I know that Days can't afford someone to advise them about police procedure, but they should seriously do a little homework, or go to a police discussion board and get some advise from them. Say something like - I write of a TV show, or I'm writing a book, and I can't afford to hire someone to advise me about procedure, but I want to make sure I get things right, can you help me? They'd have cops falling all over themselves to help them out. All the cops I know are tired of seeing their profession portrayed so inaccurately in movies and TV. Today was awful.
Raines couldn't authorize "excessive force," because excessive force is force that goes beyond what is needed to gain control of, or remain in control of, a situation. Excessive force is illegal.
Then later, Theo said that he'd heard force was authorized. Well, use of force is always authorized. The use of force continuum is starts with officer presence, then verbal commands, empty-hand control, less lethal force, and finally lethal force.
https://www.nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/officer-safety/use-of-force/Pages/continuum.aspx
A police lieutenant would not tell his/her officers that lethal force is authorized, nor would the order to "shoot to kill" ever be given. Lethal force is a case by case basis thing, and the officer involved makes the call, based on training, and a variety of other factors. The biggest one is does the suspect pose an serious threat to the officer or others? And yes, even when the suspect is unarmed, the situation may merit use of lethal force.
A person, using just their hands and feet can seriously injure or kill another person. Officers do not shoot to kill, they shoot to stop the threat. Sometimes that results in death, but often not. Hope is a cop, so she has some training in hand to hand combat, and should have many years of experience with it. This would make her dangerous. However, casual observation would reveal that she is ill and weak, so would not be as much of a threat.
Sorry about the lecture, but today's show drove me absolutely nuts with it's lack of basic knowledge.