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In my dream, another officer and I were approaching a man seated at an outdoor cafe table. He had his back to us and his table was up against the big picture window of the cafe.  As I walked around the railing separating the patio from the sidewalk, my reflection in the window followed as I moved to position myself so as not to startle the man.

His face did not register surprise when he looked at us.  Instead, it appeared as though he were waiting our arrival.  His gaze tracked us and he slowly moved his one hand away from his body, sliding an object onto the table.  I watched his hands and his body language as my mouth started to speak in the slow, deep, inarticulate tones of a nightmare.  Whatever I was saying was having little effect.  The man released the object and reacquired his grip around it. The item was a black handgun.

My dream self shouted as I tucked behind a nearby car for cover and drew my service pistol. The man’s empty soul bore right through me as he raised his weapon and it was his eyes I looked into over the sights of my gun.  I shouted again and again.  Nothing; his gun kept coming.

My finger pulling the trigger back was what jerked me awake, my gun hand curled into a fist and my breath coming fast.

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I’ve got fifteen years of street policing behind me and have had a couple of close calls when it comes to lethal encounters.  Mental preparation is a daily occurrence and I pay attention to other cases to learn as much as I can about officer and subject behaviour.

What I’ve learned is this: you can be as prepared as you possibly can.  You say and do all the right things.  You can be in the right place, the right time and the right location and a situation can still go off the rails.

The intense media scrum and resulting public opinion when lethal police encounters happen is alarming.  The pressure on the officers involved is enormous and is only made worse when the coverage is negative.  Yes, there needs to be an intense investigation in the wake of every lethal police incident, but to put the officer on trial in the media is akin to blindfolding them, giving them their last cigarette and lining them up in front of a firing squad.

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What alarms me the most isn’t that I’ve lost sleep over this issue but that there exists the real possibility of an officer failing to use lethal force in a future incident in order to avoid being crucified in the aftermath, and that the officer, or someone the officer is trying to protect, will be killed.

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Train, train, and then train some more.  Be justified, act accordingly, articulate why you did what you did and make sure you go home at the end of your shift to your family and loved ones.

That said, it’s amazing how many ‘experts’ spring from the woodwork.

Be strong, my fellow officers, and know you have the support of your brothers and sisters.

The Abbotsford Police Department was in charge of the investigation and yesterday they released video of the actual shooting as well as a press release regarding their findings.

Vancouver Police Chief Constable Jim Chu provided a statement on the incident, as did the Vancouver Police Union, both of which can be accessed through the Media Releases link (dated 2009.12.15) in the Public Affairs Media Section of the VPD website. 

After watching the video, please take the time to read the statement of Chief Constable Jim Chu.

Also, feel free to leave your comments here.  There is not a lot of opportunity for those who support their policing agencies to have their say, so I’m opening this post up as a forum for you to do so. 

In both videos, police officers face off with resistant subjects and the officers resort to using force to try and resolve the situations.  In both incidents, Tasers are deployed.  Why the Taser deployments were ineffective is something Smith covers in his article so I’m not going to comment on it here.  I’m also not going to comment on the actions of the officers involved as I do not know all the circumstances surrounding each incident. 

The reason I’m posting these two videos is to show how difficult it can be to arrest a resistant subject and how quickly situations can go from bad to worse.  Both videos are a good representation of what officers face on a daily basis, and why officers have to stay on their toes. 

The first video is a great example of a resistant suspect vs an assaultive suspect, and shows two officers trying to arrest a man on an outstanding warrant.  The officers are very patient with the suspect, but in the end he eventually gets away from them.  I’ll agree with you in the observation that the man was not being assaultive, but he was goal oriented none the less. 

The second video is from the camera mounted in the car of a Davenport (Iowa) police officer.  It captures Officer Clif Anderson’s attempt to arrest a very goal oriented suspect.  Watch the suspect’s body language as he climbs over the railing – you can see a visible change in how he carries himself. 

This suspect’s resistance turns into an attack on Officer Anderson, during which both men go out of view of the camera. Detective Jim Weakley, who just happened to be driving by on the bridge, jumps in to assist. During the ensuing life and death struggle, the suspect takes Officer Anderson to the ground, bites Officer Anderson’s eyebrow off and slams his head against the concrete before Officer Anderson is able to shoot the suspect twice.

Just a warning…the second video is graphic and may not be suitable for all viewers.

Video #1

Video #2 – fast forward to the 00:30 time mark

For the full story on Video #2, please read The Quad-City Times article, outlining the events in their entirety and to view photos of the injuries sustained by Officer Anderson.

To all the officers reading this – Let the experiences of the officers in the videos serve as a reminder to always stay alert, train hard, and treat each call with the seriousness it deserves. 

As Officer Smith says in his article – watch each video and then imagine what you would do in the same situation.

We’re damned if we do, and damned if we don’t.