re: Auburn Police Shoot Mentally Ill Woman

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But it's interesting that people are okay with abuses/misuses of power at the local level (where it affects them most).

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So shooting a suicidal person wielding a deadly weapon is abuse of power? This just keeps getting better and better.

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This logic represents a fundamental flaw in the attitude people (and often cops themselves) have about law enforcement. They are not meant to be a militaristic organization, the first response of which is use of deadly force.

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Yet there are people here that expect them to have militaristic training. Hell if a Navy SEAL can disarm someone with a knife why can't Joe Policeman?

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They're a supposed to be a life preserving organization

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And what about preserving their own lives? They have the same rights as you or I... to use deadly force when threatened with deadly force.

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We don't pay them enough or spend enough on training to expect much more.

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We don't pay teachers or spend on training to expect them to make complete non-readers grow multiple grade levels a year or make students who refuse to learn comply, but yet we still expect them to live to that expectation.

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do we? by most accounts our public school system is currently a trainwreck.

And the teachers aren't expected to take on people wielding deadly weapons - well maybe in some public schools.

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I was making a correlation to something else. Not the expectation of teachers taking on others with deadly weapons.

I agree about public education, but much of that blame is shouldered on the teachers. (That's not saying they are perfect by any means)

Police Officers and Teachers are some of the most underpaid professions we have. And that's sad since they play such huge roles in our society. P.O with protecting us from each other and teachers with dealing with our future.

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Yet there are people here that expect them to have militaristic training. Hell if a Navy SEAL can disarm someone with a knife why can't Joe Policeman?

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That's not logically consistent and you know it. I don't think any reasonable person would expect a spuddy cop from Alabama to have special forces training. But the do have training in non-lethal force (the use of tasers, pepper spray, etc.). That training was not used in this instance. Police, in my humble opinion, have a responsibility to protect the lives of citizens (even suicidal ones) whenever possible.

Was it possible here? Maybe, maybe not. It just doesn't seem like all avenues were exhausted.

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They have the same rights as you or I... to use deadly force when threatened with deadly force.

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Of course they have the same rights. But as I mentioned above, putting on the badge carries a greater responsibility (a responsibility of which every officer is patently aware) than the average citizen to protect life. This is why deadly force isn't a response philosophy. It is a last resort.

Unfortunately, too often it isn't used as a last resort.

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There's been cases involving normal civilians shooting people charging at them with a knife and they've been charged with manslaughter or 2nd degree murder. Those people felt threatened. So why one set of rules for police officers, another set of rules for certain people.

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I'd like to see a link to one of these cases. Every state in the southeast and all but a handful nationwide have some form of stand your ground statutes on the books that don't require retreat.

Bring a knife to a gunfight and you end up dead. Simple as that.

Also, for those that don't know, the vests worn by LE aren't effective against edged weapons so there's a really big risk in getting to hand-to-hand range.

In this case, I do wonder if they had a taser available. Pepper spray isn't reliable enough to stop a mentally ill person but a taser would have likely done the job.

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Yeah well according to what was reported so far is that there were multiple officers on the scene at the time of the shooting , and if "multiple" officers wearing bullet proof vests can't handle a single female with a knife then they are in the wrong profession.

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Your ignorance is showing.

Most ballistic vests aren't effective against knives.

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Most ballistic vests aren't effective against knives.

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Hell most vests aren't effective against all bullets. I remember standing gun watches wearing a vest that had a warning about it not being effective against rifle rounds and large caliber handguns.

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Once again, we don't know that.

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We don't. And I'm sure the investigation will reveal whether they exhausted non-lethal options.

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I'm just saying that right now there isn't enough of the story to condemn this shooting

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Perhaps not condemn. But any time an officer uses deadly force, the situation should be viewed with a critical eye. Because the purpose of police is protection of citizens, not force against them.

This is all especially true when officers are aware of the history of mental illness. If people expect that officers will shoot first, they'll stop calling the cops.

People have to learn the worst thing you can do if you have a person with a disability is call the cops.