LAPD Vet Defines What Justifies Deadly Force Amid Rise in High-Profile Police Shootings

Police veteran and security training expert Scott Reitz – who served part of his career as a member of SWAT and was also part of the LAPD’s elite Metropolitan Division – discusses the issues surrounding the proper and improper use of deadly force by police officers.

When asked about several recent racially charged situations that arose from officer-involved shootings, Reitz says that obviously the use of deadly force should have nothing to do with ethnicity, religion, etc. “It’s based on the actions of an individual – or shall we say a suspect – at the time. The way that we train is we give you a wide skillset, a wide array of skills. The greater your skillset, the more that allows you to adapt to unforeseen problems.”

He said often times mistakes are made in deadly police shootings because the officers have not been thoroughly trained to deal with a variety of scenarios.

“We’ve trained them to one standard, when an entirely different standard was called for in the real world – and many times, that’s exactly what happens. Doing a simply combat qualification – and I use the term combat sometimes very loosely – but simply a complete qualification course, which is not going to vary over the course of time, may not be sufficient to prepare an officer for all possibilities,” he said.

Reitz now oversees a security company that attempts to train people to a much higher standard with comprehensive instruction– including all the latest weapons and equipment. Among his instructors are many ex-LAPD officers and SWAT members.

“I think a lot of people think that the police aren’t accountable, and I would have a tendency to counter that slightly. Because from what I’ve seen, in having worked on deadly force cases as an expert for the last 25 years, I have seen a greater accountability, which is forced upon police officers,” he said.

“You also have Supreme Court law – the Supreme Court law that holds officers to the same standard in the application of deadly force. Do I think that departments could receive better training in many cases, yes.”

He adds that in his capacity as a trainer, he’s sometimes amazed at the varying degrees of instruction in police departments across the country – some have a high level of competency and others do not. “It astounds me that they would have training, or a theory in place that is non-applicable in the real world.”

He said what sometimes happens when officers aren’t really prepared for a particular situation is they may react with a “panic response” and end up firing way too many rounds. “One of the things I say is that the individual that generally prevails in a shooting is the individual who exhibits the most finesse and control over his individual weapons system, and maintains his composure.”

Reitz gives his opinion that despite the number of protests against police departments and officers that allege that certain shootings are racially motivated, in the vast majority of cases, he believes this is not a factor.

“I think they haven’t been given the proper skillsets to what is… a deadly force situation is arguably a watershed event in their career, everything hinges on it. Whether they live or die, whether they are paralyzed, whether they make the right decisions, entire departments can be disbanded, units can be disbanded, and then of course you have all the chaos and everything that ensues.”

The LAPD veteran said things have changed significantly in terms of high-tech evidence gathering methods since he began his career, making it in today’s world “highly improbable” for officers to easily get away with an improper use of deadly force strictly by claiming their life was in danger.

“When you’re dealing with a deadly force situation, you’re looking at – were the officer’s actions reasonable? Was his thought process reasonable? What were the precipitating factors that led up to the shooting? How did he get there, how did he place himself?

“I think it’s really common sense, you look at a situation, and a person with a good degree of common sense, and pose the question, would this be appropriate or not?” he adds.

Reitz says his company trains civilians from all walks of life to react in these situations the same way as law enforcement officers would. “We train them to the same standard as I ask from an officer. And the reason for that is because it keeps you out of trouble.

“Obviously as a civilian if you apply deadly force, they’re not going to ask whether you had access to the taser, and to the shotgun, did you have an air unit, where was your rifle, where was your partner, what level body armor were you wearing?” He said he employs a training tactic to civilians he calls the “back-to-the-wall theory,” meaning a civilian should not apply deadly force unless “every other reasonable use of force option has been vacated.”

Watch the full interview to also hear a discussion of the recent proliferation of school shootings across the United States and what possible action can be taken to try to stop them.