Should Officers have too wait?

Question

When an intruder or intruders enters a building and takes hostages .That should mean he signed his death warrant .That the first officer or officers should be able too go in withhout waiting around and take him out before he or they have killed someone .They are going too do it no matter what ,so why wait?

thanks for the answer .but isn't better to catch him off guard in the fist few minutes as he is dealing with the hostage and really don't have his plan set as the wa he i going about it ? here we lost 6 girls in a one room school .how much room did he have too move around .and he couldn't atch out all the windows at once .agood shoot would of taken him out

Answer 1

ya know, I hadn't thought about it until now, but I think you're right! Too many times too many hostages have to sit around and watch a gunman come unglued before dying at their hand anyway. Personally, I don't think we make good use of police marksmen...a sniper can be a hostages bestest friend!

Answer 2

Dealing with a hostage / barricade situation is specialized work for specially trained officers with the right equipment. Your average beat cop is not trained or weaponized to deal with this type of situation safely or efficiently. The majority of hostage incidents are resolved without someone dying, when handled by the officers with the training and equipment to do so.
It's always best to try and talk someone down and de-escalate a situation than to go straight to a deadly force option. You simply can't usually do this without placing hostages, officers and even the suspect in unnecessary danger. That...and most cops have consciences. Even if it's someone who has commited multiple felonies and is holding hostages you don't want to be the one to end their lives if another option is available. I agree though, once those options are gone, then eliminate the threat as quickly as is possible. Get a clear shot and turn him off like a light switch.

Answer 3

There are two flaws in your logic. The first is that they may not be going to go in and kill him anyway. The second is that they have to wait.

When the police respond to a hostage situation, their first duty is to the safety of the people in the area who are not yet hostages. They try to get them to safety. Then their second duty is to the safety of the hostages. They will negotiate or do whatever it takes to see if they can get these people out safely. Sometimes, this works, and sometimes it doesn't. I will point out that the negotiation tactic did work in the recent Colorado shooting, as it got four of the girls out before any shooting started. That si four lives saved that might have been lost if they had just stormed in right away.

When it becomes apparent that the negotiation will not work, then the police will use other tactics, such as having a SWAT team go in, or whatever they can.

The second flaw is that the first officer on the scene does not have to wait. What he needs to do is make the scene as safe as possible for the others, then determine if he can take the bad guy out safely. If he determines the bad guy is an immediate threat to any hostage, the first officer on the scene may go in and shoot him if he can get a shot.

Police departments make plans and practice for all kinds of situations, including hostage and what is called active shooter responses. Each one is different and gets planned for and handled differently.

Answer 4

I would think they would wait because they are discussing the best way to do it. Remember when hostages are involved they are someones loved one. I would not want an officer on an adrenaline high to bust in there thoughtlessly shoot the place up and put my loved one in added danger. Their objective is to get the hostages out safe and the hostage taker. Does anyone want to be the one to take an others life even if that other person is sick?? I don't want the blood of any man on my hands, I would rather have a good solution and have all parties alive. Also if you go in there blind you risk being killed yourself then what good would you be?

Answer 5

You'll probably get a variety of answers - representing both ends of the pole. In a way the variety of answers symbolizes the difficulty in knowing what's the best answer when something like that happens and at the exact moment it's happening (not later). Many hostage situations have been settled without injury by waiting it out - until the hostage taker calms down, goes to sleep, or loses his resolve. And then others may begin immediately to cause harm. There's just not one formula that fits all situations and each decision - even if it's to go in shooting from the beginning - can run afoul of luck and positive results. Whatever happens, if one person dies, then it will be opportunity for many to regard it as the wrong decision...and to decide later that something different should have been done. Just one of those things.

Answer 6

Doing that puts the hostages in too much danger. He should wait for backup and try to keep any other officers from entering until sufficient help arrives to either negotiate with the hostage taker or they can surround the property to encourage the hostage taker to surrender his hostages. Rushing in in most instances will get the hostages killed.

Answer 7

often the entry of the officers will precipitate the killing of hostages. if the innocent hostages can be saved by officers not entering the building then they should not enter.

it's a tough decision to make on when the right time is and I won't try to second guess someone from the comfort of my armchair when I have no idea what the situation was like at the time.

Answer 8

That sounds good however there are hostage incidents literally every day that the police manage to diffuse with no one getting hurt, if they took the approach of storming every hostage situation, I'm sure the body count would go up. Dead Yahoo's (sorry Yahoo) wouldn't bother me but the body count would include plenty of hostages and police officers.

Answer 9

Yes they should have to wait. Most cops are NOT good shots. If they miss, innocent people are likely to die and be injured. The risk to the hostages is too great.