[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by scootr

There should be a lot of criticism for the very public shooting and subsequent killing of 2 innocent people. If there was ever a time and place not to engage in a gunfight this was one such place. Lucky only 2 innocent people died considering all of the people trapped in their cars in the line of fire.

It did not sound to me like either the suspects or the truck was an immediate life/death threat to the hostage or any one in the traffic at the time the officers engaged the known armed suspects causing a shoot out in a most public place.

I think the officers involved got it wrong this time. I think all their training would have said don't shoot in this situation.

This was a situation where two armed perpetrators had already begun shooting at police prior to the genesis of the pursuit. Those same men also showed a willingness to add kidnapping to the list of actions they were willing to take over a jewelry heist. The kidnapping, decision to shoot at police [inconsiderate of the general public] and the decision to commit a number of dangerous traffic violations in order to effect a pursuit deemed this situation emergent. The fact that you don't see that as a threat to public safety demonstrates how aloof you truly are.

There is never a perfect time to have a shootout. There always exists the potential for an innocent person to be inadvertently harmed while trying to neutralize public threats. Criminals rely on this; the public is their shield. When you have a situation like what happened in Miami, people need to realize that there was no other option but to engage.

How do YOU know what things sounded like? Were you listening to the dispatch channel? No! Were you listening to their local tactical/L-TAC channel? No! Are you aware of what information was or was not relayed to police? No! Kidnappings rarely end well for the kidnapped. For all police knew at the time, the kidnapped individual might've already been dead, but there were dozens of innocent civilians that could've been used as leverage by the perpetrators. What if police decided not to engage, but the armed perpetrators started shooting rounds into the cars surrounding the UPS truck, killing the innocent?!? You'd then be saying, "The police should've engaged!" It is a zero sum game!

Police usually get it wrong in the eyes of the public. You want us to do the dirty job while you turn a blind eye to what it takes to actually perform the job you've commissioned us to do. Another zero sum game!


So what you're telling me is that you think it was prudent for officers to take fire, but not return fire?!?! That's your game plan!?!? Do you not punch back when somebody is punching you too? Thank God you're not one of us. I would hate to have a partner who lacked assertiveness, was indecisive and was scared to act/make hard decisions. If I'm going to die out here, I sure as hell wouldn't want it to be because I had a crap ass partner.