Outcome Based Decision Making:
Someone dies in a police lethal force situation. Far too often, the officer is charged criminally because we don’t like the outcome.
Society has seen many examples, and I often reference the travesty of a police officer charged with murder after shooting a hostage taker during the Starlight Casino Hostage Rescue.
Society can’t distinguish between two things:
1) Non-culpable homicide
2) Murder
Instead we need to look at process based decision making. We’re the officers actions, necessary, reasonable and proportional to the context of the dangerous situation? Was the officer acting within their required duties, and following the laws of society, which include their authority to use force?
We need to stop villainizing good officers, who sign up to help people, and are forced to use lethal force to keep society safe. I know many people, and let’s not forget the officers are people too, who have been through this terrible experience.
They are good people. They don’t deserve this.
The science is clear: cops don’t want to shoot peoole. Can we base the perception of police actions on the process that they follow, instead of the outcome that was forced onto them by a someone else’s actions?
Even where officers successfully respond to deadly threats, there remains a segment of our population standing ready to indict, convict, and imprison them.?During police week, Force Science’s Von Kliem reminds our profession and communities that surviving the assault may not be the end of the fight for law enforcement.
Homicidal Empathy: An Evolving Threat to Police Officers
https://www.forcescience.com