Letter to the Editor: Police, guns and other journalistic mysteries

Scott Balfour, a federal law enforcement officer from Cleveland, has written a letter to the editor in response to the recent suggestion by city government that Cleveland police officers can't be trusted with larger caliber firearms, and addressing the frequent inaccuracies displayed by the media in covering such stories.

Click here to read the letter in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, or click on the "read More..." link below for an archived version.

08/09/03

Regarding Phillip Morris' Aug. 5 column, "Do police officers need better guns?":

As a federal law-enforcement officer, I am tired of the media providing an opinion on topics they don't understand. Morris states, "Give police departments bigger weapons and it increases their margin of error." I would like to see the statistics that he used to make this claim.

He then shows his ignorance of law enforcement by citing the recent shooting by Patrolman Mickey Mondock as an example of a story of an officer "who couldn't shoot straight." Does Morris have any idea how difficult it is to fire a weapon at a subject who is running and shooting at you at the same time? My guess is he has seen too many movies. The suspect kept running after being shot twice. Maybe if the officers had a firearm with more stopping power, he might have been stopped.

Morris admits that the .40-caliber "packs more punch," thus providing a perfect example of why officers need the .40-caliber. Then he writes, "It's not at all clear to me why [they] didn't go for a head shot." Another Hollywood fiction. Officers are taught to shoot at center mass, the largest target. To aim for a head shot is difficult, even at a stationary, non-firing target.

Morris then says suspects "have been killed for far less." Mr. Morris, officers don't shoot to kill; they shoot to stop the threat. When the suspect stops shooting, so do the police.

Finally, Morris states that Cleveland is "statistically much safer" than in the past. Can he ride with some Cleveland officers, get into a foot chase and a shoot-out, and then tell the officers that they are "safer" than they used to be and that they don't need a firearm that offers more stopping power?

Scott Balfour
Cleveland