One thing the patrol officers who responded first needed but did not have was small caliber rifles. If they had had this, they might have been able to accurately aim for the bank robbers' heads. Conceivably, this could have ended the incident sooner, by taking them out before they had a chance to take cover or escape the immediate bank area.

This incident especially demonstrates that unless we take care, criminals will sometimes have better weapons and better protection than our police officers. For instance, body armor must be periodically upgraded to match the firepower available to criminal elements in our society. New body armor has been developed that can stop bullets from assault rifles, and it is imperative that our police officers be equipped with them. In addition, patrol officers should be equipped with urban rifles, and receive the training to fire them accurately. Different weapons serve different purposes, and a rifle will...

Both of the suspects in this incident came equipped to commit the kind of mayhem that occurred as they left the bank. They were heavily armed and had extensive body protection. When the shooting stopped, there were two seriously wounded officers and numerous wounded civilians. Neither the police nor the EMT's knew whether the wounded suspects were booby-trapped, so they could not be immediately aided. In addition, aiding civilians and officers before those who shot them was justified in a triage situation such as this robbery. Triage practices were demonstrated to be appropriate in this situation.
Bibliography

McCarthy, Ron. "North Hollywood Shootout." Accessed via the Internet 10/9/04. http://www.student.oulu.fi/~hmikkola/shootout.html