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#1: The crooks had, in fact, been arrested just a few months before this incident (don't recall what agency, but it wasn't the LAPD). They had firearms at the time of the arrest, which were confiscated, but returned to them due to "lack of evidence" of any crime.
#2: The crooks had practised their procedures, and pretty much knew what police response times were. The shooting didn't originate from an alarm call or a call to 9-1-1, but a 2-officer unit that happened to observe the crooks coming out of the bank.
#3: The crooks were hyped-up on pain pills. During the exchange of gunfire, both crooks took hits from pistols or revolvers, but they shook off the pain....or were hit in their body armor which covered most of their bodies and limbs.
#4: Several officers that were within range of attempting head shots had to back off, due to the background behind the crooks (residences, moving vehicles). The crooks could have cared less about hitting innocent people.
#5: Slugs in shotguns were forbidden by the LAPD at the time. Likewise, rifles were forbidden to be utilized by "patrol" officers at the time, due to the lack of training, liability issues AND the costs involved in training and issuing rifles to patrol officers.
The LAPD (and several other agencies) have increased their training, purchased shotguns specifically for shooting slugs, have purchased "UPR" (Urban Police Rifles) and have deployed numerous trained sharpshooters in all of the geographic divisions.
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