Grape, you train cops. What would you reaction be in a couple of these scenarios, if they were cops you trained?
1. Two cops minding their own business are executed.
2. A dozen cops cuff and beat a hispanic man who's trying to keep his wife and daughter from fighting (Moore, OK).
3. A handful of cops invade an 85 year old man's home and shoot him to death, only to find out the address on the warrant is two blocks away.
4. Cop releases a woman after arresting her for shoplifting, then buys the food she stole and gave it to her.
5. Cop tazes a man keeping him from going into a burning house in search of his son (who died in the fire).
Nosy people want to know!
I trained cops and correctional officers on policy & procedure and legal liability, so if you don't mind I'll take a crack at this while waiting for Grapeshot to respond.
(Grapeshot - do not read until you post your answers - don't want you to be unfairly influenced.)
1. Elements of situational awareness need to be stressed to the rest of the troops. It's hard to remember to look up & around every once in a while. Not enough info to say if those 2 cops were caught totally unawares - ambushes happen to the best-trained combat troops who are on high alert.
2. Cuffing was not only within policy & procedure but the proper thing to do as regards legal liability. As for the rest, going off the reservation is a good way to lose qualified immunity - there are better, safer, and more appropriate ways to control a subject who continues to struggle, and those techniques/tactics are (should be?) part of training.
3. Sadly, the courts have screwed this pooch. Failure to confirm you are at the right place does not take away your legal responsibility and ability to respond to perceived deadly threats. Theoretically, hesitatation that allowed another cop to be injured opens up civil liability. (Cops do not sue other cops. They have different ways of responding to negligence.)
4. "You are an idiot!" Not for deciding to not arrest/talk the shopkeeper out of pressing charges, but for perpetuating the notion that criminal behavior can be "excused" by circumstances. "Les Misirables" showed what happens when you tip too far towards absolutism, but the cop could have indulged in a little bit of street "restorative justice" by talking the two parties into a way she could work for the food. (There is always a floor that needs mopping - even if only for 5 minutes.)
5. Failure to act otherwise opens up both individual and organizational liability as well as violating policy & procedure. I can make the case three different ways as to why the cop(s) would be criminally liable if the guy was not prevented from going into the burning structure. The icing on the cake is that the cop(s) prevented the guy from endangering firefighters.
stay safe.