Hoodie at a Pawn Shop

[Deaf Smith]

Well while killing time waiting for my visit to the dentist (a visit that even after 10 years, with full x-rays done this time, showed no cavities.. and I'm 60 and have all my teeth!) a big guy came in wearing a hoodie on covering his head and wore sun glasses.

The worker behind the counter told him he needed to take his hood off (there is a sign on the door to that effect) and the guy acted dumb. He then refused and after a minute or so looked over the counters walked out the door. Strange, right?

Of course I was armed, and noticed the guy when he came in. Keep my eyeballs on him till he left, and even then glanced at the door every time someone else came in.

Any way folks, you never know folks. Keep in condition yellow.



Deaf

 

[rcmodel]

Unless it was full on zero winter, and the pawn shop heater was on the blink.
But even then, I'd be well aware of what was coming in and going out the door..

rc

 

[Phaedrus/69]

Around here the young 'uns wear wool watch caps all summer. All. Freaking. Summer. There's a guy that I work with that wears one on the line in the kitchen where it's 100 F plus all the time. I guess I'm old enough to not understand fashion.

 

[PBR Streetgang]

I found it a bit strange that a young man was walking the lot of the local Walmart last night with a hoodie pulled up over his head in 90 degree weather..as a retired police officer, he became a immediate blip on my personal radar ..on another level the term hoodie started as a gang term and I find it offensive that the NRA and other pro-gun organizations use the criminal based term when selling their hooded sweatshirts.

 

[230RN]

Xenophobia is a survival trait.

So is paranoia.

My alert status would certainly go higher. Saw a hooded scruffy-type person going into MacWendyKingcarls recently. You can bet I kept an eye on him until he'd received his order and left. I swiveled around a lot even after I left, and used my car windows to check behind me as I unlocked and entered.

This is not to say robberies, etc. can't be done in a three-piece business suit, but you have to consider the probabilities involved.

 

[X-Rap]

If you don't profile the people you come in contact with until you know better you're stupid.
Doesn't mean you have to kill every one of them but if your standing in a pool full of big fish and one turns out to be a shark don't be surprised if you get bit.

 

[entropy]

He was casing the place. Possibly 'made' you, Deaf, checked the location of the cash drawers and such, and filed the info for future reference.

 

[Artofgolf]

The hoodie is the preferred jacket in the city here.
It seems that every robbery caught on video (many & frequent), the perp wears one.
Popular with the youngsters who are down with the thug lifestyle.

 

[hso]

Sounds out of place and like an attempt to conceal identity, but I see plenty of "kids" wearing what seems out of place as part of the herd fashion. None the less, I would have treated it as a possible robbery threat and moved to a position of safety.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I am under the impression that local pawnshops are required to assure that people who enter show their faces for the surveillance cameras. I could ask to see if it is a police or an insurance request. But concealing your identity in a venue like a pawnshop or bank is pretty suspicious behavior.

And if that's being judgemental or profiling, check out the advice gangsters give gangsters about using hoodies, sunglasses, etc.

My late wife noted a suspicious guy who came in her business wearing his arm in a sling. They went on quiet alert (.38 and .410 handy but out of sight) and overwelmed him with "How may we help you?" consideration (and scrutiny). He left, they reported him. The same guy was arrested at another business. He had a concealed weapon in his sling. His arm was OK but the rest of his day was not.

 

[lemaymiami]

I'm still a guy who believes that tactics are as important or more important than your choice of weapon - almost always. On the street as a young cop (and then a much older one) I learned a few small things that helped me go home in one piece every day... The first is that whole identity thing -no one I dealt with was allowed to conceal their face (even if it was Halloween....). No one was allowed to walk up to me with me with their hands concealed - not ever.

The tactics part was pretty simple -any such were challenged and asked politely to un-cover their face or show their hands while I easily moved my weak side towards them (concealing my weapon side and exactly where my gun hand was....). While making my first challenge non-threatening I'd be moving towards cover or whatever position gave me the slightest edge. Any non-compliance or the slightest hint of any aggressive behavior the next level involved a weapon on my part in hand, ready to respond... I was very, very lucky that things never went past that point. But I did disarm one or two unpleasant folks that way. You simply must not allow a possible assailant to approach you without being challenged early on. In this regard cops (although as a group are probably significant targets) have an advantage over ordinary folks in that we have less of that "thin veneer of civilization" than most ordinary folks. Part of the process of training any young cop entails adding layers of caution that most civilians don't have... Still in almost every case cops are the second to fire in an armed confrontation that occurs with no warning (or no warning that you saw... a different matter entirely.).

 

[Deaf Smith]

He was casing the place. Possibly 'made' you, Deaf, checked the location of the cash drawers and such, and filed the info for future reference.

I thought about that to.

I'm 5' 8" and he was much bigger. The hoodie also had long sleeves (I think it was a sweat shirt with hood) and could conceal quite a bit. The attendant clearly told him to take off the hood.

Since I was about to go to the dentist I had just my S&W Centennial .38 in appendix position.... BUT, I knew he was there and I was alert... and that's an edge. Most people just look up and wonder what happened.

Oh, BTW, been 10 years since I went to a dentist. They x-ray'ed my whole set of teeth (I have 'em all) and guess what? Not one cavity! My wife had appt. at same time and she had 4 of 'em!

Deaf

 

[BLB68]

He was probably just an honor roll student with a hearing impairment.

 

[ACP]

what about baseball caps? are those allowed?

seems like if the purpose of a hooded sweatshirt in the commission of a crime is to prevent certain identifying features from being observed/recorded, a baseball cap would do just as well.

and what about a kerchief on your head? are bikers allowed in wearing a kerchief and sunglasses?

 

[JRH6856]

Around here the young 'uns wear wool watch caps all summer. All. Freaking. Summer. There's a guy that I work with that wears one on the line in the kitchen where it's 100 F plus all the time. I guess I'm old enough to not understand fashion.

It often surprises people to learn that wool clothing can be very cool. Yes, it insulates in winter, but it also wicks moisture away from the body. A wool watch cap can wick moisture from the forehead, the moisture then evaporates which cools the head. Same with wool socks. And those wool cloths that Arabs in the desert wear on their heads.

A hoodie OTOH doesn't have the same effect.

 

[Deaf Smith]

what about baseball caps? are those allowed?

seems like if the purpose of a hooded sweatshirt in the commission of a crime is to prevent certain identifying features from being observed/recorded, a baseball cap would do just as well.

and what about a kerchief on your head? are bikers allowed in wearing a kerchief and sunglasses?

The sign outside the pawn shop had a 'hoodie buster'. I think maybe a 'no sunglasses and cap' one to.

Businesses can tell you to leave if you refuse to take them off.

Deaf

 

[JRH6856]

I'm still a guy who believes that tactics are as important or more important than your choice of weapon - almost always. On the street as a young cop (and then a much older one) I learned a few small things that helped me go home in one piece every day... The first is that whole identity thing -no one I dealt with was allowed to conceal their face (even if it was Halloween....). No one was allowed to walk up to me with me with their hands concealed - not ever.

The tactics part was pretty simple -any such were challenged and asked politely to un-cover their face or show their hands while I easily moved my weak side towards them (concealing my weapon side and exactly where my gun hand was....). While making my first challenge non-threatening I'd be moving towards cover or whatever position gave me the slightest edge. Any non-compliance or the slightest hint of any aggressive behavior the next level involved a weapon on my part in hand, ready to respond... I was very, very lucky that things never went past that point. But I did disarm one or two unpleasant folks that way. You simply must not allow a possible assailant to approach you without being challenged early on. In this regard cops (although as a group are probably significant targets) have an advantage over ordinary folks in that we have less of that "thin veneer of civilization" than most ordinary folks. Part of the process of training any young cop entails adding layers of caution that most civilians don't have... Still in almost every case cops are the second to fire in an armed confrontation that occurs with no warning (or no warning that you saw... a different matter entirely.).

Civilians also have the disadvantage of being almost indoctrinated with the idea that self-defense only allows defensive reaction to a clear threat and does not allow any action to preclude such a threat. Gun in hand just because someone seems to be concealing something that may be a weapon? Horrors. And even cops are not immune to this as an officer in McKinney Tx recently discovered. (even though Texas law specifically states that a threat of deadly force is simply a use of force and may be used in self defense to counter a threat of force.)

 

[old lady new shooter]

Out here they wear a baseball cap under the hoodie, and sometimes sunglasses to boot.

 

[TimSr]

All you have to do is read the Akrom Beacon Journal daily crime log. Supects all have the same description. "Young male wearing a black hoodie". It has become the official thug uniform here.

 

[MyGreenGuns]

I think its funny that so many of you see a hoodie as "thug" apparel. Its a standard item here. My grandma wears one. She is not "gangsta".

Its not the clothing choice that was suspicious, it was him covering his face.

 

[JRH6856]

In some parts of the country, at certain times of the year, a clothing choice can be very suspicious. For example, I would have to be suspicious of anyone in Texas, wearing a hoodie with the hood up in June thru September. In San Francisco, or maybe Seattle, maybe not so much.

Winter in Texas? I wear hooded sweatshirts a lot.

 

[Davek1977]

All I have to add is this....I see people from every walk of life wearing hoodies here in South Dakota. From September through May, I'd venture to say 50% of those one encounters is wearing a "hoodie" of some variation, with Under Armour seemingly the most prevalent. Do I assume everyone wearing one is armed? Sure! We're SD after all...last I checked, we had about the highest, per capita, issuance of CCW's....I just assume everyone has a gun

 

[lemaymiami]

Most encounters with someone that sets off your alarm bells will turn out to be nothing at all.
That goes for ordinary folks as well as pros... That said, paying attention to any one or any situation that rings your bells is an appropriate response. After taking a few preliminary precautions, raising your level of alarm (and your response to it) is only appropriate if they don't respond to a polite request to un-cover, or show hands. Not taking precautions (or being just plain oblivious to events or situations around you is bad business entirely).

Here's a real life incident that I dealt with that could have turned out very badly (and it's one I won't ever forget)..... Very late one night (roughly 3Am) I was in uniform on the street just to get away from my office and the police station. I had been out on foot checking something, then returned to my car when a young man wearing a hoodie and with hands in the front kangaroo style pouch pocket (hooded sweatshirt - appropriate for a cool night....) walked towards me. I gave a greeting and got no response -his head was down and he kept walking towards me from fifty feet away.... I then raised my voice and issued a challenge to un-cover and show his hands (while moving into preliminary defensive posture) - still no reponse, still walking right at me.... As I began to draw my weapon he finally looked up, freaked out and stood still while removing his hands from concealment - they were empty thank heavens... In just a few moments he made me realize that he was deaf/mute and we both calmed down. To this day I still have (somewhere) my old street logs with the one page where we communicated in writing back and forth....

No this isn't the kind of stuff you read or see in popular entertainments but life on the street can move from boredom to the shakes in short order. Folks who work in pawn shops and other high risk places are smart to take precautions but thank heavens the really dangerous stuff doesn't come around that often (and if it does you'd be smart to seek another line of work.....).

 

[strambo]

I think its funny that so many of you see a hoodie as "thug" apparel. Its a standard item here. My grandma wears one. She is not "gangsta".

Its not the clothing choice that was suspicious, it was him covering his face.

I think it's funny you think the PAC NW is like the rest of the country...

What was suspicious was a combo of all of the above plus his demeanor, body language and reactions. Our subconscious processes all of this stuff in nanoseconds and gives that gut feeling something is wrong. It is wise to heed that feeling even if you don't know why at the moment.

 

[hso]

What's odd is that it was indoors.