Not sure how I feel having a CR police officer firing a round off 25ft from me today.

[Lurch]

So at approx 6:30am this morning on Founders Parkway a person had hit a deer. The truck and police car are in the left lane with traffic slowly going by in the right lane. As I get up to the truck trying to figure out what happen I look to my right to see the officer with his gun draw on the standing deer with a broken leg. I'm like you have to be serious he is going to dispatch the deer with traffic only 25ft from the deer? Yep sure enough he lets a round go just as I drive by. Didnt see if the deer dropped and none of my windows shattered so not sure he connected or not. I'm sure the kids in the car behind me are real happy to see Bambi smoked by a cop today. The people in the houses right behind him were probably real happy too.

Also at the angle he was shooting at a miss or pass through shot would of travelled across Founders Parkway with traffic going both directions.

Can't decide weather I should contact the dept and voice my concerns on their officers gun safety.

[Colorado Osprey]

Not sure you need to do anything. Pretty sure he already had a talking to from Wildlife for dispatching game as well as having to report the incident to the Chief for discharging weapon.
Would not be surprised if they are already headed for disciplinary action pending investigation.

[KevDen2005]

Not sure you need to do anything. Pretty sure he already had a talking to from Wildlife for dispatching game as well as having to report the incident to the Chief for discharging weapon.
Would not be surprised if they are already headed for disciplinary action pending investigation.

The police put down injured wildlife daily in rural communities. They don't need permission from Wildlife, nor do they need permission from the chief to discharge a firearm.

Lurch, if you feel like there was a safety issue, you can contact a supervisor at CR.

[ray1970]

Wasn?t there but assuming he accounted for whatever may or may not have been behind his intended target then I don?t see this as a big issue. In fact, kudos to him for putting poor Bambi out of her misery.

Obviously, if he was firing in the direction of people, houses or businesses, or some sort of traffic then maybe he made a poor decision and needs a talking to.

[Colorado Osprey]

The police put down injured wildlife daily in rural communities. They don't need permission from Wildlife, nor do they need permission from the chief to discharge a firearm.

Lurch, if you feel like there was a safety issue, you can contact a supervisor at CR.

The local rural community along the front range I worked for as an LEO here in Colorado would not allow LEO to dispatch. Had to wait for what was then DOW per the DOW or under instruction from them. Also, anytime an officer discharged a weapon there was a report on the Chief's desk before end of shift. When and where I worked there would have been disciplinary action for the officers actions. Sorry if the info I gave is now obsolete.

[.455_Hunter]

Not sure about current policy, but Boulder County Deputies used to definitely dispatch injured deer with their sidearms.

[BushMasterBoy]

Now I'm hungry again.

[hollohas]

One of my LE friends used his duty AR to dispatch an injured deer just a couple weeks ago along the interstate (the deer had moved off the road a bit).

A few years ago I ran across a report issued by JeffCo SO regarding how many times deputies had fired their firearms while on duty that year. It contained dozens of instances, 99% of which were to kill deer and elk.

It happens a lot. It's simply not safe to have injured wildlife roaming around on the roads.

[Hummer]

It depends on the type of injury but I think that generally a CPW wildlife officer will not kill a deer with only a broken leg because they can and do survive and go on to breed with a disabled leg. When an animal clearly has severe bleeding, internal injuries or brain trauma saving the animal from suffering is the right thing to do.

I would hesitate to question someone, anyone, who decides to kill a suffering animal so long as they do so safely.

[CS1983]

Did he drop a knife and a baggy of unknown white powder by the deer after he shot it?

Kidding. CRPD are good folks.