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Comment by oh_sigh | Hacker News Reader

The alternate side of officers using unreasonable force from a scam anonymous call is getting officers or members of the public killed from a real anonymous call.

Police are going to be on high alert regardless, even if they think the call was a hoax

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You will note that I did not say "scam" anonymous call. I said "anonymous call" which includes both real and anonymous calls. Police officers should respond with force dictated by the circumstances of their situation, trained in such analysis, and held accountable to their decisions - both as individual officers and as departments. The source of the initial investigation should have little if any impact on the level of force used in the encounter.

Spot on. I believe the crux of the issue lies in the present bias toward officer safety, leading to an almost anything goes situation if the officer claims to have felt endangered. Which is quite ridiculous because the danger is always there. It's just not an acceptable reason to blast away.

They're paid hazard rates exactly because of the danger. They are not supposed to cause danger. It is completely unacceptable.

At least here which is not US there is no such problem.

I agree completely - my point was that police can't treat anonymous calls differently than real ones, because it is literally their lives(and the lives of the potential hostages) on the line. Unreasonable force is unreasonable force, regardless of how the officer was called into the situation.

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