All I have been trying to do here is convey how difficult and dangerous (not just physically) policing can be! Almost all police open hand tactics used are to prevent further deterioration of a fluid, physical confrontation. The intended result is to prevent any serious physical injury to both the subject and police involved! If an incident deteriorates and becomes more violent the likelihood of injury to either rapidly escalates! To untrained eyes or simply a civilian not used to seeing or witnessing violent confrontations, many tactics used can appear unwarranted or excessive. The police mindset and use of such tactics has been developed over decades of experience! In other words sometimes it’s a case of prevention is better than a cure! Now I am talking specifically about approved, taught and accepted defensive tactics and as mentioned they are taught for good reason. Police sometimes go to what is called a fluid and dynamic situation and have to sometimes make split second decisions that can change someone’s life or in some instances end it! They don’t get the luxury of sitting and watching a video to declare coulda done this, shoulda done that! unfortunately sometimes the wrong decision is made at that split second, a vast majority of the time it’s the right decision. Remember many a police officer has also been injured or even killed because they hesitated those extra few seconds to make a decision, I am just asking people to place themselves in their shoes, most people would turn and run, police don’t have that luxury and are expected to place their personal safety at risk. Thus they are placed in an unenviable situation of having to make a potentially life changing decision in a fraction of a second. One option is to tactically withdraw and reassess but often that luxury is not available or a viable option. There are so many good cops out there who’s sole desire and intent is to serve the public and do it well, and many would and sometimes do place their personal safety or lives at risk for the public they serve! Yes if an officer goes too far or acts unlawfully, call them out but don’t paint all cops with the same feral brush, they don’t deserve it!
