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I'm still not convinced. Knife throwing is not that easy, even while standing.
We tried it heaps as kids. Most times, the knife hits handle first. If a kid who looked like he knew what he was doing threatened to throw a knife at me (and it looked like a weapon, rather than a utility/kitchen knife) - I'd be worried.
But we're talking about an adult now. More commonly, I'd suspect that an adult with a knife is emotionally disturbed, or in some other distressed or medically abnormal state. This is particularly the case for a person choosing a hammer as a weapon.
What is a hammer going to do? Sure if you let somebody hit you over the head it could hurt. But a thrown hammer. It will do nothing unless it hits you in the face. And the head is a small target. A person can dodge. Having had stuff thrown at me by my brother - I reckon dodging is fairly easy. You can see a throw coming in advance, from the arm movement.
Getting away from the technicalities of the threat, there are a lot of mental-physical-emotional issues that can lead to aggression. A quick check would indicate that we're not looking a mass shootout situation here and so for me, given the gender, age and physical abilities of the "target", I'd be trying something other than force.
Perhaps it's worth mentioning that I've seen fairly aggressive adults with dementia, and other mental/physical impairments. I've even been threatened with a knife while working with the mentally disabled, albeit a little one. Oh yeah, and slashed in school once.
These police need to toughen up a little. Perhaps also they should be forced to work for a while, without weapons, in institutions that expose them to people with mental health issues, people with dementia and with the disabled.
I'm thinking that a one month stint in a hospital, a 'mental hospital', a aged care facility, and spastic care or car accident rehab centre would give them useful life skills.
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