Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The problem with calling the police is you can't call them off

This is a bit meandering, but I do have a point eventually.

It started with poor Gregg Moynagh. The fact that the police couldn't deal with a man in crisis armed with knives without shooting him frightens me, because this means I can't ever call 911 if I should ever have a loved one in crisis.

So this got me thinking about what I would do if someone was in crisis and had knives, which got me thinking about the choreography and potential for injury in fighting someone with a knife. And after thinking about this for a while, I came to the conclusion that the risk of getting cut or killed is very real, but the possibility of talking them down or disarming them is still great enough that I'd be willing to take that risk for someone I cared enough about, especially if the alternative is them getting shot. So perhaps the police aren't as willing to risk their own lives, which isn't very Starfleet of them but they are human and that's not my point here.

My point is this: suppose I have a loved one in crisis. Suppose he has knives. Suppose I call 911 and the police show up. Suppose the police tell him to put down the knives or they'll shoot shoot. At this point, I am no longer allowed to decide I'd rather risk myself getting stabbed than him getting shot. The police would stop me. Because I'm a civilian, I'm not allowed to make that decision in the presence of the police. Because some random police officers aren't willing to risk their lives for a stranger, I'm not allowed to risk my life for someone I love.

Even if you trust the police to behave proerly in all situations, that's still not comfortable.

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