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Policy Change: LAPD officers may not shoot until all non lethal options exhausted

GOPUSA Staff | Oct 14, 2016 | Fresh Ink | 0

Black Lives Matter protesters demonstrate inside the board of Police Commissioners meeting in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016. Police released surveillance video Tuesday showing an 18-year-old black suspect running from police while holding what appears to be a gun in his left hand just before he was fatally shot by officers in a death that has generated rowdy protests. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

The Los Angeles Police Commission approved a sweeping set of reforms Tuesday aimed at getting officers to hold their fire.

One of the reforms requires officers to exhaust all non-lethal means before shooting, and practice de-escalation during incidents. The department already teaches this in its academy for new recruits, but enacting it as policy means that officers could be disciplined for failing to see a reasonable alternative to shooting.

“The commission has become nothing more than a group of pandering apologists in support of misinformed professional protesters,” the union’s board of directors said in a statement. “These latest batch of proposals are more of the same, solutions in search of a problem.”