“Bond, James Bond.” If this is how you introduce yourself, and you are employed by Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and your badge number is 007, then you have a license to kill and you need not read this article. As for the rest of us who might use deadly force to stop or apprehend a suspect, please read on.
Absent a death warrant, an officer’s desired results when using deadly force should not be specifically to kill the subject. No matter what the suspect might have done, we must rely on our training and the fact that we are not just held to a higher standard, but we are the higher standard. We need to separate the emotion and remember our tasks:
1.) immediately stop the suspect’s actions, and
2.) seize the suspect.
Verbal Traps
Law enforcement officers have a unique way of communicating. Sometimes it comes in the form of morbid humor to relieve stress. Sometimes it is the officer trying to “fit in” whose macho persona just gets in the way of what the officer truly feels. Perhaps you’ve heard an officer in training say something like, “let’s just kill them all and let God sort them out.” It is not the intention of the officer in these cases to specifically kill, but as trainers we must address the language if we hear it.
Law enforcement trainers in years past had instructed officers that when they point their gun at someone to tell that person they will “kill” instead of “shoot” him. In force option simulation training it is not uncommon to hear officers yelling, “Stop or I’ll kill you!”
When asked if they really would have wanted the suspect to die, their answer is overwhelmingly “no.” In some cases, we’d determine that the officer had been trained to say that — the belief being that if the officer said “kill” it would scare the suspect into submission.
Law enforcement officers will do as they train, and under stress the dominant response will prevail. In a shooting, certainly a stressful event, we do not want officers to say something that may cause the officer problems later. Although misunderstood as to why it was said, it might be construed by a third party as a premeditated desire to kill, especially if death were to result. This is something an opposing attorney may try to exploit.
Center-mass Shooting
The idea of using deadly force to stop a life-endangering threat is consistent with law, ethical responsibilities, and with current police training. It is well known that by shooting center mass we are more likely to hit something that will stop the threat. This is purely a tactical issue as under stress it is impractical to believe an officer can stop the threat in an appropriate time by accurately hitting other parts of the body. It is also well known and accepted, that shooting center mass may cause death. Although death may be the result of targeting center mass, it should never be the intention of the officer using the deadly force. The intent of the officer should only be to stop or apprehend the suspect.
We once did a demonstration Force Option Simulator class for the Grand Jury. In our county, officer-involved shootings are reviewed by the Grand Jury to determine if there is any criminal culpability in use of deadly force. One of the members truly did not understand why officers shoot at center mass.
This jurist wondered why officers could not just shoot a suspect in the leg to wound or shoot the knife out of the suspect’s hand. A quick trip into the simulator and an introduction to some “tense, uncertain, and rapidly-evolving circumstances” was enough to convince the jurist of the proper targeting areas.
Shooting at paper targets that do not shoot back is generally easy and definitely not life threatening. Substitute an armed suspect that might even be shooting back at the officer and most likely the officer’s marksmanship will greatly diminish. In this situation, if the decision is made by the officer to use deadly force it’s because the actions of the suspect were perceived by the officer to be imminently life threatening, requiring those actions to be stopped immediately.
In another illustrative example of a deadly force application, an officer responds to an in-progress armed robbery. Upon arrival, the officer sees the suspect exiting the store with a gun in one hand and a bag in the other. Upon seeing the officer, the suspect starts to run away from the officer. The responding officer reasonably believes:
1.) the fleeing subject poses a threat of death or serious physical harm, either to the officer or others (if allowed to escape), and
2.) the subject has committed a crime involving the infliction or threatened infliction of serious physical harm.
If the officer were to shoot at this suspect it would be to prevent the escape of an extremely dangerous suspect. Again, it would be unreasonable to believe an officer under these conditions could stop a suspect that is moving away by targeting anything other than center mass.
Shooting center mass is the only option available that would allow the officer to quickly hit the suspect in an area likely to stop him/her; it is all a matter of tactics. If the end result is the death of the suspect, it is a result of a tactical decision brought about by the suspect’s own actions, not the intended results.
Sniper Shot
If a police sniper takes a deliberate head shot on a suspect, is the intended result now death?
It is well understood that the survivability of such a shot is extremely low, but the answer is still the same. The intentions of the sniper officer are to stop the suspect’s actions.
Whether the suspect survives the incident or not does not change the reasonableness, or the purpose, of the force used. Nothing changes in this circumstance even if death were to occur — it is the end result of a tactical decision brought about by the suspect’s own actions.
Conclusion
It is understood that as a law enforcement officer, one may be forced to take a life in order to save a life in certain circumstances. Law enforcement officers do not shoot to kill, nor do they shoot to wound. In a situation where an officer has made the decision to use deadly force, the suspect is doing something that is causing an imminent/significant threat to life and those actions must be immediately stopped. Officers use deadly force to stop or apprehend.
Remember our role as police officers and next time you are asked, “Are police officers trained to shoot to kill?” politely tell them the truth.
No.
