Police officers are trained to use deadly force as a last resort . First they may try to mace you , then use a taser , etc . If it should get to the point where they need to use their firearms , it should be because 1 either the officer or someone else ' s life is in imminent danger and 2 the lower tiers of force did not stop the threat . I ' m sure you ' ve heard of it , but in case you haven ' t , there is something commonly referred to as the 21 foot rule . If you have someone with a knife charging you , they will be on top of you before you can release your sidearm from your safety holster usually 3 different actions are required to pull the weapon from the holster , disengage the safety police are trained to do this AFTER pulling the firearm from the holster , aim fire . So if you don ' t already have your weapon drawn and the person is 21 feet from you or less , you ' re most likely going to get stabbed . If you have someone charging you with a knife and you manage to get your weapon drawn , do you think you ' ll have the time to aim down your sights , line up a leg , head , etc . , and pull the trigger ? You won ' t . There ' s too big of a margin for error . If you miss the leg or head , you ' re dead . That ' s why police are trained to shoot center mass . Your torso . It ' s the biggest target to hit and you ' re less likely to miss it than a leg or head . Also , for some departments it ' s a liability issue . A family member of mine was in the police force for over 30 years and back in the 80 ' s 90 ' s he qualified as a marksman with a perfect 300 score with his left right hand . They stopped with the marksman title because if he had to use deadly force , why not shoot for the leg , etc . , if he ' s a marksman ? If it gets to the point where the gun needs to be used , it ' s the last step and they need to put the threat down to save a life . Trying to take the extra time to shoot for a leg can and most likely would get you killed . I asked him that same question before , why not shoot for a leg ? and that ' s what he told me . Sorry you got down voted for asking a question . Also , to anyone else that feels the need to reply to this . I ' m not going to argue or debate about ethics or police brutality or murders , etc . , I ' m talking explicitly about needing to use deadly force to stop a knife wielding attacker trying to do you bodily harm . I will not reply back to you unless you have another legitimate question . Edit a word