officer safety-going above the call to duty.

[03svtsnake]

first off, a small intro. if its alot of reading please take a second to bare with me. i work in a pretty large city. it has one of the highest crime rates among cities with more that 1 million people. im in patrol. i work a 10 hr evening shift, so im off typically between 2:30 and 3:00 am. this morning on my way home from work, as im exiting the freeway going to meet up with another police buddy, i notice that there is a vehicle on the side of the service road in a lane of traffic with hazards on. the next thing i see is a woman with some kind of medical equipment on her upper body that appeared to be a brace to restrict movement of the spine. she was walking with a cane and flagging me down. so i stop and another lady comes up to my car, apparently as im told later was the cane lady's sister. sister tells me that they have run out of gas. so i get out of my car and ask what they need from me. sister says that all she needs is a ride to a gas station. so, i help her out. i have always been brought up to help my fellow man. so i give her a ride to the gas station as they happen to have a 1 gallon gas can in her veh. we get to the station, she gets her gas and we are on her way back to her veh. she gases it up the sisters are on their way. now due to our line of work, i am naturally pretty cautious, but i did not treat this encounter as i would have a traffic stop or anything more than a cautious mentality. it wasnt until after i was on my way home did a red flag pop into my head. it was then that i thought about how easy it would have been to just kill me and take what they wanted. then i began thinking about how easy it was, and all the ways she could have done it. i started to think about all the places she could have hid a gun or knife. i was completely disgusted and surprised at my lack of awareness and officer safety. i was overwhelmed by the urge to help someone. i also realized that it was not possible to help those people and at the same time, maintain my own safety. however i didnt realize it soon enough however. although the sister turned out to be kind-of a strange bird from the short conversation i had with her, my spidey-sense didnt wake up.

i have boiled the encounter down to 2 things. on the one hand i spent $2.75 to help a stranded motorist. on the other i completely lost my cop mind for about 10 mins and put my self in a huge amount of jeopardy.

i have 2 questions.
have any of u officers out there done anything similar to this because u have something inside u that makes u help people?
also, what do u officers think of my actions? stupid? are u guys just as disgusted? unnecessary to go that far to help someone? or the right thing to do?

please help me out guys, i need a little advise.

thx for reading my novel.

richie

[Gene L]

Have done it.

Don't think your actions are stupid.

[Kieth M.]

It sounds to me like you read the women correctly...they were little or no threat. We spend many years anticipating that someone, anyone is concealing a gun or knife with the intent to kill us, cook us, eat us. That mindset, while it does keep us safe from those who would do us harm, often prevents us from making casual friends, doing little gestures that "normal" folks do for their fellow man, on a daily basis.

Then you found yourself, like many times I have done at the end of the shift. I think it's in one of the Street Survival series books, where you look in the mirror and ask yourself, "How many people could have had me, today?" And then we're supposed to resolve to do better, tactically, tomorrow.

You did a good thing. I suggest that you stop second-guessing yourself. I applaud you. Next time (if you feel hinky) sure, go get the gas and maintain your distance.

[03svtsnake]

thanks for the replies, i appreciate the input. i have always had a heart for people that need help, and at the same time i would hate to be killed for kindness.

[scannerson]

You did the right thing by helping the motorist out. Next time explain it is policy they must be searched prior to transporting. They don't want you to search them, something is up and let them fend for themselves.

I am a short time cop (1 1/2 years) I have a buddy going through the academy now and I explained to him that he will soon loose his innocence with this career. We do not trust anyone, always think someone is after us, never can relax back into the "pre cop" mindset. Although the majority of those we deal with pose no threat to us, it is the minority we must protect against.

[CityCopDC]

first off, a small intro. if its alot of reading please take a second to bare with me. i work in a pretty large city. it has one of the highest crime rates among cities with more that 1 million people. im in patrol. i work a 10 hr evening shift, so im off typically between 2:30 and 3:00 am. this morning on my way home from work, as im exiting the freeway going to meet up with another police buddy, i notice that there is a vehicle on the side of the service road in a lane of traffic with hazards on. the next thing i see is a woman with some kind of medical equipment on her upper body that appeared to be a brace to restrict movement of the spine. she was walking with a cane and flagging me down. so i stop and another lady comes up to my car, apparently as im told later was the cane lady's sister. sister tells me that they have run out of gas. so i get out of my car and ask what they need from me. sister says that all she needs is a ride to a gas station. so, i help her out. i have always been brought up to help my fellow man. so i give her a ride to the gas station as they happen to have a 1 gallon gas can in her veh. we get to the station, she gets her gas and we are on her way back to her veh. she gases it up the sisters are on their way. now due to our line of work, i am naturally pretty cautious, but i did not treat this encounter as i would have a traffic stop or anything more than a cautious mentality. it wasnt until after i was on my way home did a red flag pop into my head. it was then that i thought about how easy it would have been to just kill me and take what they wanted. then i began thinking about how easy it was, and all the ways she could have done it. i started to think about all the places she could have hid a gun or knife. i was completely disgusted and surprised at my lack of awareness and officer safety. i was overwhelmed by the urge to help someone. i also realized that it was not possible to help those people and at the same time, maintain my own safety. however i didnt realize it soon enough however. although the sister turned out to be kind-of a strange bird from the short conversation i had with her, my spidey-sense didnt wake up.

i have boiled the encounter down to 2 things. on the one hand i spent $2.75 to help a stranded motorist. on the other i completely lost my cop mind for about 10 mins and put my self in a huge amount of jeopardy.

i have 2 questions.
have any of u officers out there done anything similar to this because u have something inside u that makes u help people?
also, what do u officers think of my actions? stupid? are u guys just as disgusted? unnecessary to go that far to help someone? or the right thing to do?

please help me out guys, i need a little advise.

thx for reading my novel.

richie

I do it all the time. Some have ragged on me about this before but It will not change my my way of doing things. If you need gas, I have no problem taking you to the gas station and back. BUT YOU WILL get patted down/frisked. If your a female, Ill call for a female officer. If you have a problem with being frisked, then you dont need to get in my cruiser. I DONT trust strangers. Im not saying they are all out to hurt me, but I have a 4 year old son that loves his daddy.

I dont think your actions were stupid at all. You were a human being helping another human, plus your in a position where you protect and serve. Some of us forget that. Unfourtunately in this day and age, you have to think twice because you never know what someones true intentions are. Its now why I NEVER give money to the homeless. If your hungry, Ill buy you something to eat no problem, but Im not supporting your habits/addiction. But again, unless its a ride along, cadet, recruit, another officer from another jurisdiction, family or friends, I need to make sure you have nothing on you that can harm me.

[PhilipCal]

Welcome to the club. Think we've all done it. My .02 worth. Don't agonize over it, don't "after action" yourself to death. Sometimes you need to case those encounters the same way you should case a "stop and rob" you were to go into. Do it, be aware, but know when to relax a little as well.

[DAL]

My God! You sound like you may be one of the few people who actually meant it when he told the oral board that he wanted to be a police officer so that he could help people. I think what you did is commendable and shows that you have some humanity. You can't treat everyone in the world like a suspect.

[d0406]

I only have a cpl years on the job, but I would say your fine. When it comes to giving courtesy rides, I spend a minute or two talking to the person trying to get a read on them. If they seem a little off, they get patted. If I think they are on the straight and narrow, I may let it slide, this doesn't happen often. If someone has a bag/purse on them, I will tell them that it's going in the trunk/front floor with me and have them sit in the back. I think as long as you talk for a few minutes and get a read, you'll be OK. Trust you gut, God gave it to you for a reason.

[LeanG]

Wow, this is your dilemma? I've done it quite a few times without losing any sleep. You did good.

[hpdtruckcop]

OK. That "spidey sense" you mentioned was in fact awake and working full time! I've suggested this book in other posts, but here it is again. Read "the gift of fear" by Gavin De Becker. you'll find that, even if you didn't realize it, your intuition was working in overdrive. You correctly evalutated that there was no real threat to you. You did fine. Just make sure that if the little voice inside of you says "something's wrong here", listen to it. There probably is!

[Milagro303]

SvtSnake: Are we to assume that since you were heading home from work you were A.) Not in uniform. and B.) Not driving a marked squad? Or do you have take home cars?

I will agree with others and say that if as you did "survive" this encounter, and red flags went up- if even after the situation- you will be the smarter for it next time around.

I will admit that while working on patrol- I ended my shift and was headed home in my personal vehicle when I saw a delivery van (like DHL) stuck in the snow. Although one would assume a delivery van to be more legit, you never know. I stopped, talked to the driver, and gave him a ride to a nearby gas station to call his company.

Now I believe that the man had no idea I was an off-duty officer, but who knows? He could very well even have known my name. I did it, and (like you) had the flags go off AFTER the incident. Learn from it.

[BPD_126]

You did the right thing by helping the motorist out. Next time explain it is policy they must be searched prior to transporting. They don't want you to search them, something is up and let them fend for themselves.

I am a short time cop (1 1/2 years) I have a buddy going through the academy now and I explained to him that he will soon loose his innocence with this career. We do not trust anyone, always think someone is after us, never can relax back into the "pre cop" mindset. Although the majority of those we deal with pose no threat to us, it is the minority we must protect against.

Second that. Always frisk and inquire about anything illegal before someone gets into my car and sits behind me! Even though we have cages I'm still paranoid! You did the right thing though. I always give stranded motorists a ride. Whatever gets their darn car off the road!!

[10-97UPD]

I think you did what most of us would do. Im also sure that most of us if not all of us at some point or another...have come home from a shift and said "man. I could have been killed tonight". In your case didnt get hurt or killed..so just chalk it up as a learning experience. I had a similar one where I got flagged down by a third party on a domestic where the person stated that a guy just beat a girl and he pointed out the girl who was laying in a snow bank..then the guy came back..and I was in a bad situation..and yes, I was in my POV going 1.5 miles to pick up a pizza..unarmed...it worked out but I thought about it afterwards. I never wanted to be that guy who carrys a gun everywhere but now Im having second thoughts.

[ftobar]

Been there done that several times over. You did the right thing

[Frank Sector]

I think you did fine.
Now if you would have stopped for 3 guys with colored bandanas hanging out of their pants pockets I would have nominated you for the Darwin award.

I have helped people on occasion but I ALWAYS have my pistol in my vehicle and have no problems going from mr nice guy to psycho and kick them to the curb.

Be polite to everyone but be prepared to kill them at a moments notice.