When I was in the patrol division I was moved to the northwest side of town. I patrolled 125 square miles by myself. A backup for me was 15 to 30 minutes away unless the helicopter was up or possibly a County Sheriff was close. I will grant this area was often called a silk stocking area, but oddly enough criminals maintain a presence in these areas also.
This new tactic is actually an old school practice. There are issues that don’t relate to the officer as much the legal system, the citizens, the President of the United States and todays environment. When an officer was confronted with such a situation, the first order of business for the officer was to come out alive. This did not mean the suspect would survive the encounter.
The legal system at the time and still today takes a look at the totality of the environment the officer was in and the reason deadly force was employed. We didn’t have the small radical groups that are perceived to have some kind of pseudo-authority just because they have loud voices and screamed police brutality. The citizens at that time didn’t have the instant access to bogus information that was being broadcasted. The President of the United States did not offer his factually misleading opinion on the situation and his support for the position of the perpetrator.
