DC officer "broke policy" in shooting

[LittleLebowski]

Only in a liberal enclave like DC, at least it seems to me.

http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/dc/officer-broke-policy-in-terrence-sterling-fatal-shooting/496940740


Police caught up with Sterling at 3rd and M Streets NW and pulled into the intersection to try to block Sterling. Trainer took his gun out of the holster and held it at his side while he started to get out of the cruiser.

Officers said that's when Sterling revved his motorcycle and rammed it into Trainer's partially opened door. The impact left a dent in the cruiser's door and a bruise on the officer's knee.

Officer Trainer shot Sterling twice—once in the neck and once in the back. He later died.

[blues]

Only in a liberal enclave like DC, at least it seems to me.

http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/dc/officer-broke-policy-in-terrence-sterling-fatal-shooting/496940740


You're not supposed to shoot until you've suffered injuries serious enough to prevent your doing so. (Catch-22) :rolleyes:

[AMC]

Typical of political and community reaction to police use of force, folks are confusing policy and the law. There are several statements made in that article by various officials and spokesmouths, about the findings that the force used was "excessive" or "unfounded", but the statement from the review board simply says he "broke policy"....which could simply be that he didn't activate his camera on time. We don't know, because the Chief won't address what the policy violation was. I don't know anything about this case, so I don't know if it was justified or not, but I have a sneaking suspicion that offender demographics play a big role in that decision. They certainly do in my town. As a result, cops will deliberately de-police in certain areas, and against certain demographics of criminals (this can vary geographically). It's absolutely happened in my town.....despite the recent back patting press release saying, "Crime is down, complaints are down, arrests are up! Because super-nice de-escalation policies...or something!" Flat out lies on the arrests and contacts part, but hey....who cares, right?

[voodoo_man]

Many departments have a "policy" which prohibits shooting a fleeing suspect inside of a vehicle unless that suspect is engaging in felonious violence other than using the vehicle as a weapon. There are instances where I agree with it and I do not.

If a vehicle is stolen and the person runs from the police, the LAPD policy of chasing and stopping them is best policy in my opinion. For suspected DUI's and whatnot it is difficult to justify use or force even if that person is running stop signs and even if that person hits a police vehicle.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to shoot at every single vehicle which flees a stop, but that's not the right way to go about things.

[TGS]

Many departments have a "policy" which prohibits shooting a fleeing suspect inside of a vehicle unless that suspect is engaging in felonious violence other than using the vehicle as a weapon.

To that end, I think that Metropolitan PD adheres to the PERF 30 bullshit, which includes that rule.

[LittleLebowski]

Many departments have a "policy" which prohibits shooting a fleeing suspect inside of a vehicle unless that suspect is engaging in felonious violence other than using the vehicle as a weapon. There are instances where I agree with it and I do not.

If a vehicle is stolen and the person runs from the police, the LAPD policy of chasing and stopping them is best policy in my opinion. For suspected DUI's and whatnot it is difficult to justify use or force even if that person is running stop signs and even if that person hits a police vehicle.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to shoot at every single vehicle which flees a stop, but that's not the right way to go about things.

I figured the officer was pretty justified given that the perp aimed the bike right at him and pretty much hit him. Unless there was some long delay between being hit and then shooting... It's hard to tell given the attitude of the city's leadership. I would wager that the cop isn't getting a fair shake.

[voodoo_man]

I figured the officer was pretty justified given that the perp aimed the bike right at him and pretty much hit him. Unless there was some long delay between being hit and then shooting... It's hard to tell given the attitude of the city's leadership. I would wager that the cop isn't getting a fair shake.

The real serious issue is that the top brass, sitting in their cooled and heated offices high above whatever else is going on in the real world of police work, especially street work make policies they themselves never had to follow and would have bitched about. Also the fact some of these officers started their careers with one policy which was written in stone and now all of a sudden it's changed and no one trained them in the proper way of doing anything. They just said, you can do this anymore, what can you do? Who knows, but you can't do that.

The system is designed to aid hard working officers, it's designed as a punitive system against them.

[ssb]

Without talking out of school, I recently saw a dash video of somebody trying to kill a friend of mine in a similar manner. The organization he works for has a similar policy to those discussed upthread. I get not shooting at every fleeing vehicle, but at some point...

[jnc36rcpd]

I suspect the executives and politicians who condemn this officer would feel differently is a loved one were down stream of this intoxicated motorcyclist driving over 100 miles per hour and running red lights. The Washington Post cannot get over the fact that the officer failed to activate his body worn camera. I guess they don't understand that the BWC's were comparatively new gear at the time of the incident and that the officer might have had other priorities in mind...like not being killed by a drunk driver.

[John Hearne]

I like how their "crack" reporter doesn't understand the difference between law and policy. Probably why they're a journalist - no thought required.....

[Erick Gelhaus]

Does anyone have a copy of the Metro DCPD Use of Force policy that was in effect at the time of the shooting? That might be of interest to the discussion.

The ignorance on the subject of law v. policy is staggering but, sadly, it no longer surprises me.

That whole "un-armed" thing went out the window when he used the motorcycle as an impact weapon.

The BWC issue, in & of itself, doesn't seem to rise to a firing level offense ... unless there has been a progressive discipline issue.

AMC has a very valid point on the subject of radically changed UoF polices and insufficiwnt retraining, depending on how much time the cop had in the business.