Sometimes deadly force is necessary

Re “Don't shoot to kill” letter by Kathleen Parks.

As a retiree from the Suffolk County Police Department, I feel compelled to correct her misconceptions.

1) During my 30-plus-year career as a Suffolk County police officer, there was never a department policy that required the filing of a report when an officer drew his weapon.

2) Officers in the Suffolk County police department have always carried loaded weapons, and reports are not required.

3) No police officer in Suffolk County (or anywhere else) has ever been trained to shoot someone in the leg to “immobilize” an adversary. Whenever a police officer fires his weapon at someone, it is for the express purpose of ending an imminent threat of serious physical injury or death to the officer or another person.

Police officers are universally trained to shoot at center mass - and to continue shooting until the threat is neutralized.

All shootings by police must be both necessary and justified under the circumstances, and all shootings are investigated.

This story was originally published October 27, 2016 at 9:57 AM with the headline "Sometimes deadly force is necessary."