Shoot-for-Head Policy of LAPD

You’re a police officer on patrol. You receive a call of a burglary in progress. You arrive at the location of the call and are met by frightened citizens who say a crazy man is breaking into their house. They direct you to a backyard and there you and your partner encounter a man with a sharpened 2x4 in his hands.

You order him to put down the 2x4, but instead he advances toward you. You have your revolver out and it is pointed at the man. You again tell him to stop. He keeps advancing with the 2x4 held like a spear. You don’t want to shoot this man so you back up, continuously giving him commands to stop and put down his weapon. He doesn’t, and as you back up your heel catches some debris in the yard and you fall backward. At the same time, the man plunges the 2x4 into your chest and you fire your revolver, striking him in the head.

Your partner sees your situation, and fearing for your life, he also fires his revolver and also strikes the suspect in the head. The man falls to the ground from his wounds, and the only reason you can get up is that your protective vest helped absorb the force of the 2x4 speared into your chest and the man didn’t have a second chance to thrust the weapon into you.

If this sounds like “Hill Street Blues,” it’s not. It’s real life and it happened to a real cop. He was forced by a man who willingly took drugs into a life-and-death situation. He had very little time to decide what to do and he acted to save his life. The ethnic background of the man he shot had nothing to do with his decision. The officer feared for his life and acted accordingly.

This is the kind of situation we as police officers fear, but recognize as part of the career we have chosen. We do what we have to and unlike Rodriguez said in his article, we are held responsible. We are sued often for doing the very things we are hired to do. Our personal property and money is sought in civil litigation for decisions, and yes, sometimes for mistakes we make.

Because, unlike judges who have weeks, months, and even years to make decisions, and cannot be sued, we as police officers, who often only have seconds, are held liable. Most of us will face a civil suit or suits seeking punitive damages against us in our careers, often when we may have never acted inappropriately.

I am always interested when a concerned citizen, like Rodriguez, wants to get involved in law enforcement procedures. He is right when he says citizen participation is necessary, for without citizen cooperation law enforcement is a futile effort. But he treats LAPD’s policy to “shoot for the head” as a last resort, as if it was a way to justify police execution, when, in fact, it’s a last resort designed to save an officer’s, or a citizen’s life. After all, an officer’s weapon is defensive, not offensive, as Rodriguez would have you believe.

DONAVON VLIEGER

Lakewood

Vlieger is a deputy stationed at the Lakewood Sheriff’s Station.