What's the point of American police saying "Show your hands" after they shot a man?
What's the point of American police saying "Show your hands" after they shot a man?
This looks toxic, by the way.
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Police in Finland regularly stop suspects by shooting them into leg which according to many Americans is impossible due to how inaccurate pistols are. That apparently means the alternative is then to dump the entire mag into the torso.
Got a proper source on that claim there? Cuz... yeah.
I did find a great many links to articles about this one event, but so far nothing to support that they do it regularly.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/world-news/finland-stabbing-suspect-shot-in-leg
you'll note that they don't say he was shot in the thigh intentionally. I suspect that they were aiming center mass and were just off. it happens. hitting a running target is... well here, the FBI tallies a ~47% chance to hit between 5-15 feet. (this is comparison to an 87% chance to be hit if you're standing still.)
Shots to extremities happen, nobody is saying they don't. But doing so on purpose is almost impossible. Especially on a running target. Even with a rifle. This is why you don't use a weapon fundamentally designed to be lethal as "less lethal". At best, you wing him and he's still running. at worst, you miss, and clip a mom and her infant baby behind them.
There's better tools to take some one down without lethal force. (see UK police tactics with Batons, for an example.)
Yeah, I'd think outside of movie-style moments it's not something that makes sense 99.9% of the time, I just thought it was an interesting claim. It would have been more interesting if it were true. 😁
(to be clear I'm not the guy who made the claim)
Situations where Finnish police result to using their firearm are rare to begin with but you can just google it and find several articles with examples of this. However I can't find any source on how police are instructed to act when it comes to using deadly force.
Since 2000, ten people have died as a result of use of force by law enforcement officers in Finland. This includes a prison guard shot by accident during a training exercise, and a detainee who died of undetermined causes after being fired at with a taser.
Poliisi ampuu ihmistä kohti vain noin viidessä tehtävässä vuosittain / Police shoot towards people only about 5 times a year.
Miljoonasta hälytystehtävästä ampuma-asetta on käytetty vuosittain vain noin kymmenessä tehtävässä, ja niissäkin kohdistettu laukaus ihmistä kohti on ammuttu vain puolessa tapauksista / Out of a million emergency calls, a firearm has been used in only about ten incidents annually, and even in those cases, a shot aimed at a person has been fired in only half of the situations.
EDIT: Another example
EDIT2: And another
EDIT3: One more
not to be a stickler, but the source makes no mention of it being on purpose. I suspect you won't find a source that makes that claim.
Also, as for the general use of force in Finland vs America, it's two different scenarios. Vast cultural differences in general... but for some perspective... there's 2 national and 11 local agencies in finland, comprising ~7.5k cops. (per statista), all of which have direct over sight form the Ministry of the Interior.
For comparison, in the US there are 17,985 agencies, ranging from the federal government to local police to sherifs and state police. All of whom have their own oversight systems. we have more agencies than you have cops. and all of those agencies have their own, unique requirements for training and qualifications. hell, some states, they don't even have to have any education outside of highschool or GED. (actually in many places... that's preferred. for reasons.)
Americans are also rather more violent than Fins. Just saying.
At no point have I claimed that they're instructed to do so. That's just moving the goalposts.
Police in Finland regularly stop suspects by shooting them into leg which according to many Americans is impossible due to how inaccurate pistols are. That apparently means the alternative is then to dump the entire mag into the torso.
I'm reading that assertion as saying they're doing it on purpose. perhaps there was some misunderstanding on my part.
Well either they're doing it on purpose or then they just are really bad at shooting and despite massive amount of training compared to american police they for some reason seem to keep hitting the extremities despite aiming for the torso. Watch this video for example. You can see the bullets hitting the ground because the police was intentionally aiming for the legs.
How regularly?
Very rare. You can usually count the annual deaths by law enforcement on your fingers. Same goes for the amount of times a police officer has to use deadly force in a graduation-to-retirement career