Former Calibre Press Lead Trainer Keith Wenzel and owner of 4746 Training called it a “life and death” situation. The viral video featuring members of the Tulsa Police Gang Unit in an altercation with a man with a gun is a stunning example of what law enforcement does every day in America and is rarely seen by the public and never acknowledged by the so called police “reformers.”
Law enforcement encountering citizens in a professional manner before one decides to fight and attack the police. In this instance, the suspect attempted to pull a gun on a police officer.
The video is eerily similar to the Baton Rouge incident but with a different outcome.
In our opinion, both incidents (Baton Rouge and Tulsa) were done correctly. Suspects dictate the actions that police officers have to do and that occurs in a tense, rapidly evolving situation.
Some may ask, why did the Tulsa Officers not decide to shoot and why did the Baton Rouge Officers shoot?
Every single encounter is different and while some want to make police actions this way or another way, that is exactly why the courts have decided that it is unfair to judge police officers that face rapid decisions in a stressful environment with at times limited information.
Of course, there will always be those that judge unfairly.
This particular video reveals how quick a common encounter with individuals can turn into a life and death fight. In this video, the suspect had his hand completely around a gun and because of training, conditioning and a backing officer, the suspect and/or the officer is alive today.
Dallas Police Sergeant (ret) and former Calibre Press Lead Trainer Keith Wenzel now owns 4746 Training. He is one of the best trainers that we know says that “while analyzing the officers tactics, I found my own heart racing in fear of what the suspect and the other occupants could ultimately do to the officers. This is a “life or death” situation. It ended peacefully mainly because the officers were properly trained and used appropriate self-defense tactics. In many cases like this, deadly force would have been used to protect the officers and others, including the cameraman. It is evident the Tulsa Police Department has effectively trained their officers to de-escalate situations even under extreme adverse assaultive behavior.”
The new buzz words in law enforcement, being told to us that are not in law enforcement, is “de-escalation” and “sanctity of life.” Some think if you put those words in a policy that somehow the police will stop using force.
The truth is, law enforcement de-escalates on a daily basis (this video is just one example) and of course sanctity of life is important to every police officer. If it wasn’t, police would stop answering 911 calls.
Until the so called “reformers” place their efforts on the person that can really make a difference in police-suspect encounters, deadly force situations like the one you just saw will continue.
That person is the suspect.
If suspects reformed to comply with police officers, use of force would plummet. To this day, we have never heard one activist, reformer or politician talk about the aggressive actions of criminals and until that happens, you will see no true reduction in police use of force.