LAW ENFORCEMENT Police should use lethal force only as last resort

Police-involved fatal shootings in Chicago and San Francisco have drawn national attention and reignited talk about police use of non-lethal weapons.

Cops are not judge, jury and executioner! We as citizens end up paying the price for some cops’ lawless, stupid actions. We have to pay for the lawsuits that are now routinely in the multimillion dollar range. Plus it puts an additional strain on community relations.

Shooting should be a last resort. Methods such as using stun guns should be tried first. Cops should act like professionals and try to de-escalate before anything else. When a cop shoots someone in the back, you know he is not doing his job!

Lanie Williams

Please teach your kids to obey the police. If you are wronged, there is a system in place for you to seek justice. It is called a courtroom, not the streets.

Michael Bassett

If someone threatens an officer with deadly force, and the officer is mandated to use a Taser, and it fails to stop the suspect, the officer may die. When a suspect threatens with deadly force, an officer uses deadly force to protect himself. That is the bottom line.

Kelly Qualls

Giving officers more nonlethal options sounds good on paper, but when armed terrorists from next door can take over public property and threaten official law enforcement with seeming impunity, as they did in Oregon, there is a deeper problem to think about.

Chuck Rowland

The problem is twofold. First, many people simply do not respect anyone or anything, including law enforcement officers. Their default mode is defiance. Couple that with a system that seems to screen for and seek to hire bullies, and you have a recipe for bloodshed. Law enforcement ceased long ago to “protect and serve.” Now it’s harass and intimidate.

Daniel Barger