There is always a question of justification when an officer uses deadly force. In general, the use of deadly force requires there be an imminent threat of death or serious personal injury either to the officer or others.
Since 1979 I have been involved in the forensic, criminal, and internal investigation of approximately 100 police shootings where the officer either discharged his firearm or was fired upon.
This includes incidents where officers have inadvertently shot another officer or by-stander.
Over half of my 25+ Massachusetts State Police career was in the Ballistics Section which I eventually commanded; as such I sat on the Firearms Review Board which reviewed both the shooting incident and the quality of the internal investigation; and I have been involved in numerous police shooting reconstructions and crime scenes involving local or other state law enforcement officers
As an independent consultant I have had the opportunity to be involved in numerous criminal and civil cases involving police officer related shootings.
In a considerable number of cases, the police investigation can be described as incompetent and amateurish.
● Number of gunshots are undercounted.
● Basic forensic tests are never conducted.
● Officers give little more than a brief and vague report.
● The multi-layered internal review process never occurs. or
● The internal review & investigation does not even exist.
● The Department violates its own Policy & Procedure in reviewing shootings.
● Bullets and cartridge cases do not get compared to tests from officer's firearms to determine who fired or where they were located.
● Tests to determine muzzle to target distance are ignored.
● Officers resort to "contagious shooting" instead of their training.
● Evidence is moved about without any record of who and why.
● Crime scene diagrams have numerous errors and omissions.
● Evidence which should be present is not addressed since it may conflict with the officer's version of events.
● Crime scenes are improperly processed.
● Fatal shootings by an officer are investigated by the officer's supervisor instead of a separate unit.
The majority of police shooting investigations are done with clarity and thoroughness and provide the transparency which the public deserves.
The fact is that despite the overwhelming majority of police officer related shootings being properly investigated and concluded as justified, there are those few transgressions of excessive force which are poorly documented and these appear to be the ones which have little or no transparency and mandate detailed scrutiny to reach the truth.
