"Don't Kill" Bill Assemblywoman No Expert On Policework

I always thought that the problem with these police shootings stem from bad training at the police academy. You cannot put a glock with a 16 shot magazine in the hands of an officer and tell him/her to empty out the clip whenever they perceive that there is a threat without disastrous results. There have been too many killings of innocent or mentally ill people at the hands of police officers who simply followed this protocol of "shoot to kill". It's not the officers fault if he/she was trained to do this, so the problem is the training and hopefully something like this will change the training and avoid further casualties.

People are worried about handicapping the police during shoot outs but in all honesty shoot outs happen much, much less often than these "accidental" police shootings. I have faith in the justice system and I'm pretty certain that if a police officer killed a criminal involved in a shoot out no jury would find the officer liable or convict him/her for it. This bill makes a very sensible demand that should have been in place a long time ago, officers should've always been shooting to stop instead of to kill, what's wrong with that? Maybe if officers would have been trained to shoot to stop Sean Bell would've survived, maybe Diallo would have survived, and many countless others would be alive today.

"Shoot to Stop" is a very sensible demand of our police officers and I don't think it will harm them in any way, this will just be a different training approach that may save many lives.

Please ladies and gentlemen don't fall for the propaganda that the NYPD's union is making this out to be. Here is the actual law as it reads now and how it would read if this bill passes:

THE CURRENT LAW


Section of state Penal Law S 35.15(2)(a)(ii)


“A person may not use deadly physical force upon another person . . . unless: he or she is . . . a police officer or peace officer or a person assisting a police officer or a peace officer at the latter’s direction.”


THE PROPOSAL


Section of Assembly Bill A02952


“A police officer or peace officer . . . uses such force with the intent to stop, rather than kill . . . and uses only the minimal amount of force necessary to effect such stop.”




No where does it say to aim for limbs or any other body part, that's silly. This proposal says "use force with the intent to stop, rather than kill" meaning focus on stopping the person instead of making sure the person is dead, that's all.

There's no need to shoot a human 41 times, (unless your goal is to kill) and I think that's what this bill is trying to correct. Cops carry 16 shot Glocks but there's no need to immediately empty out the clip on anyone. So this bill says, you can shoot but remember the goal is to STOP the person not kill them, so if possible take less shots. For example, if the cop shoots the person twice and pauses for a second and sees that the person is still a threat then take another shot and so on until you stopped him/her but officers should not be trained or encouraged to keep shooting until they run out of bullets.

Let me make it real simple for everyone this isn't about what body parts the cops are shooting at, this is about how many times should an officer shoot a person to stop them from being a danger to others. Even if officers shot someone 41 times in just their legs and arms it would still be a problem because that is EXCESSIVE.

It's not where they are shooting but how many times.

I can't even recall one was the last times criminals shot a victim 41 times.

This is about training officers correctly to take a shot or two stop for a split second and take more shots AS NEEDED they can not be trained to blindly empty out their weapons, then they are acting as a firing squad.

Know what would make more a difference in the community this moron represents? If she stopped wasting time on a pointless and idiotic bill and actually did some work. Go grab a broom and sweep the streets, clearly she has too much time on her hands.

Not a big fan of cops, but even I gotta say this bill is dumb.

It's not like the movies.

Whoa. She looks like the father dude from GOOD TIMES!

I don't really see it. The nose maybe, but not the rest of the face.....

Personally, I don't think her bill goes far enough. Officers should have a target system they cycle through every time they draw their weapon:

First, an officer should try to shoot the feet, so that the perp falls down and doesn't get away.

Next, they should target the hand, especially if the criminal is holding a gun or knife.

Finally, they should go for the earlobe, because once a criminal knows you can shoot well enough to blow off their earlobe, they'll definitely stop in their tracks.

I understand her position-- & in an ideal world where Robocop stalks the streets, I might agree with it. Cops are people. Human beings. Who have to make the best of what they've got. Unlike what action flicks tell you, it isn't easy to shoot the gun out of the guy's hand, or "shoot to wound." These aren't snipers; these are men & women who have to make split second life & death decisions.

Listen, I'm hard on cops who wave around their guns are snowball fights, or tackle bikers or whatever. But the flip side of that is that you have to let cops DO THEIR JOB. I'm appalled by criminal behavior by cops, & by the "blue wall" that too often hides corruption & crooked deeds. If I want to oppose that, though I have to be willing to have REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS of the police. You can't expect the cops to shoot to wound, because that is not a reasonable expectation.

Here's an idea Ms. Robinson... how about you try to figure out why so much violence goes on in the communities that you represent and do something about that instead of introducing a bill to stop the police from doing their job?

the violence is not the fault of the community. The community is filled with aspiring rappers, good students, and good kids who were turning their lives around. Surely they would never commit any sort of violence.

I don't know how to perform open heart surgery but I think people should use bananas.

DURHUR

Thanks for making me choke on iced coffee.

any police officer discharging his weapon in the line of duty should have to call a therapist to the scene first to see if alternative dispute resolution techniques can cool off the situation