1.Ha, if you don't think that higher ups can play a role in you pulling the trigger or not, you have never sat behind a long gun that wasn't on a range. I've been told straight up we can't take shots before. Shooting when your life is in danger is not what is being discussed.
2. Also, Officer tactics always change when a camera is present, hell they change if it's near the end of your watch.
3. No one on this thread has stated any facts, because non of us were there. So right now it is just some guys bullshitting about something that happened on the news, this isn't a grand jury.
PTRLCOP, there is a mechanism, it's called a radio. Are you telling me that your snipers deploy without a radio? Is your chief going to get on the radio and tell a single person not to take a shot, no of course not. Updates are passed up and down the chain, and "guidance" is always in those messages. Your policy might protect your agency, and if that is true, who ever wrote it was a smart individual, but not everyone has a policy like yours to save them from those who would meddle and micromanage.