Howard wrote:

On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 16:12:25 +0100, "M. J. Powell"
wrote:

snip
Report in the paper yesterday the police somewhere in the US fired 120
shots at an unarmed driver trying to get away.

Mike
M.J.Powell

That was slightly over a month ago, the city was Compton located in
Los Angeles County, California. The agency was Los Angeles Sheriff
Department. The initial response to this by the Sheriff Department
was that the deputies failed to coordinate their response with each
other, failed to follow training/accepted practices for such a
situation and in general blew it.

I hope it was in a rural area. The idea of 120 rounds flying about in a
populated place is frightening.
It was an urban area and yes, even folks not in the lines of fire
were frightened that it happened.

FWIW, several Southern California law enforcement agencies are
struggling with how to respond to threats from suspects in vehicles;
1) it is difficult at best to determine if they are armed and 2) the
vehicle itself constitutes a weapon. So, somebody who is driving a
3000# 'weapon' and also has a firearm and is in a 'mighty ****ed off'
state of mind does become a real threat to public safety. Sometimes
law enforcement does truly blow it, try to remember that for every
largely publicized error there are hundreds of traffic stops, warrants
served and arrests made that happen without incident.

Brit practice is to follow until something happens. A helicopter is
useful. If the driver is known to be armed then an ARV (Armed Response
Vehicle) is called in. The occupants have to get permission from a
senior officer to open the locked box and carry the firearms.

Mike
That is what our law enforcement agencies do also, wherever possible.
Often, the suspect will stop and force a confrontation in a highly
populated area which leaves the officers little choice in their
response. The case cited above is NOT typical of law enforcement
response where the goal is apprehension of the suspect with minimal
risk to the general public. FWIW, I am familiar with Compton and can
offer that if patrolled by the Brits they would NOT keep their
firearms in a lock-box.

Yeah, Compton ain't Ozzie and Harriet land, that's for sure.

dxAce
Michigan
USA