"For all we know it could have saved his life."
It says something pretty sad about American society that your assumption is that calling the Police will result in them murdering an innocent person.
It says something pretty sad about American society that your assumption is that calling the Police will result in them murdering an innocent person.
How the police respond may be weighted too much towards a specific action, but it's important to consider this is the actual reason that SWAT teams exist.
I would definitely be interested in knowing how situations like this are handled in other countries, and the success rates involved. My suspicion is that in countries without the equivalent of SWAT some scenarios don't have an adequate response, while others that we use SWAT somewhat inappropriately for that are handled better. I suspect a less military approach is better overall, but an entire lack of that option isn't beneficial either. I don't think it's hard to argue that there's far too much police militarization in the U.S. right now.
If I were told the chances of me dying from jumping off a cliff were 1:1000, I still wouldn't jump that cliff.