Rock I can tell you one moment that stands out in my mind all the time and I'll never forget. I went to a domestic violence call once and when I got to the house an older gentleman and his 21 year old son were standing in the front yard. Both of them looked like they had been hit by a truck. They said that they had been fighting with the mans youngest son, 18 years old, and that he was still in the house and they thought he might have a pistol in the house. I went in and called his name several times while I stood near the front door in case I needed to make a quick exit. Finally the kid comes around the corner and he's holding a jacket in both hands in front of him. I yelled for him to drop what he had in his hands three or four times before I finally stuck my pistol pretty much in his face. He refused to drop what he had and I had already been told that he might be armed and why else wouldn't he drop it if it were just a jacket. The kid began to raise his hands towards me and you could tell that he had something under the jacket. Well my H&K service pistol has a 5 pound trigger pull and by now I have about 3 pounds of pressure on the trigger. This kid is literally 2 pounds of trigger pull away from meeting his maker and he finally drops everything in his hands. Under the jacket was a pistol alright, a stinkin toy starter pistol. I almost killed a 18 year old kid for pulling a toy gun on me. I probably would have been totally justified if I had killed him because it definitely looked real enough but I would have had a hard time living with myself if I had. I wouldn't hesitate to defend myself with the deadly force thats part of the job and I've actually had to use it and dont' regret it because the circumstances dictated that I use it but this one incident with the 18 year old kid stays in the back of my mind always.
Hambro.
Scary stuff. Just glad to hear every one made it home.
Was thinking about this thread. Yesterday I drive past some road work. The cop is standing there. He looked hot and board. I do the wave thing and he half heartedly grinned and waved back. What was cool was I always assumed the local
officers (New England) Didn't want to bother with me for motorized bicycle riding. Just a lot cooler to know or now assume that they are just being cool about it. I really doubt they know the tiny lil portion of the MC code that deals with motorbikes. I always wondered what was going threw their minds. Good to have a Cops perspective.
Bank ST in New London ct is the proverbial water front, sleezy bar section of town, well was back then. I forget his name but this beat Cop used to go into each bar and do a "safety inspection" When the barmaids would see him walk in they would poor a shot of brandy and go in to the office, store room or where ever. He would take out his flash light and go "inspect" that room. After he left, she would go collect the empty shot glass. One day a buddy of his was making fun of him for doing this and saying he should kick his butt. The Officer replyed; "Yea, but I have a gun and am closer to the door" The whole bar cracked up. There were some real bad folks who hung out around there but absolutely every one called him Sir or officer. He used to say "Most folks are mostly good" Which really is a great thought.
Thinking about it now, I met way more Peace officers then "Barnys"