Thread: AOS shooting -TVOne sunday program

Originally Posted by gundoc

Sorry for the delay but I have been away. My background is fairly well known so I won't go into it. I am sure you could find out if you made some inquiries. I reiterate that the Police have no more rights than any other citizen when it comes to taking a life, nor do they have any more rights regarding discharging a firearm with reckless disregard. They do have powers of arrest and they may lawfully use such force as is reasonably necessary to effect such arrest, but they may not use deadly force unless there are reasonable grounds to fear for someone's life, just the same as you or me (remembering that citizens also have powers of arrest under certain circumstances) No not the same, it specifically says you need to be a constable or person called upon by a constable to use force which is likely or intended to cause death or GBH. It is worth noting that the Police have duty to uphold the law, not to act as judge and jury without being answerable to the public Are you trying to say that Police have shot at offenders when they haven't been justified just to inflict punishment?. I don't have any problem with the Police shooting at offenders under the appropriate circumstances, but they must do so without endangering any innocent parties Have you considered that doing nothing could be just as dangerous to people? I'm guessing you have no real experience with Policing on the front line and just how fluid and unpredictable these situations get. 99% of shots taken by Police will endanger members of the public somewhere, to think they could do their job without doing so is fantasy. Police bullets that have missed their intended targets have done quite a bit of collateral damage in past years, and unless they tidy their act up, will continue to do so.

I can honestly say that if I was sitting in a truck on the motorway and a methed up offender that'd just shot at Police was pointing a sawn off shot gun at me, I'd be hoping the cop would do his job and would pull the trigger, not be worrying about getting named and charged and end up doing nothing to help me. It's not a perfect world.