You said police should be willing to die every time they stop a car or arrest someone, if they are not, they should not become police. That is asking them to assume an elevated risk, "being willing to die" that an ordinary man would not assume. Yes the job has different risks than a insurance salesman, but when you state the police "should be willing to die" you elevate the risk the officer should bear above that of the ordinary man. Should the ordinary man in the car being stopped also be willing to die, any more so than the officer?easyrider16 wrote: ↑Sep 3rd, '20, 06:10I don't even know what this means. Higher than whose duty? Higher than what? All I meant by the piece you quoted was that police have a dangerous job, and one that entails risk. If they are not willing to undertake that risk, they should not be police. The same could be said of firefighters, soldiers, and many other occupations. Having a risky job does not give you a license to shoot people.
Put another way, the officer bears the higher job risk of the driver in the car being a criminal, the officer bears the higher job risk of the driver intending to do harm. The officer does not have to bear a higher threshold in his own self defense should the driver 1) resist arrest 2) refuse commands that lower the officers risk and 3) reach for a concealed storage area. I'm surprised I have to spell this out in such detail.
What actions are you suggesting the officer do in the .6 seconds the suspect reaches for a concealed storage area (after resisting arrest and refusing orders to de-escalate and reduce the officers risk)? Please list them all.easyrider16 wrote: ↑Sep 3rd, '20, 06:10This is where you are confusing issues. There's a continuum of things a police officer can do in response to facts that suggest he needs to exercise reasonable caution. ... If you were paying attention to that ABA article, you would have realized that it is discussing a case where a police officer was found guilty of murder in a shooting where the suspect had a knife and was walking away from police officers. Not all that dissimilar to the Blake case.
How is walking away at a distance at all similar to reaching to a concealed storage area when within arms length of the officer? You need to explain that before you can claim any similarity.