Many factors determine use of force

There have been three officer-involved shootings on the Central Coast this week, prompting KION to look at one law enforcement agency’s policy on the use of force.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office deals with many different scenarios when it comes to use for force.

During a demonstration on Wednesday, deputies illustrated several situations. The first involved a call of a man with a gun in front of a business. Deputies managed to de-escalate the situation and it ended peacefully. But in the second simulation regarding a man with a gun outside a business, the suspect claimed to have an airsoft gun yet disobeyed orders, ending in an officer-involved shooting.

“It’s a hard job and you have to make a decision, a split-second decision if you’re going to fire on a person,” said Commander Archie Warren said.

But it brings up questions and concerns viewers have voiced — Why not take non-lethal routes?

“Would you have wanted to go up there and sprayed him with pepper spray when he’s pointing a gun at you? Or tase him? And the distance wise, tasers are not going to work, sprays are not going to work, so I mean, we’re at the highest level at that point — someone’s carrying a fire arm. That’s why we carry firearms,” Warren said.

“There’s no law enforcement officer in the country that wants to kill anybody but they’re there to protect the public, protect other officers and to stop the threat that’s coming at them or somebody else,” said Commander John Thornburg.

The Sheriff’s Office looks at its use of force policy and trains deputies once a year. After every incident, including Saturday’s officer-involved shooting at the Casa Verde Inn in Monterey, the policy is looked at again.

“We do look at any use of force that we have here at the Sheriff’s Office very critically,” Thornburg said. “We look at every detail that we possibly can, we address any training issues that come up. And I’ll also add, if anybody else wants to discuss or go over use of force, we are happy to go over and do a similar thing we did with you, that anybody wants to go through.”