What are y'alls opinions on escalation of force for Police Departments?

No take them as they come up

After it occurs the most important thing is refrain from any rush to judgement. Declaring shooter or victim at fault before all FACTS are known. Doing otherwise is not consistent with our nations presumption of innocence which separates us from 3rd world countries.

I have been following this story, I don’t know all of the details. I am sure with the strong feelings on both sides, there is probably a fog about what took place in regards to the shooting. I understand law enforcement personnel have to make critical even life and death decision in an instant. Having said that, and don’t get me wrong I believe we need police. I happen to have some experience with police encounters, and yes I have been in jail on occasion.
So to start with I think in today’s society we are becoming an us against them in America. On most occasions when talking to law enforcement, I have been respectful of course for me that comes from my upbringing, my military background, and well just aww shoot games over now. Mr Blake scuffled with the officers, I don’t know how many policemen were on scene, but how does someone get away then go for his vehicle? I read that a taser had been used on the guy before he went to his vehicle, so I don’t know, not trying to be ugly but are we talking about the Keystone cops?? The whole scenario sounds fubar on both sides. Mr Blake was in a vehicle with kids, it just seems the police could have followed him home or wherever and arrested him then. Ala the O.J. chase. Many people bring up Blake’s past criminal history and I would think the officers knew of him or had his rap sheet on their computer. Maybe there was an overreaction because of past criminal history, I don’t know, I just hope we are not getting to that point where the cop on the street is in his or her mind dealing out justice.
Now one thing that I have believed for a long time is post 9/11 there has been a push for more and more law enforcement personnel, and a lot of military hardware is being granted to police departments. I am hesitant to say and I hope this isn’t taken the wrong way. I know from my military experience and talking to other Vets. an infantry and many other m.o.s do not cross over to civilian jobs, leaving corrections and law enforcement the best opportunity for our veterans. Not criticizing I would much rather deal with a veteran for anything. So I would say the answers probably lay with training and critical thinking. I do want to say one more thing and there may be stats refuting my assertion that we have put an abundance of law enforcement officers in the lines. I have from a reliable source that shortly after 9/11 the FBI hired approximately 14,000 new personnel also looking at new agencies created post 9/11, and my own observations there are many more police than in previous times. My point being are the law enforcement agencies able to properly vet all of the new hires, and do unions protect some personnel that maybe need to be driving a desk, or have supervision until fully qualified for working the streets. I would think with the enfaces on law enforcement in these times that budget difficulties would be a nonstarter.
Now there have been other incidents that have happened of late, that I can relate to from my most recent experience with law enforcement. The police were sent to my house for a supposed welfare check, to be honest I had been drinking prior to the officers arrival. And I had sent some texts to my wife that she believed were threats. We the policed arrived I was in bed trying to go to sleep, I wasn’t blacked out, I noticed when the officers were standing over me. A side note earlier that day I talked to the substance abuse counselor who knows me well and I agreed to go to treatment. I don’t know exactly how the exchange went but the officers knew about the texts and asked for my phone. I didn’t know the phone had slipped into the crack of the bed, well there my have been some 4th amendments issues there the point I’m getting at is we went to the front door step. They let me sit down and I smoked a cigarette, we talked and out of curiosity I asked if any of the four policemen standing over me were veterans. One of them said no and it was like a buzzer went off. The one guy who was the arresting officer said ok stand up and I guess they half pulled and helped but anyway may shorts were loose and they hit the driveway. Instead of letting me pull the shorts up I was cuffed by then they made me step out of them and they threw them in my house. So I guess I got a little shock up, I’ve never resisted arrest, I pulled away and kind of drug my bare feet. Anyway they sit me down on the back seat of the cruiser with my feet still outside the car, and one of the officers said get in for some reason I said no. Then one of the patrolmen tried to pull me in from the other side of the cruiser and he failed, so the arresting officer did some kind of his to my thigh strike and I still didn’t get in. So his partner or whoever stood back and I noticed a large spray can strapped to the arresting officers leg, and he says to the other officer I’m going to spray him. By this time the arresting officer has the can of pepper spray in his hand and his partner says go for it. Needless to say I laid down on the back seat of the cruiser and got my feet in. All this for a welfare check. Because of this I can understand how a mental health crisis can escalate if Murphys law intervenes. Sure I was in the wrong, I just believe with some coaxing the incident could have gone differently, definitely without being pepper sprayed and hauled to jail in my skivvies. On the way to jail the officer did ask if I was okay and chuckled that stuff got on me too.
Well I don’t want to write your paper for ya. I may be biased right now, I think my story is somewhat relevant, how maybe stopping and taking a breath and patience might help in certain situations.

The best I can do is to state that with the different data given by all parties, I thought about what would the officers done if this was a white guy. the conclusion I came to was yes, the same results would have occurred. 1) He was not supposed to be there. 2) he physically resisted officers. 3) officers perceived a weapon (knife), BUT DID NOT SHOOT YET. 4) Shot him when they could not be sure he was not further escalating by getting something (like a gun) out of the vehicle.
The only thing I can think of that might have prevented the shooting on the officers part would to have had extensive de-escalation training; not one week but six months worth. please note I said might. If you think about it, people tend to do what they have trained to do OR what has worked in the past.
REFERENCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Jacob_Blake
https://nypost.com/2020/08/25/jacob-blake-seen-struggling-with-officers-moments-before-being-shot-video/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/25/jacob-blake-kenosha-police-shot-black-man-minutes-after-arriving/ [login to see] /
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/the-police-shooting-of-jacob-blake-a-black-wisconsin-father-explained/ar-BB18kv8o
Conversations with other veterans where they told me I would have been shot earlier in the scenario if I behaved that way.

So back in the day (think re-runs of Dragnet) we had money for cops in such numbers that they could walk a beat in whatever neighborhood, commercial area, etc. Things evolved to where you just don't see that anymore. A police officer in a patrol car can theoretically police a larger area, thus reducing labor costs. This is just my opinion but what gets checked stays good to go. What is not checked falls into disrepair. The relationship between police officers and their communities has fallen into disrepair. The officer walking his beat on a daily basis develops friendships and other, working relationships within the community in a much more significant way than does a mounted patrol. People often know the types of things happening in their neighborhoods and advising the police that something is brewing is a more involved process nowadays. You're just not going to encounter an officer unless there is something specifically involving them and you going on. Kids don't grow up personally knowing police officers; understanding that they are not monsters - hateful and prejudiced. People fear the unknown oftentimes (think land nav evaluation in SFAS). The police have gone from enjoying an image of authoritative yet helpful neighbors to being in the defense because enough people hate the idea of them (thank you liberal politicians, liberal educators and CNN) that they are willing to do things like assassinate them as they sit in their patrol cars. As a police administrator, what would you do? You can get free stuff from the military that could result in prolonging the lives of your officers or you can bleed in place. Criminals have become more capable with the advent of improved technology and the police are rather obliged to keep pace. Personally I am against such militarization. I feel that the proper solution is to permanently remove violent criminals from the equation as we find them. Then the police would not need MRAPs and such.

I was shot in face by dirt bag gang bangers and rifle but and pistol whipped its hard to be nice NOW

No. What kind of threat did this black man make or portray ? He was WALKING away from the the PO's, not. running and what IF, that was a knife he was pulling out from his. waist, he continued walking and the the PO grabs him by. the shirt, then shoots him in the back !! If he was a white man, he'd be alive today. You figure it out. Peace.

It all comes down to one factor - was your life in danger? Same as if you were in combat.

Breonna Taylor was an inocant bystander caught between the no knock warrant team and her boyfriend. No knock warrants are served on violent criminals in the hope to arrest the criminal by surprise this no one involved gets hurt. Unfortunately Breonna was between her boyfriend and the police. Race plays no part in the decision to use a no knock warrant only how violent the criminal is.

Sadly, He was too far gone to have been helped from police or anyone
Family and social services could have helped early on but only if Jacob wanted it. After the 70’s when ACLU seceding in giving more rights to mentally ill persons, help from an outside source is very hard to provide legally