There's good research that suggests that cops are more likely to escalate force when given tasers or pepper spray or rubber bullets. Cops are only supposed to draw their guns where their lives or someone else's lives are being threatened (of course, most of them seem to think that young black men existing is a threat to someone's life), but they can use pepper spray whenever they're annoyed. So while without it, they might try to talk down a situation, it just becomes a first-resort. And of course tasers, pepper spray, and rubber bullets are all quite capable of killing a person.

I once knew a cop (yeah, can you believe it?) who walked right into a hold-up at a coffee shop where the guy had a gun. She never even considered drawing her weapon. She just talked him out of it. You never hear of that happening anymore.