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It's a random number. There are far too many factors such as number of assailants, officer experience, lighting or lack thereof, the need to be careful of the background, etc., etc.

It also probably depends upon who is paying for and writing the report and their motivations.

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I'll say it again: if you think it's easy, just try shooting trap. And if you think a "scattergun" sprays death and destruction without the need to aim, see the previous sentence.

Hitting a moving target with a centerfire pistol is very difficult.

- Jim

austinrealtor wrote:The policy to allow an officer to continue regular duty because he missed is what I'm questioning.

There is quite a bit of difference between actually shooting a person (homicide or aggravated assault, depending) and shooting and missing.

Though this is an interesting question. Under normal circumstances, a non-LEO even trying to shoot a person is several kinds of felony (attempted murder, aggravated assault, or deadly conduct). The police seem to get a mulligan in this department. Probably they need to, if they are going to be able to do their job.

Maybe they get razzed at the station. Maybe they claim they fired "warning shots." Maybe they have to go for training. I dunno.

- Jim

74novaman wrote:Something I hadn't considered: So if you own a 51% establishment, by the fact you own it you're not subject to the 51% law on your own premises?

Correct. This exception has been written into the law for decades.

- Jim

austinrealtor wrote:so they MISSED and because they're bad shots they get to stay on the street, whereas a cop who is a good shot would be forced to desk duty?

Never let policy get in the way of common sense.

Every law-enforcement agency that I know of puts officers on administrative duty or leave when they shoot someone. I can see reasons for such a policy that I will not argue with.

As far as missing, there seems to be a common opinion in this forum that hitting a moving person or animal at night under stress should be as easy as hitting armless, inanimate paper silhouettes that stand there innocently waiting to be shot. It ain't. Justified police shootings rarely have a hit rate as high as 50%.

- Jim

One of the problems with modern-day police practice is that the officers spend most of their time either in an office or in vehicles and don't know their "constituents" or whatever the denizens are called. A beat can contain tens of thousands of residents and even more transients in a big city like Houston.

I am far from the first to make this observation.

Then you have the "fog of war" that occurs when events unfold quickly in darkness.

Let me be the first to point out in this thread that anyone can put on a blue or black shirt and yell, "Police, open up!" as a prelude to robbery. That seems to happen often enough to be a worry to law-abiding citizens who might be the target of such a robbery or home invasion.

- Jim

Police responding to a report of a possible burglary at a bar on Dixie Farm Road in southeast Houston early this morning shot at the bar owner. Police said that the bar owner pointed a handgun at them. Two officers fired one shot each and missed.

http://www.39online.com/news/local/kiah ... 4870.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 51940.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?secti ... id=7608662" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Did someone use the phrase "liars' contest" recently?

- Jim