Well.....that didn't last. Looks like our Police Commission plans to end the use of Low Ready by our officers. They are revising our policy to require a report any time an officer draws his firearm from the holster, and are amending our "Reportable Use of Force" policy to explicitly state that Low Ready is Pointing a Gun at someone.....totally contradicting our training over the last two years, and explicitly removing any reason for our coppers not to point guns at people. And the Range and training division were not even notified, much less consulted.
This stems from an incident last year in which the SWAT team executed a search warrant on a robbery suspects residence. The suspects girlfriend made a complaint claiming the officers put guns to the heads of her children and threatened them. Body cam footage showed the officers maintainedow ready with their SBRs, and never pointed a weapon at anybody. Our Department of Police Accountability decided that Low Ready was some kind of made up 'trick' to get out of reporting Use of Force (pointing a firearm at someone is reportable under our policy), and tried to find the officers liable for violating policy. They also claimed that the officers should be fired for excessive force, because "if there is a legal claim against the city, even if we win, it will cost money....and that is the legal definition of excessive force." Thats a quote from their findings. God....I hate this job.