Dog Brothers Public Forum

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqoja3iWWaE[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqoja3iWWaE

SWCC

When I post a URL like this to the NY Times, can people see it?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/sports/hockey/fighting-in-amateur-hockey-leagues-may-be-on-way-out.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha27

I can.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34x6m-ahGIo&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34x6m-ahGIo&feature=player_embedded

Still more accurate and true than a Michael Moore "documentary".

http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead/which-character-are-you

Dale.

Quote from: Cranewings on December 22, 2011, 07:00:14 AM

Of course, nothing good is going to come out of this. More cops will probably become nastier and more hostile in the hopes of scaring people rather than fix their behavior.

They can become as nasty as they want. Any person with a brain will study their training, and train in counter measures just in case we ever see a repeat of Nazi Germany.

Afghanistan and Viet Nam make wonderful examples of what to do with people that are power mad.

Not every one believes in the Constitution. I do, but not every one does, including many that are armed by society.

Whatever, felon.

You miss your celly/boyfriend?

http://www.hornady.com/ammunition/zombiemax

No joke, it's actually for sale.

I'm afraid we're on the cusp of a "jumping the shark" moment here.

An Oklahoma 911 operator calmly advised a recently widowed mother who asked if it was permissible to shoot an intruder, officials said Wednesday.
"I've got two guns in my hand. Is it OK to shoot him if he comes in this door?" asked Sarah Dawn McKinley of Blanchard.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/04/justice/oklahoma-intruder-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Nice she was in a state where self defense is respected.

Hopefully not a victim of budget cuts.

http://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Police/cpa_application_fall2010.pdf

AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT
CITIZEN POLICE ACADEMY
EST. JANUARY 1987
72 COMPLETED SESSIONS
1,850 GRADUATES
(As of September 2010)
“UNDERSTANDING THROUGH EDUCATION”
The Citizen's Police Academy was established in January 1987.
The Citizen’s Police Academy is a fourteen-week (that includes graduation) program designed to give
the public a working knowledge of the Austin Police Department. Each session consists of fourteen
consecutive Tuesday night classes at City of Austin facilities. The instruction is comprehensive and
each week separate areas of the department are covered.
As of September 7, 2010, 1,850 citizens will have graduated from 72 classes. Classes are hosted
two times a year at APD Headquarters.
• Class 74 Spring of 2011; Evening classes February 15 -May 24 with hours; 5:30p – 9:30 p.
• Class 75 Fall of 2011 Evening classes September 13- December 13 with hours; 5:30p- 9:30p.
Cadet Training, Bomb Squad, Robbery, Homicide, Use of Force, Internal Affairs, Vehicular Homicide,
S.W.A.T., Forensics, Recruiting and meeting the Chief are examples of some of the topics that are
covered. Instruction consists of lectures, demonstrations, tours, and riding with a police officer on a
ten-hour shift.
The slogan of the Citizen’s Police Academy is “Understanding through Education”. The goal is to
educate the public about the Austin Police Department and to increase the rapport between citizens
and police officers.
We hope the graduates of the Citizen’s Police Academy become more aware and better informed
about how the Police Department operates, and will encourage friends, coworkers and families to join
the Austin Police Department in this rewarding program.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the purpose of conducting a Citizen’s Police Academy?
To give the public information on how the Police Department works and its policies and procedures,
through a series of classes involving instruction by police officers.
Where did the concept originate?
The program originated in Orlando, Florida in 1984. Orlando was the first city in the United States to
start a Citizen’s Police Academy.
What was the Austin Police Department’s incentive for starting a Citizen’s Police
Academy?
We feel the more information the public has about the police department, less fears and
misconceptions will exist.
When does the class meet?
There are three Citizen’s Police Academy sessions per year. Students meet at Austin Police
Department facilities. There will be a total of approximately thirty-nine (45) hours of instruction by
police officers. All classes are free.
Who attends the Citizen’s Police Academy?
Students range from 18 years of age and above. We have architects, bankers, homemakers,
students, retirees, teachers, neighborhood groups and professionals attending the classes.
How do you apply?
You must be at least 18 years old and live or work in the Austin area. Complete the Citizen’s
Police Academy application and mail it to the address below. If you have any questions or need more
information, call SPO Dennis Farris, at (512) 974-5941
When are classes?
The Citizens Police Academy is offered three times a year at APD Headquarters.
You can choose from the following:
• Class 74 Spring of 2011; Evening classes February 15 -May 24 with hours; 5:30p – 9:30 p.
• Class 75 Fall of 2011 Evening classes September 13- December 13 with hours; 5:30p- 9:30p.
Mailing Address:
SPO Dennis Farris
Citizen’s Police Academy
P.O. 689001
Austin, Texas 78768-9001

"  , , ,My point was in what I said.  To provide some background so anyone that decides to answer does not think I am randomly bashing cops."

Well, I got this point.  I think it is tres cool that you have stood side by side with LEOs in moments of trouble.  My respect and appreciation.  I'm sure if he were to pause a moment it would occur to GM to say the same , , ,

Well, where I'm from, Police/Fire/EMS always is expected to be looking out for the others in the "Emergency Services" field. That does not mean overlooking ethical violations.

Solution?  That has to come from law enforcement.  I have no power, so in general life, I just avoid as much as possible.  The police have an incredible amount of power.  The police face an incredible amount of danger.  Nothing in my life mirrors that.  I will say that the job is voluntary, though and some of the hostility that comes out during the occasional traffic stop or random encounter goes a long way towards bad relationships.

In the US, the public shapes how law enforcement does it's job.

Additionally, I will say that a good part of my concern with police power is that, in a worst case scenario, 2 problems arise:

1. Police officers are people, just like all of us.
2. They are a group of people that I cannot defend myself against, if I were ever to feel that I needed to.

And believe me, I do my level best to avoid those things.  I don't speed.  Got the necessary stickers, am polite when stopped and avoid parts of town where they might not want to see me.

Ok, so your solution is?

Again, what's your point? Want me to post all the EMS popped from stealing and groping patients? Just google "EMT arrested".

So then what's your point?

I think those are all good lessons, but in this instance he didn't even have a weapon according to the article.

If the officer reasonably believed that he was drawing a weapon at that moment, it's a legal shoot.

Graham v. Connor

Reasonable officer's perception.

Stupid should hurt, sometimes it's fatal.

Other masked avengers, past and present, have had very specific agendas in fighting societal ills. In the early 2000s, for example, a woman in New York, whose persona was Terrifica, took to patrolling pick-up bars in pink and purple spandex.
“She had apparently had some bad experiences with men,” said Tea Krulos, a writer in Milwaukee who is researching a book on what he and others call the “real-life superhero movement.” “Her mission was to warn drunk women that they might not be making good decisions.”


**A-hem. Supervillain.

Active Shooter Response Training:

 

by By Frank Borelli
 © 2005 Borelli Consulting, Inc.
 
With the advent of Active Shooter training that has developed in response to incidents like the Columbine High School shootings, the law enforcement community has come full circle.In response to critical incidents that the “average” cop was once called on to handle, Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) teams were developed.Alongside that development, police doctrine and training changed so that the patrol officer wasn’t required to handle hostage and barricade situations.”Surround and contain” became the patrol doctrine norm so that SWAT could be called out to work with negotiators in resolving the situation.With regard to incidents like the one at Columbine High School, the law enforcement community has had to evolve again to depend on patrol officers to take aggressive action to resolve deadly situations.Let’s take a look at some of the incidents that spawned SWAT teams and then those that have mandated a more aggressive response from patrol officers.
 
August 1, 1966: In Austin, Texas Charles Whitman, posing as a maintenance worker, rolls a footlocker into the clock tower building on the campus of the University of Texas.Whitman’s first victim (at the tower) was a maintenance worker that he murdered before taking up his position near the top of the tower.Trained to shoot by the United States Marine Corps and armed with a small arsenal which contained three rifles, a sawed off shotgun, two handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, Whitman had planned a long siege as displayed by his also carrying up a five-gallon container of water and some sandwiches.
 
Whitman’s planning and execution actually started well before his arrival at the tower.He had murdered his mother by shooting her in the back of her head in her house and then he returned to his own residence where he stabbed his wife to death.At the clock tower Whitman showed no mercy as he killed 15 people, including an unborn child, and wounded another 31, some of which were as far as two blocks away.The incident was resolved by just two officers who entered the building via an underground passage and then climbed to Whitman’s position.As they advanced on Whitman he turned and fired at the officers both of which returned fire – one with a handgun, the other with a shotgun – killing Whitman and ending his murderous spree.
 
The “Texas Tower” incident served as the catalyst that spurred many police departments to begin the development of special teams to deal with these critical “out of the ordinary” incidents.Within a few years, the Watts Riot in Los Angeles would cause the LAPD leadership to realize that they needed a specialized response to uniquely dangerous situations.By 1971, LAPD had officers assigned full time to the SWAT detail.Across the country, agencies with enough personnel were performing similar actions.In the late sixties and early seventies, the police departments had a pool of recently discharged Vietnam Veterans – combat tested troops – that would form the core of some of the most effective SWAT teams as they grew.
 
The need for SWAT was proven time and again.In 1984 in San Ysidro, California, James Huberty went into a McDonald’s restaurant where he killed twenty-one people and injured eleven more.He was neutralized by a police sniper.In 1997 in North Hollywood, California, two suspects working together went on a robbery and shooting spree that wounded thirteen people.One of the suspects committed suicide while the SWAT team neutralized the other.
 
In April of 1999, two high school students went on a killing rampage in Littleton, Colorado at Columbine High School.Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 13 people and injured another 35.Using four guns and more than 30 homemade explosive devices, the two students walked the school shooting freely until they committed suicide together.At approximately 12:30, about an hour after they had started, the killers were dead and the SWAT teams outside still didn’t even know how many shooters were involved.The patrol officers who had responded did exactly what they were trained to do: they surrounded the building and maintained a perimeter to wait for command authority and SWAT teams to arrive to handle the situation.
 
The Columbine High School incident, eventually to be called “the Pearl Harbor of Active Shooters” brought to the forefront the fact that police departments could no longer depend on the special skills, weapons and tactics of SWAT teams in resolving some incidents.The emotional and analytical aftermath of the Columbine High School killings has driven police departments across the nation to take a new approach: training patrol officers to specifically and efficiently deal with the Active Shooter scenario.

In the Columbine High School situation, and quite understandably so, some of the victims’ parents were upset that the first responding patrol officers waited outside while the shooting continued inside.From the parents’ point of view the police officers stood around in relative safety while the children were being killed and one teacher was bleeding to death.The truth was that those officers were doing exactly what they had been trained to do, and most probably exactly what their departmental policies dictated they do.No parent who has lost a child wants to hear about “training and policy”.They want to know what the police are going to different; what is going to be changed to stop this from happening again?
 
The answer is new training and policy sweeping across the nation to deal with “Active Shooters”.”Active Shooter” is defined as: Suspect(s) activity is immediately causing death and serious bodily injury.The activity is not contained and there is immediate risk of death or serious injury to potential victims.The Active Shooter scenario is dynamic, evolving very rapidly, and demands an immediate deployment of law enforcement resources to terminate the life threatening situation. “Immediate deployment” doesn’t usually apply to SWAT teams unless they are on the scene as the situation unfolds.Immediate deployment is more likely going to involve the first officers on the scene taking aggressive action to find and neutralize the Active Shooter(s).

That is not to say that all Active Shooter situations have to be resolved by the first responding officers.An Active Shooter can decide at any point to take a few hostages and “hole up” to try and negotiate for freedom or even simple survival.Once this transition to a static barricaded situation occurs, then a perimeter can be set up and SWAT deployment awaited.This is exactly what happened in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania in March of 2000.Ronald Taylor began as an Active Shooter in a restaurant, killing three and wounding three more, before he barricaded himself with five hostages in a senior center.At that point the situation became a static hostage situation and it was appropriate for the police on scene to secure a perimeter and let the negotiators and SWAT teams resolve the situation.
 
So, prior to 1966 and the basic birth of the SWAT concept, all situations were handled by whichever officers got there first and could formulate/execute a plan to deal with the incident.After the era of SWAT began, patrol officers weren’t required to be as aggressive and to assume such immediate risks as pursuing armed active gunmen into whatever environment they’d chosen to hunt that day.Almost forty years later we’ve reached a point where we now have to teach the “average” patrol officer that aggressive high-risk find-and-neutralize mission again.Not taking anything away from the value of SWAT, we’ve recognized that to wait for their deployment amounts to negligence in some circumstances.
 
Active Shooter programs have cropped up all over the country.They are being taught to agencies with as few as five members, and by agencies whose sworn members number in the thousands.Commercial training entities offer Active Shooter Instructor programs and they probably can’t schedule them often enough.What is making the demand so high for this training? The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.When foreign terrorists declared war on our country and killed thousands of our citizens, a new ugly reality slapped America in the face: there are people in the world willing to come to our shores and kill innocent citizens for reasons we will never understand or comprehend.Who are the most innocent? Our children.

As first responders to virtually every violent 911 call, our patrol officers might very well find themselves facing an Active Shooter who is a foreign terrorist armed with several weapons and more than willing to die for his/her cause.As those responsible to “protect and serve”, the first responders won’t be able to set up a perimeter and wait for the SWAT teams to arrive and resolve the situation.The first responders will have to aggressively close on the Active Shooter and neutralize him/her by arrest or termination.
 
While Columbine High School brought the need for Active Shooter training and policies to the forefront of the country’s consciousness, we have to recognize that the Active Shooter scenario can occur in any public place: malls, parks, business offices, schools, restaurants, etc.All of these places, where great numbers of people congregate, are targets for the Active Shooter: with that many people walking around, the Active Shooter has plenty to shoot at.Once he starts he’s not likely to stop until he is forced to cease by actions of the first responding police officers.

For these very reasons, all patrol officers should be receiving Active Shooter Resolution training even in the entrance level police-training curriculum.The training will be applicable to shooting situations such as the one at Columbine and in the event of terrorist attacks that take on this mode of operation.Further, as they play a role in Homeland Security, members of the National Guard and Coast Guard should also be receiving this Active Shooter training.While it’s similar to the “shoot and move” concepts taught in basic training to most soldiers, the mindset one must have is entirely different when you consider having to take these actions in public places on our own soil – places you’ve often visited and always considered relatively safe. It’s one thing to be taught to act this way during a war or foreign peacekeeping mission: it’s entirely different to think about doing it at your local mall.

So, as was said at the beginning, the law enforcement community has come full circle.The critical skills and special weapons of SWAT teams were developed to address unique challenges and they play a vital roll in crime fighting today.Now, with events such as the Columbine High School shootings and the terrorist attacks of Nine-Eleven part of our history, the police officers who patrol our streets are having to take on a new attitude and be willing to assume even greater risk to protect our citizens, our public places and our homeland.
 
For more information about available Active Shooter training, you can contact the National Tactical Officers’ Association (http://www.ntoa.org) or Strategos International (http://www.strategosinternational.com) to receive schedules of the training programs as they come available.What you can no longer afford to do is turn a blind eye to the need for this training and the policies necessary for officers to execute their duties as they respond to this challenge.

"They do not own the citizens."

Has anyone said that they do?

I started thinking about this because it seems to me that a somewhat fit, somewhat trained person can manage almost everything, outside of the home with smarts, awareness and maybe a blade or impact weapon.

All those are good, however a gun or two is a serious improvement when facing deadly force threats.

I am curious about something, and this seems to be the place for it:  In my mind, it seems that it is likely that there have been more incidents of defense with a gun in the home, and more instances of defense with some other kind of weapon out in the world.  Anyone know how that breaks down?

Aside from what PC wrote, I'll add that in "Shall issue" CCW states, a very small percentage of the public actually goes through the process to get a CCW permit. Once the coolness factor wears off, the truth is carrying concealed is a pain in the ass. So, I doubt many who can legally carry actually do so on a regular basis. However, depending on the region of the US, a good percentage of US homes have at least one firearm inside.

Doug,

It's commonplace for patrol officers to run plates looking for "hits" while on patrol. It's a good way to snag warrants/stolen vehicles and other things. Sometimes you find a stolen plate on a vehicle, which tends to lead to other interesting things.

"If a cop missed that little update it might help if you could hand him the statute, it could save you a trip to jail and working things out through a lawyer."

An important point.

First time in the State of Deseret?

**Crafty wanted this story told.

One gun, no hands: the Marcus Young incident

by Massad Ayoob

 Situation: The criminal emptied a .38 into you, leaving your gun arm paralyzed and your other hand torn apart--and now, he's reaching for a machine gun.

 Lesson: Never give up. Be resourceful. Focus on neutralizing the threat and worry about how badly hurt you are after it's over.

 March 7, 2003. Sgt. Marcus Young is midway through an evening shift, working patrol for the Ukiah, California Police Department. He's a Navy vet, second-degree black belt in Shorinryu karate, 18 years on the force. With him is a 17-year-old police cadet named Julian Covella. Young likes the kid. A devoted husband and father, the 40-year-old sergeant serves as president of a local school board. His own young son is thinking about going the police cadet route and Marcus is particularly interested in how it's working out for Julian. Then comes the seemingly routine call: a shoplifter at the Wal-Mart Superstore. Young wheels the patrol car in that direction.

 In the next few minutes, he and his young cadet ride-along will save each other's lives.

 The Incident

 2148 hours, 9:48 PM.

 As the cadet watches, Sgt. Young takes custody of the wan-looking suspect. Monica Winnie is only 18, but she could pass for 10 or 15 years older. Wal-Mart security guard Brett Schott watches as Young politely escorts her to the patrol car and puts her into the back seat.

 Now comes a medium-sized man who moves rapidly and purposefully toward them through the darkened parking lot, his hands ominously thrust into his jacket pockets. He wears the face of Satan and it's not a trick of the light.



 Neal Beckman, Winnie's companion, is a 35-year-old Caucasian with a long, bad history. He is a member of a gang called the Nazi Low Riders and is wanted in connection with a $100,000 home invasion robbery. He has carefully cultivated the Satanic image, his sculpted mustache and goatee set off by small devil horns tattooed on his forehead. Unseen by the cop is his full backpack tattoo of the devil himself. In his pockets, also unseen by Young, are a fixed-blade hunting knife in his left hand and a late Smith & Wesson Model 637 stainless Airweight in his right, all five chambers loaded.

 Beckman has made it to close range when Young says in command voice, "Take your hands out of your pockets." There is no response. Young repeats the command and Beckman answers, "I have a knife."

 The blade comes out, held as if its wielder means business. Young reacts instantly in accordance with his training as both policeman and martial artist. He grabs the knife-hand and pivots off mid-line, wrenching the suspect's arm into the double-ninety-degree configuration known in California police circles as a twist-lock. He can feel something snapping and popping in the arm, but the knife-wielder does not let go. Both of them slam into the side of the car.

 And suddenly, there is a bright flash and a searing heat and Sgt. Marcus Young realizes he has just been shot in the face at close range.

 Near-Fatal Flurry

 In the swirl of movement that follows, things happen fast even though it seems to the cop as if everything has gone into slow motion. More bullets hammer into him. The burning sensations tear through his right arm and his back, and something smashes into his left side as if he has been struck in the rib cage with an aluminum baseball bat. Through it all, the sergeant is aware of the young woman screaming wordlessly in the back seat of the patrol unit.

 Brett Schott, the unarmed security guard, leaps into the fight. He barrels into Beckman, grabs the revolver and wrenches it away. He does not realize he is holding an empty gun. Beckman has fired all five shots and four of them have struck the cop.

 The man with the face that mimics Satan shifts the hunting knife from his left hand to his right and sinks it viciously into the side of the security guard. The blade plunges deep into the left side of the guard's chest, almost immediately collapsing the lung and opening a wound so big that lung tissue is visible. He levers the blade and tears the wound wider, completely severing the deltoid muscle.

 Schott disengages, instantly weakened by the massive wound, realizing he is hemorrhaging massively and perhaps fatally. He tries to make his way to another car for cover.

 Meanwhile, Young has regained his feet and reached for his own gun. Yet it does not rise into line of sight in the movement he has practiced so many times. He tries again and realizes his right arm is not responding to his mental command. The humerus has been shattered and there is nerve damage. His gun arm is paralyzed.

 The Ukiah PD firearms instructors are thorough. They have taught Young how to draw weak-handed if his gun arm is taken out. He makes the attempt but his left hand isn't working right, either. Glancing down, he sees that it has been ripped open, literally torn apart, its separated ten dons visible through the opened skin.

 And now, the suspect is on his feet, tearing open the right front door of the patrol car and closing it behind him as he jumps in. He's not trying to drive away. Instead, he drops down on the seat on his left side as he claws for the switch he knows is hidden there somewhere. The switch that will release into his murderous hands a fresh weapon and a deadlier one.

 Ukiah PD keeps two loaded long guns in each patrol car. One is a Remington 870 pump shotgun, loaded with 12 gauge 00 buckshot. The other, secured to the ceiling of the front seat, is an HK33. It's not just a .223 autoloading rifle. It has a selector switch. The man who has just attempted to murder two uniformed officials is about to access a true assault rifle, literally a machine gun, and the price of poker has just gone up.

 Where There's A Will ...

 Through it all, the young cadet, Julian Covella, has stood nearby, torn between obedience and his own strong sense of duty. Police cadets are told that under no circumstances are they to join in fights involving sworn officers, and this training has held him in check, yet every fiber of his being has been telling him, do something!

 Now, his chance comes.

 As Beckman tries furiously to free the heavy weapons and turn them on his victims, Young turns to the boy and says, "Take my gun out and put it in my hand." Julian fumbles, but only for a moment, releasing the thumb-break safety strap of the Level One duty holster. He carefully withdraws the pistol, a Beretta 96G, and places it into the bloody left hand that the wounded lawman extends to him.

 It's the "G" model, decocker only, no safety to disengage. Young will later thank God his firearms instructors drilled him intensively in weak hand only shooting. Kneeling to steady himself, he raises the gun to eye level, not trying for a sight picture, just visually superimposing the gun over where he knows he has to shoot. The center mass of his antagonist's body is shielded by the car door, but Young has been told that .40 caliber service pistol bullets can punch through auto bodies, so he fires. The first shot goes double action and he sees it strike where he aimed it. No reaction. The gun has cocked itself and he squeezes off a second shot single action. Again, the bullet goes where aimed, and again, the jacketed hollow point .40 bullet fails to make it through the door.

 Time for Plan B. He raises the pistol higher. Startled by the first return fire, the man who tried to kill him turns and looks at the officer, and he is staring down the gun barrel when the first shot smashes through the closed window of the car and into his face. He jerks and moves violently, Young fires a fourth time and now the attacker goes limp and still.

 Young keeps him covered for what seems to him a very long time before he realizes it's over. He knows he has been shot multiple times, in the torso and the head and doesn't know how long he will remain conscious. He can see the guard is down, bleeding profusely. Only young Julian remains able-bodied on the side of the good guys.

 Knowing both his hands are badly disabled and the cocked gun is covered with blood, Young decides not to try to decock his privately owned, department approved Beretta. He doesn't want to hold a cocked pistol in an injured hand, or drop one if he passes out, so he sets it gently on the ground where he can keep an eye on it.

 He tells Julian to get on the radio and call in. Then, remembering what he had learned in classes he had taken from Col. Dave Grossman, Young begins deliberate controlled breathing exercises to keep calm, conscious and alive.

 Aftermath And Lessons

 Emergency Medical Service response was swift, but the receiving hospital was only equipped to perform emergency surgery on one patient at a time. The heroic guard who had jumped into the fight unarmed to save the embattled officer was near death and went onto the table first. He had lost about half of his blood and it took three hours for the surgeons to stabilize him and save his life.

 During that time, Sgt. Young waited without pain-killer, because he had lost two pints of blood and his blood pressure was low; doctors didn't dare give him depressants. The pain didn't really hit him until 45 to 60 minutes after the shooting.

 The first .38 Special slug had struck Young in the left cheek and exited the back of his neck, fortunately missing the brain. He had never lost consciousness. He does not remember the exact sequence of the following hits, but one had smashed the right arm. Another had gone past his armor and punched into his back, causing serious injuries which, like the right arm wound, have required multiple surgeries since and will probably need more. The blow to his right side had been a bullet stopping in his Point Blank Level III-A bullet-resistant vest. It left a massive bruise, but caused no serious damage. Doctors said this projectile, had it not been stopped by the Kevlar, would have killed the policeman. They determined that he had not been shot in the left hand, but it had been so badly mangled during the fight it took hours of surgery to repair the tendon damage.

 The would-be cop-killer was DOA. Young's third shot had caught him square in the forehead. Because Beckman was down on the seat with the head back the ogive of the bullet had caused it to skid off the skull beneath the scalp, emerging at the crown with a big, ugly exit wound, but inflicting no life-threatening damage. As he convulsed and twisted to get away from the return fire, he had presented his buttocks toward the policeman. Young's final shot, the officer's visibility impaired by the broken glass of the door window, had struck Beckman there and ranged up deep inside him, piercing the liver and lodging in his neck. This had been the fatal shot.



 Both men had been shot in the face and head and actually sustained fairly minor wounds. The "fatal" hits--potentially on the good guy, decisively on the bad--had struck each in the trunk of the body.

 On that fateful night, the sergeant had not been wearing a backup gun. He realizes now a second weapon carried in a manner readily accessible to the non-dominant hand might have allowed him to neutralize his lethal attacker more swiftly.

 Young wore his concealed body armor religiously and it saved his life. Some 700 of us watched as Young was inducted into the Kevlar Survivors' Club in January '04, at the American Society for Law Enforcement Training annual conference in St. Louis. He joined more than 2,500 brother and sister officers who owe their lives to that technology. Young was officially pronounced Save Number 2,751.

 He credits the training he received from his department and from outside resources, ranging from Col. Grossman to his various sensei in the martial arts, for his ability to endure incredible punishment and be able to think creatively and respond when the terrifying curve ball of seeming helplessness in the face of death came at him. The ability to stay calm and keep thinking served him well. At the same ASLET conference, giving a talk on the FBI/Miami shooting in 1986, Dr. French Anderson made a telling statement which applied directly to Young's incident: "If you can think and if you can move, you can still fight."

 Be Prepared

 The order Sgt. Young gave to the man who was planning to murder him--"Take your hands out of your pockets"--was intuitive for any cop in the same situation, yet it resulted in what the medical community euphemistically calls "a negative outcome." I suspect the next time Young confronts a hostile man with hands concealed, he will take him at gunpoint and specifically order him to let go of anything in his pockets, and then very slowly withdraw his empty right hand and then his empty left hand. The weapons Neal Beckman held in each of his hands each almost ended the life of a protector of the public on the night of March 7, 2003 in that dimly-lit Wal-Mart parking lot.

More departments are carrying their long guns up front these days where they belong and more are using patrol rifles, even select-fire .223s as issued by Ukiah PD. This is all to the good. Care must be taken, however, not to cut corners and to make sure each such weapon is secured in such a manner it's readily accessible to authorized personnel, but relatively inaccessible to perpetrators such as Beckman. Fortunately, Ukiah PD kept its long guns securely locked in overhead racks, the means of instant release known to the officers but not immediately apparent to an invader in the patrol car. The potential of a machine gun in the hands of someone like Beckman does not require much imagination.

 Be prepared to deal with distorted perceptions during the fight and other phenomena later. With one of the nation's leading experts on "post shooting trauma," psychologist Alexis Artwohl, at his side, Young told ASLET attendees of what he had experienced. Things went into slow motion early. At times he fought "on auto pilot." He experienced some memory loss, such as the sequence of the wounds he sustained subsequent to the first.

 Interestingly, it was the third time in his career a criminal had put a gun to his head. From the time of those incidents through March 2003, he had suffered occasional nightmares in which he relived the incidents, or in which he fired his gun and it didn't work.

 Since the night in question, when he survived a gunshot wound to the head and then killed his attacker with a perfectly functioning Beretta, those nightmares have stopped.

 Epilog

 In the vehicle occupied earlier by the shoplifting suspect and the would-be cop-killer were several pipe bombs. Case investigators suspect the suspects had planned to use the explosives in a robbery. She pled guilty to misdemeanor theft, possession of explosives and grand theft, the latter on a subsequently discovered outstanding warrant.



 The heroic security guard Brett Schatt, and the courageous young police cadet Julian Covella, received numerous awards for valor. These included heroism citations from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, and dual Citizen of the Year awards from the California Narcotics Officers' Association. Covella has since been accepted as a cadet at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.

 Sgt. Young, now 41, is on light duty at the department, still recovering from his severe physical injuries and facing more surgery. A NRA member, he was awarded the National Rifle Association's honors as Police Officer of the Year for 2003, and the Mayor's Medal of Valor. He has also been nominated for the Presidential Medal of Valor and that of the California Attorney General's Office. Marcus Young's incident will be included in the curriculum of a new course from the California Police Standards and Training council devoted to the management of fear and anger in crisis.

 Young himself feels he owes his survival not only to Julian and Brett, but to the many instructors who trained him over the years. "They taught me to shoot from awkward positions if I was wounded," he says, "and they taught me to be resourceful and keep thinking and keep fighting no matter how I might be injured. They taught me to never give up. And I want to thank them publicly for that."

 There have been death threats against Marcus Young. He is concerned. But he is not afraid.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/weapons/a-day-of-intense-force-on-force-handgun-training

A Day of Intense Force-on-Force Handgun Training
Realistic tactical training reserved for police officers is now open to the public. Popular Mechanics discovers the joy and terror of force-on-force training with high-velocity Simunition rounds.


Read more: A Day of Intense Force-on-Force Handgun Training - Popular Mechanics

"Of course the .40 cal does considerably more damage."

I'd debate that point.