"Contagious Fire" - shooting because everyone else is doing so

L.A. Sheriff's deputies open fire

It's always fun to learn new word usage, and the phrase "contagious fire" is one I learned just the other day.  It's used to describe the tendency of a police officer or sheriff's deputy to start shooting simply because one of his/her fellow officers starts shooting.

The Los Angeles Sheriff's office is trying to discourage "contagious fire" following an incident in which deputies unloaded 120 rounds in Compton, California, in May following a vehicle pursuit.  Their marksmanship was astonishingly poor as the guy they were chasing was struck only four times, and the remainder of the bullets rocketed through the residential neighborhood.  The guy was unarmed, by the way.

Now each Los Angeles deputy is expected to use his/her independent judgment before shooting, and I'm sure everyone down range is hoping that judgment is good.

Here's a link to the story: Pasadena Star-News, and to see a video of the event go to Welsh View and click the link.  Or go directly to this site.

What's it like here?

Midland residents might recall the incident a few years ago when the Midland SWAT team opened fire with their AR-15s at an armed suspect near a new car dealership.  The suspect was wounded and taken into custody.  No police officers were injured.  And the city of Midland bought a fleet of pick up trucks -- they were brand new and in perfect shape, except for all those little holes.

But, hopefully that's not likely to happen again locally.  The officers get very thorough firearms training, and some of the officers are excellent marksmen as demonstrated at the Police Games held in San Antonio in mid June in which four Midland police officers won a total of nine medals in the rifle and pistol events.

Comments

[greg]

Midland SWAT: I have shot at local practical pistol competitions with a couple of MPD SWAT guys, and they are weirdly good. Fast and accurate. Which is comforting, I would hate to think a duffer like myself would be anywhere near the skill level of SWAT teamers, and I'm not. And I ain't half bad.

[Redman]

I suppose this is good news for the people who want to commit "suicide by police."

[Geo]

Greg, the SWAT team members are required to undergo a lot more training than the regular officers. And yes, it's good that they are faster and more accurate than the recreational shooters, many of whom are quite good themselves.

In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that one of the reason more regular patrol officers don't participate in those civilian practical pistol competitions is the possibility of being trounced by civilians.

[Geo]

Redman, that's an interesting scenario. Someone tries suicide by cop and the cops miss. It's a toss up of who would be more humiliated.