Reply #96: Are you suggesting that police engage in negligent behaviour?

[Dimensio0]

They know better to shoot fleeing criminals at the legs to take them down and apprehend them alive.

Such a tactic is extremely dangerous. Aiming for any part of the body other than the center of mass increases the risk that the fired shots will miss the intended target and thus increases the risk of collateral damage. Additionally, discharging a firearm regardless of the direction that it is aimed constitutes "deadly force"; as such, it is fundamentally irresponsible to discharge a firearm unless deadly force is legally justifiable, such as when preventing grevious injury to self or others or when a civilian is confronted with an invader on his or her property.