Training emphasis

November 16, 2015

Washington, Iowa

To the Editor:

Reference an incident, 16 Oct. 2012, and a shooting in Van Buren County, Iowa, as carried in The Journal, 9 Nov. 2015. I do not stand in judgment of the officer. I stand in judgment of the training. The hands of a shooter control the weapon! Thus the training emphasis must be toward the ?HANDS?! ?Drop your weapon? is an alarming command, and a suspect may involuntarily make a threatening movement, as in this case. Subject?s car was disabled, and he did not feel his rifle should be left in the vehicle? The officer should have requested, ?Please keep your hands where I can see them as empty.? The subject would not have reached to disengage the wire, removing the rifle from the shoulder? An innocent handicapped person lost a life!

An officer approaching a subject with a rifle over the shoulder is handled similar when the weapon is in the hands of the subject. The officer may instruct the subject in the proper movement of hands, which may differ as to the situation. Hands with facial and posture expressions are the primary alerts.

Education and training must emphasize the ?HANDS? as in control of the weapon. That shooting too early may kill an innocent person. Shoot only when the hands turn the weapon to threaten life.

L.D. Oliver

TSGT, USAF Retired