Victims and their families from the Santa Fe, Texas, high school shooting filed a civil lawsuit against the gunman and his parents, marking the first public disclosure of events surrounding that tragedy. The criminal trial has been delayed as the shooter was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial.
The “Houston Chronicle” reported that during the civil court proceedings a deputy testified, “If I had gone into that door by myself, he would have killed me.” The deputy, who was off duty at the time, stated that further engagement would be suicide. He told the jury, “I chose not to kill myself.” The “Houston Chronicle” didn’t mention if the deputy was wearing body armor or what equipment he had available when he entered the school.
His testimony raises a profound question: As a law enforcement officer, are you obligated to die to save others? Do you have the right to decide not to die?
A dead officer cannot save lives, provide critical intelligence information to responding officers, or stop a shooter.
The weight of the badge
Law enforcement‘s response to active shooters has evolved since Columbine when the protocol was to set up a perimeter and wait for SWAT. Today, first-arriving officers are expected to engage the shooter immediately. Does this expectation mean officers must sacrifice their lives?
During the active shooter training that I attended, one instructor said, “If you are the first on the scene of an active shooter, it sucks to be you that day.”
I interpreted his words to mean that if you wear that badge on your chest, you are morally and ethically obligated to die saving innocent lives.
That mindset underscores the culture many officers work in — but is it the right answer?
Retired Houston PD SWAT Officer Sandy Wall played an integral part in re-crafting active shooter response. He stated, “Officers are expected to do what is necessary to confront the threat at a minimum. If they can’t eliminate the threat without committing suicide, they must at least continue to engage the shooter.”
Wall maintains that law enforcement is not doing enough to prepare officers for that moment when they face an active threat. Officers do not get repeated hands-on training exposing them to realistic, chaotic scenarios that challenge their decision-making abilities and tactical performance under stress.
More time and money is spent in this country training athletes who play a game than in training cops who face deadly threats. Makes me wonder where our priorities lie.
A culture of expectation
The law enforcement response to the Uvalde school shooting remains under scrutiny and officers have been indicted. Will that questionable response forever taint Americans’ interpretation of what is expected of officers?
Americans seem to expect police officers to die protecting them. When an officer doesn’t, they risk being labeled a coward, fired, or even criminally charged. This expectation contrasts with the lack of public outrage over officers’ deaths in the line of duty. Most line-of-duty deaths barely make national news.
Meanwhile, agencies across the country face a recruitment and retention crisis.
It’s hard to attract candidates to a profession where they are obligated to make the ultimate sacrifice.
An ethical question
While many officers will never experience an active shooter incident during their career, they routinely face deadly threats responding to domestic violence calls, conducting traffic stops, and encountering targeted ambushes.
Are you adequately trained to face those challenges?
Officers have shared with me that they feel their training is insufficient and infrequent.
An officer, shot during a traffic stop, laughed when I asked him if cops are obligated to die. He said, “Cops are not obligated to die. Cops are obligated, and have a duty, to protect and preserve human life. The lives of innocent people, other officers, their own, and…the suspect.”
He added, “At times, you are obligated to take a life to save a life.”
His insights sparked me to contemplate an ethical question that philosophers have debated for centuries and most cops have never answered for themselves — if you can only save yourself or the life of another person, which one would you choose? Whose life is more important?
Unfortunately, those ethical questions are rarely addressed in officers’ survival training.
Can bravery be trained?
For the book I am writing, I asked active and retired officers: “How do you become the kind of person who is willing to put their life on the line for others?”
Responses varied from “you either have it or you don’t” to “you are born with it.”
Others agreed that bravery cannot be taught, but you can train a mindset that prioritizes the mission above the officer.
Paul Howe, Army veteran and owner of Combat Shooting and Tactics, says that you cannot train bravery. He further stated, “In the military, you fear failing the mission and put it first, before your own safety.”
One officer told me, “You don’t intend to die for others. The desire to help others is greater than our self preservation.”
Another religious officer said that if you die in the line of duty, fighting to protect others, you will be honored as a hero on earth and reap benefits in heaven.
Another said, “You have to have a willingness to do what needs to be done, even if you are afraid while doing it. Getting killed is a possibility and a sacrifice I was willing to make for the greater good.”
This officer put it best, “You have to be ready and able to risk it all to be able to do the job. If you can’t do that, don’t pin on the badge.”
What’s your obligation?
Officers are obligated to protect life, but does that mean you are obligated to die? The answer isn’t simple.
Cops are obligated to take reasonable and necessary risks to protect lives, that’s a given.
What is clear is that agencies must invest more in realistic hands-on training, ethical decision-making, and mental and performance preparedness. Officers need updated tools and tactics to confront deadly situations without being asked to make impossible sacrifices.
The next time you pin on your badge ask yourself: Am I ready? Do I feel adequately trained? Am I prepared for that moment when I will have to answer the question “am I obligated to die?”
Copyright ©2024 Barbara A. Schwartz. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any manner without the expressed written consent of the author.
