10/21/04  Don't call us if you can't deal with all possibilities.

As a DPD officer, I've always told people:

If your son, daughter, wife, husband, etc is MHMR and has a weapon, DON'T call the police unless you are willing to accept that your loved one may not live through the encounter.

I don't know what a great person your loved one is.

I don't know how many state championships he's won.

I have no clue where they have worked or how happy they always were.

All I know is I get a call about a man/woman with a gun or knife. I WILL make every effort not to use deadly force.   However, since all I know is that I'm dealing with someone who IS irrational and DOES have a deadly weapon, I am going to make every effort to defend myself and any other officers or civilians at the scene.  That may mean that I shoot the armed person in the back.

Their weapon does not have to be used in a way that might lead to me personally being injured.  I am also responsible for everyone else at the location.  If their gun is pointed at another officer, one of their family members or anyone else,  I will use the force necessary to prevent them from harming anyone else.

If I just stand around, I can promise you the next headline would be " Police just stand around as crazed gunman kills his family and then takes own life."

When I respond to an armed MHMR or any other call for police, I am extremely limited in my knowledge of the individuals involved.  I am sure any officer who shoots someone doesn't sleep soundly for a while, no matter how justified the shooting.

I hope I am never forced to use deadly force, but at the same time I have no intention of standing around with a perceived danger.

That is why I always advise if you have a crazy loved one who occasionally waves a knife or gun around, keep knives and guns away from them.  Lock the crazy loved one up for their own protection.  Get them committed for psychiatric service.  

If their behavior is so outrageous that you feel the need for me to involve myself in the problem, you need to be very aware that you may not like the way I handle the situation.

At the very least, if I determine they are a threat to themselves or others, I am placing them in handcuffs for a trip to the psych ward.  I may have to punch, knee, kick, mace or otherwise fight them to get those cuffs on them.   It doesn't matter how old, young, healthy, infirm, unreasonable or cooperative they are, they wear handcuffs in my car on their way to the psych ward.  

I don't make any exceptions. I don't do this because I am mean or because I don't know what I am doing.  I do it because it is safer for me, my partner, the crazy loved one, and anyone else we encounter on the way there.