The thin blue line: How police decide between defense, deadly force in a fraction of a second

The line between defense and excessive force can be tricky, especially when a fraction of a second counts.

And that question has led to a protesting.

Riots in Baltimore this week were an angry response to the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, who died after being taken into police custody.

Protests in Ferguson, Missouri last summer were emotionally charged as well. Anger over the shooting death of Michael Brown, the 19-year-old black teenager shot and killed by a white police officer.

And in Southern Colorado, the small town of Rocky Ford shaken and protesters still demand justice for Jack Jacquez.

Former police officer James Ashby is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 27-year-old Jack Jacquez.

“He was shot in the back, in his own home. I don’t believe Ashby had any reason to be there,” said Jacquez’s father, Jack Jacquez, Sr.

The images could color the public’s perception of law enforcement.

“After Ferguson, we’d be walking down the street, hear a horn blowing, look over, somebody would be flipping us off,” said Sgt. Ronald Sheppard with the Colorado Springs Police Department.

He’s a 21-year veteran of the force.

“You’re going to be scrutinized for things you might do. You’re gonna be video’d for what you’re doing. If you’re not thinking that you better because you are,” he said.

When those who take an oath to protect and serve are under the microscope, does it have a ripple effect on new recruits?

“Back to back to back, it puts officers in a really difficult light,” said CSPD recruit Nancy Hwang.

She admits the decision did not come without careful consideration.

“It’s what society needs these days – to have more good. There are good officers; I need to be a part of that,” she said.

A sentiment reflected in the number of applications to the Pikes Peak Regional Law Enforcement Academy for the last few years.

On the surface, there doesn’t seem to reflect a glaring problem getting recruits in Colorado Springs.

In 2013, 75 applications were submitted to the Academy, in 2014 65 applications were turned in and approximately 50 applications have been turned in so far.

The focus in training continues to be on training and anticipating the unexpected.

To demonstrate, CSPD brought KRDO NewsChannel 13 reporter Greg Miller in to a shooting simulator where random scenarios pop up on the screen.

The first simulation was a murder suspect reported to be spotted in a Briargate community. Miller confronted him, but hesitated and was shot.

“I saw you and I saw you kind of reach but stop. But you think you can point a gun at this point,” the instructor said in his review.

The second simulation was a burglary call. Miller and his partner secured the building and confront a man reaching for, what they thought, was a gun. The suspect was shot, but only had a staple gun.

The simulations prove confrontation is not as easy as it may look. Recruits often do better, but only after months of training.

“From every officer I’ve talked to, that’s the biggest focus we do have,” Whang said. “We have to make sure we’re aware of our surrounding.”

It’s an awareness recruits must have when it is time to patrol the streets, but no substitute for reality.

“In a simulator you know, you’re not going to get hurt,” Sheppard said. “On the street you can get hurt or someone else can get hurt if you make the wrong choice.”

Those choices can backfire, decision made in a split-second can change lives forever.