Gun Slinger
member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2007
- Messages
- 777
Having seen such "civilian to civilian contacts' become tragedies more than a few times in my LE career, I am always surprised that in this day where cell phones are quite the norm and within financial reach of even those for whom money is an issue, that folks still seem to want to deal with these issues in such a "hands on" manner in light of the liabilities that come with such intervention.
While I applaud the noble intent of such actions they are a "fools pursuit" in the worst sense of the phrase because of the fact that we stand to lose so much for the little advantage that can be gained from such unwise "tactics".
Common sense, being the sparse commodity that it seems to be today, would dictate that the best course of action to pursue in such an instance would be to notify the police via 911 (most cell phones will default to the correct jurisdiction these days resolving another problem that could hamper such a means of address) of the situation, location and the color, make and model of the offending vehicle as well as the license plate number and follow at a safe distance in order to provide the police continued updates as to the offender's actions, direction and location.
There is no reason anyone should allow themselves to be compromised (especially voluntarily) to the extent that the OP allowed himself to be (by impeding, no matter how slight, the intoxicated party) because such action is tactically unsound (ever wonder why the Police park their vehicles at an angle to act as intervening cover/obstacle during traffic stops?) and bad things tend to happen to nice folks with the best of intentions at the worst times.
Those who distrust the Police for no other reason than to be difficult or because they are "conflicted" and feel that they were "wronged" in the past , and question their authority, let alone their training and ability to handle such situations, are only fooling themselves and are only able to offer groundless and untested "solutions" of dubious and negligible merit if they have any "solutions" to offer at all.
While we all want to see such situations resolved as quickly as possible without the injury/deaths of innocents, sometimes this is not humanly possible and can only be compounded when and where "fools rush in".
So, "Stupid or Civil?"
Neither. My 'vote' would be for "Profoundly Unwise".
While I applaud the noble intent of such actions they are a "fools pursuit" in the worst sense of the phrase because of the fact that we stand to lose so much for the little advantage that can be gained from such unwise "tactics".
Common sense, being the sparse commodity that it seems to be today, would dictate that the best course of action to pursue in such an instance would be to notify the police via 911 (most cell phones will default to the correct jurisdiction these days resolving another problem that could hamper such a means of address) of the situation, location and the color, make and model of the offending vehicle as well as the license plate number and follow at a safe distance in order to provide the police continued updates as to the offender's actions, direction and location.
There is no reason anyone should allow themselves to be compromised (especially voluntarily) to the extent that the OP allowed himself to be (by impeding, no matter how slight, the intoxicated party) because such action is tactically unsound (ever wonder why the Police park their vehicles at an angle to act as intervening cover/obstacle during traffic stops?) and bad things tend to happen to nice folks with the best of intentions at the worst times.
Those who distrust the Police for no other reason than to be difficult or because they are "conflicted" and feel that they were "wronged" in the past , and question their authority, let alone their training and ability to handle such situations, are only fooling themselves and are only able to offer groundless and untested "solutions" of dubious and negligible merit if they have any "solutions" to offer at all.
While we all want to see such situations resolved as quickly as possible without the injury/deaths of innocents, sometimes this is not humanly possible and can only be compounded when and where "fools rush in".
So, "Stupid or Civil?"
Neither. My 'vote' would be for "Profoundly Unwise".
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