The criminals always die. Out of about 10 so far only 3 times have they not died, and one of those was due to a glitch. It feels like there should be other ways to handle these situations but I am completely lost and it doesn't feel like the game voice those options too clearly.

You know, I'm feeling the exact same thing. I've only done about 4 street crimes and I think 2 of them had the criminals put into an ambulance or something. Sometimes I shoot them in the legs to subdue them but they still end up in the stretcher, white sheet spread across their body.

 Sometimes I shoot them in the legs to subdue them but they still end up in the stretcher, white sheet spread across their body.

yeah, i've only done 2 so far.  shot one guy in the throat...the other one...well he killed himself.  aren't you suppose to be able to tackle them? 

I feel the same way. I've done only a couple so far. I shot one guy in the head as he held another guy hostage and the other guy jumped off the top of a building. Something about the silence as the bodies are being put into the ambulance makes me feel like the worst cop.

I had one that ended in a fist-fight, and one where I could have disabled a getaway car - but ended up shooting the dudes driving it in the backs of their heads. Heh.

Has it been established that the outcomes of these affect anything?  Killing a dude might not feel exactly right, but it counts as "completing" the street crime (even unlocked a completion achievement).  Gunning a guy down before he could take and possibly kill the eventual hostage seemed a fair outcome at that point.

I had one that ended in a fist-fight, and one where I could have disabled a getaway car - but ended up shooting the dudes driving it in the backs of their heads. Heh.

Agreed. I have yet to have a nonlethal resolution, even one involving chasing an unarmed man ended up poorly.

The penalty for horse theft is death!

So I feel the street crimes are supposed to morally weigh down your character.  So far I've had to kill one dude and had another dude commit suicide on me.  Plus in both cases doing the street crime made things go worse in my real case.  so it seems like a purposeful fuck you to your psyche

I tackle a lot of dudes. Also stopped a suicide once. 

So I feel the street crimes are supposed to morally weigh down your character.  So far I've had to kill one dude and had another dude commit suicide on me.  Plus in both cases doing the street crime made things go worse in my real case.  so it seems like a purposeful fuck you to your psyche

I kill them all. Not even sure I have an option with most of them. Then again, I charged a guy with a murder I'm pretty sure he didn't commit too haha

This is really started to irritate me.

This is the 1940s, that is justice.

I keep killing everyone on the street crimes. I am the worst cop.

Whatever, man. These are criminals who are shooting at me and killing people. What makes me feel bad is when I rack up $11,000 in vehicle damages and kill like 8 civilians in one case.

As far as the department's concerned, a perp removed is a perp removed, one way or the other, I'd imagine.  Case closed.

hummm didn't know you could NOT kill them.  Mine always end up with the guys taking a hostage and I shoot them in the head ;/

Hey, there's an achievement for killing a certain amount of guys, and none for arresting them so what do you think the game wants you to do?

I don't have any moral issues with the street crimes that end in me having to ice dudes. If they have a gun and are shooting at me or other civilians, it's my duty to put them down for the safety of myself and everyone nearby.

The way I see it, as soon as they use lethal force or gun down a fellow officer, they signed their own death warrants. Though I do tend to go for leg and arm shots.

This must be one of the first times that you shoot bad guys in a video game and it is not what you want to do.

This must be one of the first times that you shoot bad guys in a video game and it is not what you want to do.

This is the 1940s, that is justice.

This must be one of the first times that you shoot bad guys in a video game and it is not what you want to do.

I think the silent little scenes at the end of the street crimes are exactly the point; these are just futile deaths, there is no beautiful sense of justice like in the big cases, there is no conspiracy to uncover, just evil begetting evil. This provides a moral contrast to the black and white we want to see in the world of crime, while life is just shades of grey. Did all of these crooks deserve death? No, but at that point what option is there.

There's only one street crime that left me feeling guilty and that was the one where I blew out the perps brain when they hopped into the getaway car before they even drew on me. Though that was my instinct as a gamer, to get them before they got me and win, so it didn't hit me until after. There was another where I felt Cole should have yelled for a guy to drop his weapon before opening fire, but he did have a gun on a hostage and was in the middle of a countdown so it didn't feel quite as deplorable. I don't know where Cole gets the time to crack conspiracies when he's probably swamped with paperwork and departmental hearings. 
 
Also it seemed weird that Biggs told me he hadn't pulled his piece in years when he not only just helped me ice some robbers, but started shooting before I did.

 
I didn't know you could end it non lethally, everyone involving arms has ended with the coroner - i completed my 13th street mission and saw Carruthers walk past and laughed as i felt sorry i'd dragged him out of the morgue for the third time in a bout an hour 
 
i was getting concerned that by and large they all ended in a blood bath; if anything it made the street missions really unnecessary as its just a shoot out, once or twice is ok but after that it gets tedious. 
 
I even tried a few times to hold the cross hair on the target but i would end up getting shot badly or die as the timer for non lethal / intimidation didn't appear 
 
kind of annoying but i don't seek them out or play them consistently enough to get too frustrated its usually just if i'm close by

Whatever, man. These are criminals who are shooting at me and killing people. What makes me feel bad is when I rack up $11,000 in vehicle damages and kill like 8 civilians in one case.

@uniform said:

This is really started to irritate me.

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

I am currently trying to apprehend Leroy Sabo. The game gives the illusion that you can hold the charge down for the warning shot, but things like preprogrammed cars getting in the way and Leroy running faster than an olympic sprinter makes this impossible.

This eventually leads to one of these all too common hostage situations, which have no result other than kill or failure. You can shoot the gun out of their hand, but not before they shoot the hostage. I have been thoroughly testing this. Satisfaction to me, playing as an officer of the law, is putting the guilty behind bars, not seeing how many of their dead bodies I can be responsible for by game's end.

Felt the same way. Also sort of expected that mission to change more depending on where you went to first. Played it through twice and was disappointed that no such thing happened. One of the few cases where I felt like I knew more than Cole did - seemed pretty obvious to me what had happened but it takes Cole a while to catch up.

I didn't feel bad at all :D

I didn't know you could capture anyone alive when it involved guns. I just shot them all :/

I'm surprised more of you don't get satisfaction out of ending the thing non-fatally. Like playing through a stealth game without killing anyone, even though you can.