at the scene I don't think there's much that could have been done to stop that sort of thing. I'd be interested to know what the policeman's stance on this, maybe I'm going too easy on them. :)