The deadly dilemma: shoot or don't shoot?

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin,The, March, 2008 by Shannon Bohrer, Harry A. Kern, Edward F. Davis

Departmental Policies

Can a policy on the use of deadly force influence an officer's decision to employ it? In one study on officer safety, most of the officers interviewed readily recalled when their departmental policy said they could not shoot but did not remember when they could. (14) What can agencies do to ensure that their policies give officers the utmost help in making the difficult decision to use deadly force?

The first step in developing a policy concerning the use of deadly force is to ensure that it complies with the state and federal laws that the department and its members are sworn to uphold. After establishing this, some agencies have included additional restraints for their officers to consider before using their firearms in a deadly force situation. While policies should contain directives for the security of the members of the community, as well as for the safety of the officers who serve to protect that community, the more details that agencies add may increase the time it takes officers to recall the contents and convince themselves to fire their weapons.

No policy reviewed for this article compelled any officer to use deadly force; officers must decide when to shoot. Departments should test their officers to ensure that they clearly understand the policy, especially those references to the proper time to use deadly force. In addition, agencies should review their policies to ensure that they do not overemphasize negative aspects, such as when not to shoot. (15) After all, in the middle of a critical incident, if officers focus on when they cannot shoot, they may not have time to react and fire their weapons to safeguard innocent citizens, fellow officers, or themselves.

Misperceived Threats

Officers are not always prepared for what threats actually look like. (16) After all, they train with targets that have no characteristics or with ones that resemble stereotypical "outlaws," at least the way they think such criminals should look. In reality, individuals who have attempted to kill or who have killed officers have ranged from grandfathers in their 80s to preadolescent girls. (17) If officers trained with pictorial targets that depicted such threats as these, would they hesitate to shoot? (18)

A convicted police killer stated that he knew the officer covering him would not shoot. (19) Making that judgment, the subject took the officer's firearm and killed him. Only a few months before, the deceased officer had to shoot a juvenile who died from these wounds. Many of his fellow officers felt that this caused him to not want to shoot anyone else.

Detriment to Career

This concept may sound strange, but a segment of sworn personnel believe it. In some departments, the organizational culture, either intentional or not, seems to promote the idea that if officers have to shoot someone, they are doing something wrong. If an agency, after a justifiable shooting, charges the officer for violations of department regulations, none of which relate to the decision to shoot, it sends a strong signal to street officers--do not shoot anyone. Compounding this concern is the issue of the race of those involved in a police shooting. The extent of how this influences an officer's decision to use force is unknown, but many in the law enforcement community believe it exists to some degree. (20) Both of these factors, however, highlight the need for law enforcement organizations and the communities they serve to work together to ensure that officers who must use deadly force receive fair and balanced treatment.