Contact Shots and DARs: Things to Think About

I'd heard of officer-mounted video cameras before and I think they're a good idea if small/unobtrusive enough that they don't interfere with normal locomotion. What I hadn't really given much thought to is a supplemental digital audio recorder. I mean, the officer can key up a hot-mic on his radio and he has a recorder in his car, right? Well let me tell you, I've heard with my own ears what happens when an officer's arm or (fill in the blank) is blocking the radio mic: no audio recording.

Assuming your radio mic is in a different location than your DAR, this is a huge bonus when the feces has hit the impeller and Internal Affairs would like to know what, exactly, was going on when it happened. A personal digital audio recorder should be on your person if you are on patrol.

Also something I had almost-thought about: contact shots (shots fired when your gun is actually touching the target). Most pistols won't fire out of battery, and pushing a pistol into a Bad Guy during a struggle (or having him pull it in to himself, or if he lands on top of you with the gun pointing into him) might just render a pistol unable to fire. I think the Springfield XD has a protruding guide rod for the recoil spring, so it's harder to push it out of battery against a Goblin, but it could still happen. I hadn't gotten any further in my thinking than "gee, that would suck if you needed to make a shot just then" but the people who think about use-of-force for a living figured it out for us. You push that puppy back into battery. It works and it won't destroy your non-firing hand to do it, as shown in the short, worthwhile video, here.

In case you didn't click through, both of those links are to Spartan Cops. If you are in law enforcement or are some other type of person who may have to use force on another person, you should be picking up what they are laying down, at least every once in a while.