Homeland Security now "shoot to kill"?

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shield20

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Heard this on the radio this morning - that Dept of Homeland Security now has "shoot to kill"...'permission' for suspected terrorists. Mentioned how 'new policy changes lethal force doctrine from "shoot to stop"', 'properly placed head shot keeps the suicide bomber from triggering bomb'...

Anybody have more info on this?
 
TMM, if he has a dead man's switch, and is set to become a martyr, it really won't much matter what you do; he's gonna go BOOM. The only consolation would be to drop him before he gets where he wants to detonate it!
 
They are referring to the new guidelines issued by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
 
US Capitol Police Only

Hi guys,

US Capitol PD, and not DHS at large, is the LEO with these new guidelines as of today. I'm sure more will switch.

John
 
Are you kidding :what: Homeland Security is too "Customer Service" oriented. They punnish immigration and customs inspectors if they're not nice to those trying to get in illegally or smuggle dope. They would disarm all Officers if they thought that they could get away with it. :mad:
 
Uhm,

"Shoot to Stop" vs "Shoot to kill" in a Law Enforcement situation seems to me to be two sides of the same coin. Shoot to stop has always meant center of mass and if that does not work try for a headshot right? Center of mass is kinda full of vital organs. In most cases it is unfortunate but shooting to stop IS shooting to kill even if that isnt the 'legal intention' or at least so they told us in the academy.

To me this is all just semantics. Any time you pull a firearm out of your holster you are getting ready to emply deadly force. Yes the INTENT may be to 'stop' someone but the best way to do that is going to likely result in placing shots into vital areas. With a 'shoot to kill' order you are likely to place the shots in those very same areas.

Legal semantics. This change of verbage will mean everything to the lawyers and nothing to the LEOs. The LEOs are still gonna line their sights up on the same places and they are still gonna shoot the same people. Articulating thier intent as being 'to kill' or 'to stop' will likely only come to mind when they write their report at the end of the day.

In general cops are not taught to shoot guns out of people's hands or make leg shots. Thats Hollywood.
 
The people writing these 'guidelines' don't understand the basic concept in the first place. 'Shoot to stop' is still the appropriate action.

Now 'stop' requires a more immediate stop to the action, but it's still 'shooting to stop'.

If we wanted to "shoot to kill" we should poison the bullets....:rolleyes:
 
Sigh - the issue is how to stop any voluntary motor responses quickly, esp. of the hands and arms. We know that body or COM shots don't do that.

Only disrupting the brain stem mechanisms are instantly going to turn you off. Thus, the emphasis on head shots to stop motor responses.

Most comments here seemed to have missed this. Perhaps the phrasing is incorrect by the agencies but that is the purpose.
 
They were talking about a policy of making headshots instead of COM, and I imagine how to try to explain it to the...public is an issue. They are NOT shooting to stop, they are shooting to kill - instantly. The LE will definelty know what that means, AND will target heads of the BG, and be taught accordingly.

I thought the "suspected terrorist" comment was interesting too - I have to find a whol;e article to read to see how they are handling all this.
 
Hmm, from people who haven't used public mass transit, ever. Who doesn't fit their profile as a suicide bomber?
 
They were talking about a policy of making headshots instead of COM, and I imagine how to try to explain it to the...public is an issue. They are NOT shooting to stop, they are shooting to kill - instantly. The LE will definelty know what that means, AND will target heads of the BG, and be taught accordingly.
The theory is easy to teach. The mechanics of doing it quickly and accurately at anything other than contact distance is going to be more difficult.

Pilgrim
 
Agreed!
...and just how close would you get to a walking bomb to make that shot?? :eek:

And thanks John for the correction on the agency involved!
 
The idea here is that if you suspect that a person has a few pounds of explosives strapped to their chest that you dont want to shoot them center mass (i.e directly into the afore mentioned explosives). The change is that they are planning on taking headshots rather than COM shots in the event that they are shooting at someone that is believed to be a terrorist. This really isnt a change to use of force at all, just a change in where they are aiming.
 
Sure would like to know what the precise definition of "suspected terrorist" is in these guidelines

"Anything we say it is."

Glad it's just the Capital PD.


Thing is, if it becomes nation wide policy... What do you do when you think you're gonna get a summary execution, like that poor sod over the UK that got executed for merely looking suspicious. Well, fixing a fire alarm. But that's really suspicious behavior for an electrician! Ditto denim jackets.
 
"lethal force/shoot to stop" is oxymoronic.
No, it is not. They are distinct concepts.

In any event, this is still a "shoot to stop" scenario. The only difference is that in order to effectively stop a bomber, who only has to press a button to detonate his bomb, one needs something that makes it impossible for him to make any motion, and does it right away. The only thing that does that is a head shot. COM doesn't cut it.

The fact that this also pretty much terminates his godforsaken life is entirely coincidental. If we had a magic ray that would render him instantly and reliably immobile, I'm sure we'd use that. Heck, CIA/FBI/NSA/DHS would rather he was taken alive anyway.


Mike
 
Ha! Considering the typical news report following a deadly force incident ("Police records show that officers fired 647 shots before alleged perpetrator was killed by a ricochet ...") I'd feel safer if they were trying for a head shot! Good luck with that, guys!

316
 
They are NOT shooting to stop, they are shooting to kill - instantly.
Listen to Coronach. It's not just a semantic distinction. It's all about what the goal is. The goal is not, necessarily, to kill anyone. It's to stop them from doing whatever they were doing or about to do.

If they die, that's just tough. But that wasn't the point. The cops (and CCW'ers for that matter) are not executioners. They/we don't get to make decisions about who lives and dies. Lethal force can be used where applicable, but the point of the matter is not to kill the slime, it's to get them to cease.

This is why it's not legal for you to shoot someone, they fall and drop their weapon and then you walk up and put one in their head. That last shot = murder.

If the guy had dynamite strapped to his chest, it's another story. Is he still a threat?

I'm very surprised, actually, that anyone here who has a CCW or so much as owns a gun is not intimately familiar with the 'shoot to stop' concept and how it differs from 'shoot to kill'.

This is Self-Defense/Use of Lethal Force 101 stuff here, folks.
 
The thing that gets me is that we'll have innocents shot in the head (oops!) while terrorists who plan on dying anyway will instead rig the wires to a clothes pin, arm the bomb, and know that as soon as they release the clothes pin it goes "bang."

Dead-man switch for $0.02 in wire and a common household item.

This is yet another step that does nothing to help the problem.
 
They could also just use a common NC (normally closed) button switch. Or use those clip on units that you see on jet skis and tread mills in case you fall off.

They could also have a button that if it was not pressed once every ten seconds or so would trigger the bomb, then hook it up to a pen clicker.
 
edit, I'm a retard

This is a dumb policy though. It will not prevent suicide bombings (dead-man's switches), but it will result in innocent people getting shot.
 
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