So is mace and pepper spray but try using them on a cop and see how many times he shoots you. Your analogy does not hold up when rational thought is applied. As a long time dog handler I have used a dog (less than deadly force) to distract and detain someone so I can deploy deadly force.
Cops have a right to go home every night whole and undamaged. All cops do not make good decisions in every situation, that is true. Another absolute truth is that they are not going to just do nothing and let their ability to defend themselves be compromised when responding to a a violent or unknown situation.
Last night just down the road from us there was an attack by two loose pit bulls on a calf. The livestock owner saw the attack, attempted to stop it but was unable to, went back into their house to retrieve a firearm but the pit bulls left before they could get back out to where the calf was. This all happened in about one minute. I would post the pictures but they are very graphic and gruesome but the are on face book. The pit bulls ripped off both ears, half of the calf's face and nose and large chunks of mussel from it's body. The calf had to be destroyed because of this pit bull attack.
As soon as they find the pit bulls who savagely attacked this calf they will be detained by animal control and put down unless the owner can convince a judge to decide otherwise. The owners of these dogs will be held libel for the cost of the calf and will face very expensive fines. I will predict here and now, and for the hundredth time, that this will happen again. There will be more attacks on animals and people by pit bulls at a rate that greatly exceeds that of any other dog breed. Anyone want to bet???
Gosh, here I thought that cops were paid to stand in the line of danger to protect the people. Thank you for the correction that their safety and security overrules the entire reason why they are paid well and have incredible benefits.
So what happens when the shift goes from assassinating family pets and they start opening fire on loved ones in your home? By your explanation, officers have a right to show up when one of your loved ones gets out of control and blast them.
It is not a slippery slope, it is an outright cliff: when we do not hold officers to the same laws that everyone else lives with, the line of what is 'acceptable' drifts constantly. Twenty years ago, an officer opens fire on a family pet, they'd have to show bite marks, explain a couple times how they tried to disengage, and even then might not be employed for long. Now, the investigation, if it extends much at all, simply looks for an officer to be 'worried' about the situation that might have happened, and pats the officer on the back and moves on.
Twenty years ago, an officer opening fire on a child holding a toy gun would likely face charges, not just dismissal. Today, they are cleared within hours, no charges pending.
Officers are paid to perform a job. If they think that job is too much for them, then they should quit or be fired and someone who can handle the job should take over. Instead, an ever growing population is becoming afraid of calling officers, knowing that doing so might turn a difficult situation into a fatal one. It is an ever expanding problem. Because inner cities, twenty years ago, didn't care what officers did in inner cities, just so long as it was contained to 'rough areas.' Now those 'rough areas' are just about everywhere, where it seems reasonable to open fire on a car full of kids simply because someone refuses to accept their authority.
Cops have a right to perform the job they are hired to do, under the rules that the people put forward, or they can stop accepting the money and go home. That is the truth that you seem to want to utterly ignore. They do not have more of a right to life or liberty than you or I do, they do not have wholesale permission to open fire in non-life threatening situations, and we MUST enforce these rules upon our lawmen, pressuring politicians to ignore cop unions and follow the will of the people.
“Cops have a right to go home every night whole and undamaged”
No, they don’t.