On Saturday San Diego police were called to Torrey Pines High School. The student that was shot was the one that called the police department on behalf of a student that had "welfare" problems which was a lie. He was referring to himself which authorities later figured out. The officers reported to the school to the student at the school and as they got out of the squad cars the student pulled a BB gun on the officers. They then pulled guns on the student and were forced to shoot when he disobeyed their orders to stop and drop the gun, he walked towards them and they shot. They did not release the students name. On Monday there will be a crisis response team on school properties at all times.
Questions:
1. If you were a police men in this situation what would you have done?
2. Do you think it is a good idea to have a crisis response team at the school? Why or why not?
My Opinion: I personally don't know how I would have approached it, and that is why I will never be able to be a police officer. I think it is a good idea to have a unit on call for the school, but I don't know if it is a good idea to have the crisis team in school all day because it may cause an even more tense situation.
Replies
Exactly because I wouldn't know what I would do unless I was in that situation.
I completely agree. Honestly I do not know if I would be able to shoot the child. It would be too hard. Crisis teams are good ideas because schools are where most kids are.
I agree with you because I wouldn't be able to shoot a child if I were a cop in this situation. I would have tried something else to calm him down first before taking his life away. I think they need a team on call at all times in case of an emergency.
1) I wouldn't have killed him, maybe shot him in the knee just to stop him from walking.
2) I do think it's a good idea, with how badly the situation could've gotten.
I would try to convince him to drop the weapon. The police probably couldn't have known whether the gun was real or not. I would try everything possible to avoid shooting him. I think having the crisis team at the school will scare the other students.
I would have tried to identify the weapon because of the number of these incidents going up, however I do see how this could be a situation in which they would take theses measures. I believe having a crisis response team could go either way. Some students could feel threatened by their presence and could try to attack them or hurt themselves.
I agree with you but at the same time you wouldn't want to wait too long just in case there was an actual gun.
When you're a police officer and you see someone coming at you with a gun, there is only one thing to do. It was foolish of the boy to have the gun in the first place and point it at an officer. This is still sad that what happened had happened but it's not the police officer's fault.
This sounds like a tricky situation. I think the police officers did the right thing because the student clearly disobeyed their orders. Even though the student was only carrying a BB gun, it sounds like he was intent on harming someone. I'm not sure if its a good idea to have a crisis response team at the school at all times because I feel like that would make a very hostile environment. I think that having one nearby and on call would be a safer approach- for small schools especially.
I agree with you about the officers trying to make a quick decision but I think they could have chased the car instead of shooting into it right away. I also think it is a good idea to have a crisis team just in case something like that would happen again.
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