UT cops offed more people than gangs; former Omaha PD chief: unnecessary deaths can still be 'legal'

The Salt Lake City Tribune (the SLC daily not owned by the Mormon Chuch) says the state's cops are so trigger happy that in the last five years, more Utahns have died at their hands than at those of gang members or drug dealers or child abusers. And in 2014, the Utah fuzz are even ahead of the most common cause of homicide — violence between spouses and dating partners.

     Fortunately Omaha's former police chief, Robert Wadman, has weighed in on all this and urges a properly nuanced view of police mayhem:

     But Robert Wadman, a criminal justice professor at Weber State University and former chief of the Omaha, Neb., police department, said the factors leading up to the decision to shoot a subject are more subtle than what prosecutors consider when reviewing the legal justification. Under Utah law, an officer is justified if at the moment of the shooting the officer reasonably believes deadly force is necessary to prevent death or serious injury.

     "Sometimes the line between is it legal and is it necessary becomes difficult to distinguish," Wadman said. "In the judgment of the officer, ‘Is my life in jeopardy? Yes.’ At that point in time, they’re legally grounded in using deadly force. But the question is, is it necessary? That’s something that needs to be firmly addressed, for example, in training."