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And for everyone who's sure they know the perfect solution to any situation-good for you! Hope that works out for you-
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Funny thing about solutions. No matter what or where the problem and no matter what legal course of action is taken if the outcome is positive the repercussions are generally negligible. Things start getting cloudy after the situation stabilizes. Monday morning brings hundreds of alternate actions that may have worked. That's hundreds of actions for every past situation. Sometimes good to read, always impossible to memorize.
Most departments have published guidelines regarding use of deadly force. Some departments have general guidelines for specific situations. Even those can be violated if at the instant the action is taken it can be articulated accurately that that was all that could have been done AND it worked.
I'm not sure if all here are aware that in almost all large departments in this country there are usually two separate investigations into officer involved shootings. One is criminal which is self explanatory, the other internal. The old "Oh crap, here come the headhunters“, internal affairs. Lots and lots of the rules of evidence that will apply in the criminal investigation do NOT apply to the administrative investigation. In this state as in probably all states, the administrative investigation cannot be used in criminal court. Why? For several reasons not the least of which is the employee does not have the right to remain silent. It’s a non criminal administrative investigation.
It is in this report that departmental policies, procedures, alternate courses of action, etc. etc. are brought up. The coppers that investigate these types of things don't miss much and although they don't usually recommend any alternate courses of action someone up the ladder may.
The difference between recommended courses of action on the internet and those from the employing department is also obvious. The department knows fairly well what the officer has been taught, what the departmental guidelines are and has first hand information of the situation as it unfolded.
Just one more tidbit. Press releases are provided by departmental employees who have had at least some training. On major events they are most certainly thought out ahead of time and until all criminal investigations are completed the general public will receive a general overview only. Sort of "just the facts mam" but not all of them.
Makes it difficult to draw accurate conclusions.