Our Orwellian Addendum

There was information I was attempting to find to add to my post yesterday. Information regarding a report from 2014 regarding ICE, deadly force, and the apparent ability to make sure they position themselves purposefully in harm's way.

Of course, all my searches came up in vain. Yet, what wonders befell me when I woke up, watched a video, and the following video was in my feed.



After looking through some of the comments, I found out where to find the report.

One of the key recommendations is the recommendations for shooting at vehicles:

  `Shooting at Vehicles: Recommendation: Agents’ and the public’s safety will be enhanced by policy changes related to shooting at vehicles. CBP should make policy changes that restrict agents from shooting at vehicles. Likewise, agents should be trained to get out of the way of oncoming vehicles as opposed to intentionally assuming a position in the path of such vehicles. The policy should mirror the clear and unambiguous policies that have been in place and which have proven effective in a number of large U.S. jurisdictions for over 40 years. The CBP policy should state “Agents shall not discharge their firearms at or from a moving vehicle unless deadly physical force is being used against the police officer or another person present, by means other than a moving vehicle.”

And from the observations regarding Shooting at Vehicles:

Based on a review of the submitted cases, it appears that CBP practice allows shooting at the driver of any suspect vehicle that comes in the direction of agents. It is suspected that in many vehicle shooting cases, the subject driver was attempting to flee from the agents who intentionally put themselves into the exit path of the vehicle, thereby exposing themselves to additional risk and creating justification for the use of deadly force. In most of these cases, the agents have stated that they were shooting at the driver of a vehicle that was coming at them and posing an imminent threat to their life. In some cases, passengers were struck by agents’ gunfire. Little focus has been placed on defensive tactics that could have been used by shooting agents such as getting out of the way. It should be recognized that a ½ ounce (200 grain) bullet is unlikely to stop a 4,000 pound moving vehicle, and if the driver of the approaching vehicle is disabled by a bullet, the vehicle will become a totally unguided threat. Obviously, shooting at a moving vehicle can pose a risk to bystanders including other agents. The cases suggest that some of the shots at suspect vehicles are taken out of frustration when agents who are on foot have no other way of detaining suspects who are fleeing in a vehicle. Most reviewed cases involved non-violent suspects who posed no threat other than a moving vehicle. There is little doubt that the safest course for an agent faced with an oncoming vehicle is to get out of the way of the vehicle.    

This death did not need to happen. This death should not have happened. The U.S. Government has known that this tactic has been performed and likely trained for over a decade. It should have been stopped. It still needs to be stopped.

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