"Thomas Schoene" wrote in
hlink.net:

Jim Yanik wrote:
"Ragnar" wrote in
:

Excellent question! I've always thought they should put at least an
M-60 on the police choppers. Would put a stop to the car chases
real quick.

Or they could use a Barrett light 50 M82A1 .50BMG rifle.
If they can't get a car with 10 rounds....

The US Coast Guard--which occupies a grey zone between law enforcement
and military--has begun arming some helicopters to stop fleeing
high-speed boats. Their approach has been to use a machinegun for
warning shots, followed by a hand-held .50-cal rifle to shoot to
disable the engines.

However, this does not translate well to regular police use. The USCG
is dealing with isolated targets on the high seas, with no chance of
stray shots hitting civilians. The rules for stopping smugglers at
sea are also less restrictive than the use of force rules for domestic
police forces. This is one area where the Coasties benefit from their
semi-military status.

For comparison, civilian law enforcement offficers are usually
*forbidden* to fire warning shots because of the risk to bystanders.
They are also forbidden to use lethal force unless necessary to
protect themselves or a bystander. "He was getting away" is generally
not sufficient justification for shooting at someone, unless you have
reason to believe he's going to threaten another person once he's out
of sight.

--
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when
wrong to be put right." - Senator Carl Schurz, 1872



Shooting into an auto's engine would not be use of deadly force against the
occupants. I read an article about the CG,that they use a BOLT-action
..50cal against the hi-speed boats,so,they only get ONE shot at the
boat,unless they reload,which takes a relatively large amount of time.
I suspect they are accurate with that first single shot.

Besides,a hi-speed vehicle chase certainly IS a threat to other citizens
lives;frequently people die or get severely injured because of collisions
with fleeing vehicles.And that doens't consider property damage,either.

Also,the shot fired from a helicopter would be headed sharply DOWNwards,and
would most likely penetrate pavement if it missed the vehicle.I doubt it
would ricochet.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik-at-kua.net