They and more than 100 of their fellow officers filed a lawsuit against the new UF policies, saying that the policies cause “paralysis by analysis” in dangerous situations, according to their attorney, as reported in The Seattle Times.
However, the two officers — a trained hostage negotiator and an instructor/consultant on less-lethal forces — demonstrated that their experience allows them to quickly and decisively subdue armed suspects. Those officers were involved in two separate shootings with armed suspects. In the first incident, the suspect was shot and killed by police after he left a Queen Anne home and fired at officers. In the second incident, pepper spray, Taser darts and projectiles were used to overwhelm a knife-brandishing suspect into surrendering. An officer’s gun was fired once during this incident in the University District, but the shot missed.
#The police are trained to use the many tools at their disposal, including pepper spray, Tasers, rubber projectiles, self-defense and, of course, guns. The only ones who would be “paralyzed” by the new UF policies are those who need retraining.