Not everything ‘Uncle Scotty’ has done in the past has anything to do with either police work, tactics, deadly force or other activities along such lines. The following is a case in point. The year, if I’m not mistaken, was 1974. It was the summer break from my sophomore year the University of New Mexico. Somehow and in some way (much to their chagrin) after many others at UNM were interviewed, I was chosen as a camp counselor for a very exclusive boys and girls camp way up in the northern area of Cimarron, New Mexico. The accompanying photo depicts my charges in the cabin known as ‘Coyote Cabin.’ Most of the young men were between the ages of 11 – 13.
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For those of you either military, police or civilian, who have trained with us it is important to note that the decision to apply deadly force also entails those events preceding such application. In other words, what events transpired prior to the event itself, which led to that precise moment when deadly force was physically applied. This is not an insignificant matter. If it was found in the subsequent investigation that certain actions on the shooter’s behalf led to an unnecessary/unjustified shooting then you will be ‘held to answer.’
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Police work has changed… dramatically! Options used to be fewer, weapons were simpler and procedures less complicated. Reports did not involve orbital mechanics or complex MIT equations. You had a revolver and 18 rounds, two sets of handcuffs and a wooden baton. No computers back then, a dictionary and a #2 graphite. Common sense was the rule. Supervisors had actual field experience.
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According to the Los Angeles Police Protective League, a recommendation was made by the Los Angeles Police Commission, which stated that when confronting an armed suspect officers should either back up or run away from a potential threat.

Now, the many of the specific facts of the case are not known to me. But what has been made available is that a female armed with an 8” – 9” knife waving it at officers and despite repeated commands to cease, and from a distance of approximately 70 feet, closed the distance to five feet in under 10 seconds on officers positioned between vehicles while stating “shoot me.”
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