History Main / StopOrIWillShoot

* ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty'' has the [[SpacePolice Triple-I]] shouting [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2009/06/27/freeze/ "Freeze, Spacer!"]] as they surround Nin Wah. They also give a [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2010/01/31/bad-choice-of-words/ "Stop and drop your shields"]] variant when surrounding CK's ship...
[[PoliceAreUseless after they remember what their name stands for]].

* Subverted in ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'' season one, when David Jackson tries this on a [[AxCrazy crazed]] and paranoid Andrew Klock who is steadily advancing on his group. [[TooDumbToLive Andrew ignores his warnings]], even when David pulls out his gun and points it at his head, and eventually breaks into a full on charge. This causes David to panic and pull the trigger, shooting Andrew right between the eyes.

* Averted and called out in VideoGame/LANoire by Cole Phelps. If you're chasing down a suspect with your gun drawn, you can aim at the running suspect to fire a warning shot into the air, and Cole will tell the suspect to stop or he will shoot them. However, if you actually shoot them you fail the case and have to start from the last checkpoint.

* Parodied in the Sylvester Stallone action-comedy ''Film/StopOrMyMomWillShoot''.

* Film/JamesBond:

* In the original ''Film/TheMatrix'', just before the dramatic lobby shootout, the hordes of military Mooks position themselves behind columns with dramatic gun cocking. The head Mook then yells "Freeze!" in spite of the fact that Neo and Trinity had already slaughtered a group fo guards and are advancing on them with their guns brandished.

* ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'' has one of these with the one daughter's boyfriend who joined ThoseWackyNazis...he tells the family to stop, and the Captain replies he hasn't got the guts to do it. The result is a standoff with the Captain trying to get him to turn over the gun, and the boy eventually yelling "they're here!"

* A rare, non-firearm related example can be found in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion''. Upon the acquisition of a bounty, guards will confront the player, and give him a choice of paying the fine, going to jail and losing skill points, or "resist arrest"--basically not cooperating. If the player chooses to resist arrest, regardless of whether he's armed or not, fighting back or running away, the guards will attempt to either snipe at him with arrows or run him through with a sword. The player can still surrender at any time and receive the same three options again. The guards don't seem to have the slightest of interests in incapacitating and incarcerating the player, and seem perfectly happy to merely bleed the player to death instead. [[FridgeLogic This would also explain why various prisons around Cyrodil are so empty...]]

* ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty'' has the [[SpacePolice Triple-I]] shouting [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2009/06/27/freeze/ "Freeze, Spacer!"]] as they surround Nin Wah. They also give a [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2010/01/31/bad-choice-of-words/ "Stop and drop your shields"]] variant when surrounding CK's ship...[[PoliceAreUseless after they remember what their name stands for]].

-->'''Cop:''' Hold your fire, he's running...

** Cops in London: "The police don't have a gun, and you don't have a gun, so it's "Stop!...or I'll say stop again!"

* The "Blues" in ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'' mostly just shout something like "There she is!" and open fire, but at some points in the game they follow this trope to the letter.
* A rare, none firearm related example can be found in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion''. Upon the acquisition of a bounty, guards will confront the player, and give him a choice of paying the fine, going to jail and losing skill points, or "resist arrest"--basically not cooperating. If the player chooses to resist arrest, regardless of whether he's armed or not, fighting back or running away, the guards will attempt to either snipe at him with arrows or run him through with a sword. The player can still surrender at any time and receive the same three options again. The guards don't seem to have the slightest of interests in incapacitating and incarcerating the player, and seem perfectly happy to merely bleed the player to death instead. [[FridgeLogic This would also explain why various prisons around Cyrodil are so empty...]]

* Ouka does this in ''KyouranKazokuNikki'' when someone reveals they were using MindControl on him.

** Notable Exception: ''SWAT4'' has you playing the role of, well, a SWAT team (special police). Players have access to a large amount of nonlethal weapons and you get a lot of points knocked off for 'Unauthorized Use of Force' - shooting without shouting for compliance (ie. "Hands up!") unless they've already pointed a gun at an officer or a hostage - which is an open invitation to shoot first for the sake of you, your squad, or the hostage. The game is at its most fun when you mercilessly attack with tasers, paintball guns, and beanbag shotguns. Especially as less-lethal force isn't penalized.

* In one episode of ''TheSimpsons'' they shot at Bart with shotguns for not going to Ralph's birthday party.

* In TheBoondocks, Uncle Ruckus is told by police officers to get out of his truck and show them I.D. even though he was doing nothing and in fact was the one that ''called them''. Even though Ruckus fully cooperated, and told the officers what he was doing, when he pulled out his wallet, a cop shouted "GUN!!!" and they [[MoreDakka opened fire]]. [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy They missed]]. Then he tried to pull out a ''spare'' '''safety orange''' wallet. Cue another "GUN!!!" and Ruckus being brutally beaten by Night sticks.

* Averted and called out in LANoire by Cole Phelps. If you're chasing down a suspect with your gun drawn, you can aim at the running suspect to fire a warning shot into the air, and Cole will tell the suspect to stop or he will shoot them. However, if you actually shoot them you fail the case and have to start from the last checkpoint.

* ''TheSoundOfMusic'' has one of these with the one daughter's boyfriend who joined ThoseWackyNazis...he tells the family to stop, and the Captain replies he hasn't got the guts to do it. The result is a standoff with the Captain trying to get him to turn over the gun, and the boy eventually yelling "they're here!"

* In the first issue of ''ShadeTheChangingMan'', the cops don't even finish the sentence when they see Roger (Kathy's black boyfriend who she brought to the Deep South to met her parents) wrestling with Trent (white serial killer who had just knifed Kathy's parents to death) on the lawn; they shoot Roger. They were both covered in the same blood during the struggle, though Trent was more blood-splattered for good reason. Trent lampshades the injustice by mockingly complaining about the discrimination shown against ''[[ItsAllAboutMe himself]]''.

* In ''Film/TheGodfather Part II'', Michael Corleone has rival Hyman Roth assassinated at the airport. The assassin shoots Roth point-blank and is in turn shot in the back by police as he runs away. In a crowded airport. In full view of a dozen reporters with cameras.

* RobinWilliams, during his performance at the Met, covered this trope with a few different types of cops:

* Averted in {{Sierra}}'s ''PoliceQuest'' game series. Produced by real-life police officers, the games require you to follow proper police procedure (don't worry, it's AllThereInTheManual). Failure to do so will give you an abrupt game over.

* Parodied in the largely forgettable Sylvester Stallone action-comedy ''Film/StopOrMyMomWillShoot''. (But not so forgettable here.)
* An {{egregious}} example occurs in ''Film/TheGodfather Part II''. Michael Corleone has rival Hyman Roth assassinated at the airport. The assassin shoots Roth point-blank and is in turn shot in the back by police as he runs away. In a crowded airport. In full view of a dozen reporters with cameras.
** Given the time in which the film is set, they probably ''were'' justified. A lot of states had "fleeing felon" laws justifying lethal force.
** All the same, those police departments probably had rules against shooting where it was likely to cause additional harm to bystanders.
* [[HandWave Hand-Waved]] Reversal: Film/JamesBond (and various imitators) is explicitly stated to have a "License To Kill".
** The "00" (double 0) series of agents have a license to kill because they're ''government assassins''. That don't get to kill at random any more than the headsman of old could slaughter innocents. Instead, they're the ones called on when their political masters decide someone needs to die. The "license to kill" refers to having the prerogative to kill people ''other'' than his target in the midst of a mission.
*** The questionable real-world value of this kind of approach is pointed out in the Daniel Craig version of ''Film/CasinoRoyale''; Bond's actions in pursuit of the bomb-maker are action-movie standard, but his boss frostily points out that Bond has caused a public diplomatic incident in order to kill someone who was just a hired gun, and that their opponent will now just hire another one.

** It's a parody because the robot is ImmuneToBullets. Pointing a gun at a cop is a ''very'' good way to get yourself shot by a cop.

** But then again, it's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as Popeye Eye Doyle is a CowboyCop.

* In ''Film/{{Dredd}}'' two young gang members find the fully armored judges and approach them from behind and tell them to freeze, it goes as follows:
-->'''Amos:''' Freeze
--> The judges turn around and look at them.
-->(''{{beat}}'')
-->'''Judge Dredd:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Why?]]
-->'''Amos:''' Why what?
-->'''Dredd:''' Well, why should i freeze?
-->'''Amos:''' Because otherwise i will shoot you.
-->'''Dredd:''' With the safety on? [[note]]It isn't but this gets them to check it and gives the judge Dredd enough time to aim his weapons at them and stun them.[[/note]]

* ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan''. Cops are very aggressive in this film and open fire on Spider-Man twice onscreen. The first time he was doing nothing but ''talking'' to the cop, and the cop almost accidentally killed the man Spider-Man had webbed up.
** It could be assumed that the police officer was assuming Spiderman's webslingers were deadly weapons, and so therefore he felt justified in brandishing a weapon
* In the original ''Film/TheMatrix'', just before the dramatic lobby shootout, the hordes of military Mooks position themselves behind columns with dramatic gun cocking. The head Mook then yells "Freeze!".
** That was actually completely justified as Neo and Trinity, who were still holding their weapons and walking forward, had already murdered the first wave of guards. In fact, the heavily armed cops should probably be commended for still trying to resolve the situation without further bloodshed.

* The "Blues" in ''MirrorsEdge'' mostly just shout something like "There she is!" and open fire, but at some points in the game they follow this trope to the letter.

* Played straight, but also subverted, at the Berlin Wall. Played horribly straight, as East German border guards were ordered to use lethal force to stop people from crossing the border illegally. More 100 than people, including pre-teen children, were killed while trying to escape East Germany. Later subverted in that many of the perpetrators were tried and sentenced by the reunified Germany for ordering or carrying out the shootings.

** In one of the earlies episodes a rookie cop, more or less says the trope title ("Stop or I'll shoot you in the back") he has never heard the end of this.
* Parodied in an episode of ''{{Bones}}''. "Stop, or I'll... kick you in the testicles!"

* [[Film/{{Fargo}} Margie]] captures Gaer Grimsrud by shooting him in the leg while he's fleeing from her. He had just thrown a heavy block of wood at her head, so it could be argued she was at least justified in pulling her gun to respond to assault with a weapon. Grimsrud's lawyer'll still have his work cut out for him at trial, though.... Then again she caught him feeding a body to a woodchipper, so she could argue he was a threat to the general public.

* In ''Film/{{Dredd}}'' two young gang members find the fully armored judges and approach them from behind and tell them to freeze, it goes as following:

-->'''Dredd:''' With the safety on? [[note]](It isn't but this gets them to check it and gives the judge Dredd enough time to aim his weapons at them and stun them.)[[/note]]

* [[Film/{{Fargo}} Margie]] captures Gaer Grimsrud by shooting him in the leg while he's fleeing from her. He had just thrown a heavy block of wood at her head, so it could be argued she was at least justified in pulling her gun to respond to assault with a weapon. Grimsrud's lawyer'll still have his work cut out for him at trial, though...

* ''JudgeDredd'': ''Dredd Vs Death'' had a system where you were encouraged to try and take criminals in alive by ordering them to stop and then disarming/wounding them. You're not particularly punished for killing someone engaged in a firefight with you, unless you kill someone who has surrendered or use your Lawgiver's incendiary rounds on perps.

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* Subverted in ''{{Higurashi}}''. After a scuffle with some child-nappers, Detective Oishi trains a gun on them as they're running away. He doesn't shoot them though, and when asked why he says something along the lines of "I can't shoot an unarmed man in the back while he runs away!"

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* The Imperial Stormtroopers in the DarkForcesSaga have a tendency to loudly yell out "Stop or I'll shoot!" or "You're under arrest!" while simultaneously opening fire on you with their blasters.

* "Forget it, Jake. It's Film/{{Chinatown}}."

* The same thing is still happening in North Korea. Anyone attempting to cross the border to escape North Korea, whether they're headed for South Korea or even China, would be shoot right away.