12-year-old tased by police officer

[sigmadiva]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

No, I am telling you that law enforcement training and procedures are about more than what (appears to) "works in the moment."

True. Their training does give them a guide for follow for different situations. But, they actually don't know how the situation will "go down" until they arrive at the scene and assess what is happening. That is what I mean by they have to do what "works in the moment".

Last week here, a bunch of cops showed up to a house because the report came in that a man and a woman had been shot in the house. People heard the shots, called the cops, and the cops arrived with the assumption that a murder / robbery had taken place. Once the situation calmed down, it turned out the man who was shot suffered an accidental self-inflicted gun shot and his daughter-in-law, who has standing behind him apparently, was shot too.

Now, given that the cops have been trained to deal with break ins and shootings, and that is what they thought they were dealing with, that is how they initially approached this incident. Since the parameters of the incident changed, the cops changed their approach. They dealt with the situation based on that moment.

So, yes, cops have been given training and procedures to follow. And, they are also given the ability to use their judgment to assess how best to proceed.

Don't we all like it when we get stopped by a cop for a traffic violation, and he or she lets us off with a warning instead of getting a ticket?

By what you are saying, based on the training of the cop, he /she has every right to give us a ticket. Its the law, its his / her job. But, after talking to us, and realizing that we meant no "harm", he / she lets us go. The cop made a judgment in that moment.