Even as Violent Crime Falls, Killing of Officers Rises

[caseymoz]

14. There's some evidence it's true.

During World War II, research conducted by US Army Brigadier General S.L.A. Marshall found that, on average, only 15% to 20% of American riflemen in WWII combat fired at the enemy.[35] In Civil War Collector’s Encyclopedia, F.A. Lord notes that of the 27,574 discarded muskets found on the Gettysburg battlefield, nearly 90% were loaded, with 12,000 loaded more than once and 6,000 loaded 3 to 10 times. These studies suggest that most soldiers resist firing their weapons in combat, that- as some theorists argue- human beings have an inherent resistance to killing their fellow human beings.[35] Swank and Marchand’s WWII study found that after sixty days of continuous combat, 98% of all surviving soldiers will become psychiatric casualties. Psychiatric casualties manifest themselves in fatigue cases, confusional states, conversion hysteria, anxiety, obsessional and compulsive states, and character disorders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War

Yeah, it's from Wikipedia. Not a great source.

Here's a counterargument. http://www.journal.dnd.ca/vo9/no2/16-engen-eng.asp

And then you have this:

US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan - an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed - that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand. As a result the US is having to import supplies from Israel.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2005/050925-israel-bullets.htm

How do you get soldiers to shoot straight? Dehumanize the enemy. It help if he covers his face, such as a blindfold in a firing squad, but you can also use racial epithets. In WWII, the Japanese were "Japs" or "Nips."

A lot of that might be from the use of suppression fire, still 250,000 for each insurgent killed sounds like lots of shots used to scare. But we've known about the reluctance to kill for a long time. Firing squads not only blindfold the condemned, they put in one blank round at random so the squad members can have some doubt whether they killed the prisoner.

Then there's the effects after killing:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0LIY/is_11_90/ai_106763554/

One would think if it has so many lasting effects, the resistance to doing it is normally quite strong.

All I'm saying here, there is some evidence that police putting on riot helmets obscuring their faces, becoming impersonal and separating themselves from the public actually makes them more of a target, not less.