BOY'S AIMING OF TOY GUN AT POLICE OFFICER RENEWS FEARS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 14, 1992                   TAG: 9201140246
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
BOY'S AIMING OF TOY GUN AT POLICE OFFICER RENEWS FEARS
A 12-year-old boy held a Roanoke patrolman at bay with a cap pistol Saturday night, prompting concerns about the safety of officers and youngsters with toy guns.
It is at least the third time in the past year that a youth has confronted police with a toy gun.
Police worry that if the trend continues, a child may get shot or that a police officer may be slow in reacting when confronted with a real weapon.
No one has been shot to date.
"I think that speaks well for the good training our officers have," said Maj. Don Shields, who oversees the patrol division at the Roanoke Police Department.
Training or not, Shields does not want the department to bear the blame if someone gets hurt because youngsters are using toy guns unwisely. Police officers too often are confronted with real high-powered weapons in the hands of children.
"I am concerned that one of our officers will inadvertently shoot someone armed with a toy gun or a BB gun," Shields said. "In some cases, there is no way we can tell the difference between them and a real gun. Some manufacturers make the toys - right down to the last screw - to look like real guns."
Although some toy manufacturers have started making guns with components in neon colors, officers may have trouble distinguishing them, particularly at night.
That was the situation that confronted Officer R.J. Scott when he drove past a boy with a handgun Saturday night.
Scott was driving his patrol car on Roanoke Avenue Southwest when he passed James Street. He looked onto a front porch, where he saw a young man standing with a handgun pointing into a door of a house.
"At the point I first went up there, I saw someone the size of an adult," Scott said.
The officer had no way of knowing that the 5-foot, 8-inch, 145-pound young man was actually a 12-year-old boy.
Scott radioed for backup, parked his patrol car, and walked back to the residence. He climbed toward the yard on a steep embankment, hoping it would give him cover if he needed it. At 6 p.m., it was dark enough that Scott needed his flashlight to work.
When he peeked over the crest of the hill, he spotted the young man leaving the yard and walking onto a street. Scott yelled to the boy that he was a police officer and ordered him to stop.
Instead, the youngster whirled around, dropped into a crouch, and put both his hands on the gun in a firing position.
"I thought I was about to be shot," said Scott, adding that he pulled his gun. "I didn't fire. Something in the back of my mind told me not to."
When he ordered the boy to drop the gun again, he did. Scott later learned it was a cap gun, equipped with a ring of caps. Because of his age, the boy was not charged and was turned over to the custody of his parents.
"If he would have pulled the trigger and I would have heard the sound of gunfire or saw a flash, I can't guarantee the results would have been the same."
Scott and other officers are trained to defend themselves. Shields said they cannot let down their guard.
"It is a critical time of shoot or don't shoot, where you have to make a split-second decision, often based on inadequate information," he said. "I also have concerns about the number of high-tech weapons in the possession of very young people. In some cases, our officers cannot tell the difference between a real weapon and an imitation weapon. His hesitation may cause him to lose his life."
And, within the past year, several officers have had to make life-and-death decisions unnecessarily.
Shields cites these examples:
A 16-year-old boy confronted two officers responding to a call on a possible robbery on Melrose Avenue about a month ago. The youngster was carrying a BB gun with a scope and swung its barrel toward police when they arrived. He later said he thought it was a joke.
Guns were drawn in a tense confrontation in August between Roanoke police and a 19-year-old brandishing an Uzi squirt gun.
Shields said parents should teach their children that flashing a gun at police officers is nothing to laugh about.
"I don't believe the children understand how close they are to a stronger response," Shields said. "They could very easily be killed."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB