Читать книгу Force Decisions. A Citizen's Guide to Understanding How Police Determine Appropriate Use of Force онлайн

58 страница из 73

Protesters who block traffic are infringing on the rights of every other citizen to use the road. Loud, angry people using foul language are infringing on everyone else’s right to be in that place in peace. The politically impassioned heckler who decides that his insults and questions for a candidate are more important than the agenda is infringing on everyone else’s rights.

Note well: In almost all cases an officer can’t or won’t intervene until he has been asked. In a private place, such as a business or rented lecture hall, the request must come from someone with site authority, such as the owner or manager.

Officers are sometimes forced to make decisions with incredible speed. They are often high-stakes decisions with a glance’s worth of data. Is the threat pulling away to run or pulling away to hit me? That question takes me just under two seconds to say aloud. In that space of time, a completely untrained person could hit you eight times. I have several friends who could draw a knife and stab you eight times in under two seconds.