Dear Hasbeen,

You were the one who brought up the question
of "Wrong people in the top jobs," in the police force.
I am doing what you're doing.
Questioning the training that these "top"
people provide to young officers.

I know that there
are better ways in which difficult
situations can be handled without lives being
lost.

I did have a high-ranking relative in the LAPD (now
retired) who handled some very difficult situations,
including the Los Angeles race-riots.

Better methods do exist. All our "top" blokes in the police
force
have to do is consult with other "top" blokes in
police forces globally,
and they will learn what does and doesn't work.

Obviously the current way of enforcement cannot
continue - we can't keep losing people. Even the
"nut cases," you refer to.

Dear O Sung Wu,

I'm sure that the young officer who shot
the young girl will be provided with full
counseling and he will receive full
support from his fellow officers.

What will the family of the dead girl get?

Fox, "Better methods do exist. All our "top" blokes in the police
force have to do is consult with other "top" blokes in police forces globally, and they will learn what does and doesn't work"

Perhaps you might inform the police what better methods exist where an offender has already been subjected to available methods to dissuade an attacker but continues to lunge at police with a large knife?

Your gratuitous insult to men is also apparent. To be expected I guess. I suppose you believe that since the offender was a woman, police should have been chivalrous and bared their chests for her deadly assault.

Tell us now, what would you have done if you were the cop in font of this assailant?

Fox, "What will the family of the dead girl get?"

Now the offender is infantalised as a 'girl'. Again, predictable.

Those 'blokes', men, are always disposable though aren't they?

Hi (again) FOXY...

I again reiterate, all police a taught to aim at the centre of the seen mass. Every copper in the country follows this strict procedure. Furthermore this is the standard practise of the US FBI they follow exactly the same point of aim. To my knowledge, no law enforcement agency teaches their officers to wound or to disarm a potential offender with their standard issued handgun.

I was a participant at the FBI Firearms Instructors School, in 1986/87 and was subsequently certified as bona fide FBI Firearms Instructor. Never at any formal F/A training course, were we participants ever taught to shoot to wound, or alternatively, shoot a weapon from the grasp of an offender.

However, there was one incident in the US some years ago now, where a police sniper managed to shoot a handgun from the grasp of a potential offender as he was walking and waving the gun around shouting threats. That particular 'cold' shot was made by a marksman, using a finely calibrated, precision weapon system. I might also add, I attended the FBI Sniper's School, and no such practice was taught nor even mentioned during the conduct of that course.

Never does a police officer make admissions whilst under oath, in matters of police shootings '...I shot the person in order to kill him...'? In evidence, police always say '...I shot the individual to (i) save a life, (ii)to protect my own life, or (iii) to prevent the commission of an crime. That's it.

Your comments, apropos the counselling the police officer is getting ?You can take it from me FOXY, he'll more than likely be finished as an operational copper, and if he does manage to stay in the job, his career is finished, not because he did the wrong thing, rather his total emotional breakdown. To take a human life is utterly devastating I know what I'm talking about here FOXY, enemy or not, they're human beings, with blood, bone, muscle tissue, small B/W photos of family, friends, parents...? Believe me, those images stay with you forever and ever.

Dear O Sung Wu,

I am aware that police officers are trained to use
deadly force on suspects wielding weapons.
And that is what I am questioning.

I would have thought that the amount of force
officers used should be proportional to the
threat posed. Four trained police officers coming up
against one young (she was 22 years old)
girl, brandishing a kitchen knife - logic dictates
that the odds would be in the favour of
the police officer's ability to take control of the
situation.

All I am asking for is to re-examine the use of a
less-lethal force.

Anyway, I do appreciate your taking the time to explain
things to me from a police officer's point of view.
It is appreciated.