Here's my war story (and a true one...). More than forty years ago I fired a single shot as a young officer - ending a suspect's life... Back then there were absolutely no protections for an officer involved in a shooting. I was requested and agreed to a video re-enactment on site less than two hours after the incident, then required to sit down and write a full report of my actions that afternoon. At that time my Department (a hundred man outfit in Dade county, north of Miami) did not do it's own homicide or officer involved shooting investigations. We relied on Metro-Dade, the largest outfit in the Miami area for that service.... At the time there were more than 27 different local police departments in the county - most of them smaller outfits.... Needless to say I was overwhelmed ...
After I'd submitted my report I was allowed to sit in as the homicide team called the on-call State's Attorney for guidance. After the lead investigator provided the facts and circumstances (this was on speaker phone...) the attorney asked what race the victim was (white) and my race (the same) - then said "what's the problem".... and I was allowed to leave the station. That night I was scheduled to work an off-duty job in front of a local night club and I spent that evening going over the incident and my actions - over and over....
Subsequently I learned that instead of a simple ruling clearing me by the State's Attorney's office there would be an inquest, scheduled a few months later to review the facts and circumstances involved - and then things went south.... in my opinion. The offender's family had learned that the small insurance policy they had on their son was null and void if he was killed in the commission of a felony and their only hope was to come up with witnesses willing to lie about the incident and my actions before it occurred (the offender was a young man my agency had arrested on more than one occasion previously - and I had contact with him a few months before the shooting incident..). As I sat in court for the inquest, not called to testify at all, i witnessed open perjury from witness after witness and became concerned that things were not going well at all. I was worried enough that I went to my union representative spelled out the situation and asked if they could provide an attorney or any advice. I was told "kid , if you get indicted - come see us...." and that was the total support I received. Not much fun at all...
Subsequently the court ruled the shooting justified - and that ended the case - but it was several years before I was back on an even keel (understatement).... To this day, I hope I'm never involved in any kind of shooting ever again - and long in retirement - I haven't carried a sidearm even once... If that's a mistake - I'll be the first one to learn about it..
Now for the "rest of the story" ... . 1979 was a rough year in south Florida when that show Miami Vice first started it really did show what our local situation was... Almost the entire shooting team from Metro-Dade was indicted less than a year after my shooting...They were one of more than a few "cocaine cops" that couldn't resist the immense temptations of money and drugs that were present down here at that time... Thank heavens a really thorough investigation by my own department provided a very clear account of what actually happened that day.... For the record - the young man I shot that day - had thrown away his firearm before I finally caught up with him and the shooting occurred - so I shot and killed an unarmed man that day... A citizen witnessed it and came forward to allow my agency to find that firearm (it was a 45 auto taken from a police officer's house in a burglary a few weeks earlier...)... Without that firearm I'm certain my situation would have been far different... That's my "war story"...