Should Police Officers Use Less Lethal Weapons Essay

Many citizens believe that officers should shoot an armed criminal in the arm or leg, or have officers just use less lethal weapons like a taser or pepper spray against someone with a lethal weapon like a knife. Lastly, many citizens believe that officers should be able to deescalate the situation instead of escalating straight to violence with a weapon. One of the myths people tend to believe is why don’t officers just shoot the defendant in the arm or leg to get them to drop the weapon instead of killing them. Of course, it may sound or look cool in movies but when it comes to real life situations officers can’t do that. Police are trained to shoot until a threat is eliminated. It states in an article “shooting to wound may not stop

In some instances, police officers do use less lethal weapons but when it comes to a less lethal weapon and a lethal weapon you're not going to get very far. A taser is not going to do much for someone that is running at you with a knife or shooting at you with a gun. This article states, “Officers are trained to ‘shoot to kill’ Much of policing involves a series of judgment calls made while adrenaline is high. Experts say police officers are trained to assess whether they feel an interaction with a citizen could turn deadly. If tensions reach that point, officers are told the use of lethal force would then be warranted” (Sakuma 2016). When it comes to a person that is unarmed then yes, they have less lethal weapons out and ready. Also, police officers are not obligated to use a taser or a less lethal weapon when faced with a lethal weapon. It states “keeping officers safe is the highest priority. An officer isn't expected to do something that might leave him in danger, simply because it's less violent to the victim. And police simply don't feel either tasers or leg shots are reliable ways to disable a suspect” (Lind 2014). This goes to show no officer should put themselves in danger when faced with a lethal

In reality police officers de-escalate the situation 99 percent of the time. The public only sees that 1 percent of the time where things get out of control because that is what the media likes to blow up (EugenePoliceDept 2011). When police officers are not able to de-escalate the problem, it is mainly because the offender does not have control over his mind and emotions due to mental illness or drugs they have consumed. When it comes to dealing with de-escalating a situation there are multiple steps an officer has to take, according to Wolfe, De-escalation begins with good information from dispatch, proper tactics, and training to prepare an officer to respond. Persuasion is the most needed but least trained component of de-escalation, but without these components, no positive outcome can be expected (Wolfe 2017). It may seem like it happens in more than one present but again that is because the media makes those police and offender encounters go viral and everyone starts making their own opinions and assumptions about the situation. Most of the time when the situation is unable to be de-escalated it is because the police officer is unable to get contact with the offender, or the offender is not in the right headspace to listen and have a one-on-one conversation to calm the offender. This article states “If a subject is unable or unwilling to listen and respond to what you are saying, the