Has anyone tried playing through Sierra's SWAT3 using the recommended strategy of only shooting a target once they raise their weapons? It's impossible! The only time that strategy works is when I have one of those 'action movie' mods activated (eg bullets less accurate and less damaging). I've found that the most effective strategy is just to shoot anyone holding a gun, raised or not, as soon as the door is breached. And from the SWAT documentaries I've seen, they actually appear to do that anyways.

I totally agree, they usually shoot at you before you even have a chance to press the "Put down your gun..." button. You can shoot them in the knee and disable them, then have the cops pick him up like you would a downed hostage, and most of the time, they tell you info about where hostages and/or the terrorists and hiding.