Losing Our Heads

A few tidbits from a WaPo piece today:

The International Association of Chiefs of Police, which represents the heads of police departments in the United States and across the world, has issued new guidelines saying that officers who confront a suicide bomber should shoot the suspect in the head.

It recommends that if an officer needs to use lethal force to stop someone who fits a certain behavioral profile, the officer should "aim for the head" to kill the person instantly and prevent the setting off of a bomb if one is strapped to the person's chest.

The person might display nervousness, an unwillingness to make eye contact or excessive sweating.

The police group's guidelines also say the threat to officers does not have to be "imminent," as police training traditionally teaches. An officer just needs to have a "reasonable basis" to believe that the suspect can detonate a bomb, the guidelines say.

"You need to get him dead as quick as possible," said Timoney, the Miami police chief. "The easiest way to do that is a head shot. That's the only way to guarantee.

So remember: while they're rifling through your bag, maintain eye contact at all times. And nervousness or sweating? You better have a note from your shrink pinned to your sleeve; it's out of the ordinary in New York or any other city, even in summertime.

More people died today in car accidents in the U.S. than were killed in the London bombings. But to guard against the possibility of the same type of attack here, we're willing to roll back civil rights permanently for everyone via random personal searches, and institute new "shoot in the head on suspicion alone" procedures for average beat cops. We saw how well the latter policy worked in London.

Warren Buffett once said, "It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming naked." Isn't it fascinating to learn about ourselves and how we react to adversity as a society?