FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Law enforcement experts are weighing in on the tough choices some officers have to make when threatened by suspects.
Two Fairfield Township police officers resigned after they did not use deadly force against an armed suspect, according to Chief Robert Chabali.
The officers confronted the suspect on Oct. 8. According to the police report, the two were informed the suspect had potentially just shot another person.
The suspect pointed a gun at officers, according to the police report. One officer deployed his taser but was unsuccessful. The suspect got away and was ultimately shot and killed by two officers in another department.
Chabali said Wednesday officers Austin Reed and Mark Bartlett had "voluntarily" resigned last week. Both officers were hired in February 2022.
“It’s been determined that our officers, two of them did not really do what they were supposed to do, and that is to use lethal force to stop the threat, the gentleman’s threat," Chabali said. "The gentleman was known to have a gun and that gun was observed and he leveled off at the officers with that pistol."
WCPO asked police experts about what it takes to pull the trigger.
“That's not the first time I have heard of police officers who struggled to make that decision,” said Gene Ferrara, a former University of Cincinnati police chief with 50 years of law enforcement experience.
A copy of Fairfield Township’s ‘Use of Force’ policy does not specifically say that officers must use deadly force but outlines situations when an officer “may use” deadly force.
Ferrara could not comment on the specifics of the case but said it’s an officer's job to protect the public from danger.
“It is something that I would expect that an officer, in the proper circumstances under the proper conditions, would be willing and able to take a life of that person to save lives of other innocent civilians,” Ferrara said.
Bill Beuke, a 30-year veteran of the Cincinnati Police Department and director of the Greater Cincinnati Police Museum, agreed.
“It’s not just duty, it's sworn duty — I do solemnly swear,” Beuke said. “They definitely are going to live with this for the rest of their lives ... not so much that they were cowards, but that just that the event happened.”
Members of the public can put themselves behind the trigger in a simulation at the Greater Cincinnati Police Museum. The simulation is not used for training, but devices like it are all across the country.
“Our purpose is not to train anyone, but just to try to give them a little context, a bird's eye view of what an officer goes through on a day-to-day basis,” he said.
The museum is located in Pendleton and is open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
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