[Recently] at work I responded to an urgent call for backup. An armed homeowner pulled a gun on one of my fellow officers.In the end, everything turned out fine. No one got shot. By the time I arrived at the home, both officer and homeowner had secured their respective weapons and were talking peacefully. It was a tense situation for a few seconds and could have ended tragically.Here’s how it went down…
Source: When the Intruder is a Cop | Buckeye Firearms Association
Go read the article, lots of good info for both sides of the equation so share.
I just want to add my two cents on something I have not touched a while: Illumination. You know that Rule Four states “Be aware of your target and what is behind it.” You cannot be aware of both front and back if the area is dark.
Get a light either to mound in your gun or to have in hand. Get both if possible. We are in an amazing time for lights that are small and throw and amazing amount of lumens. I am a Surefire fanboi and I have in my Amazon Wish List the Surefire P2ZX Fury CombatLight LED rated at 500 lumens which I think is damn enough for urban environments ($175). If your budget can’t goo that high, the descendant of the original tac light (6p) the Surefire 6PX Pro Dual Output LED runs 320 lumens under $70.
And you still have a third option if you happen to own or find used first generation Surefires on the cheap: LED upgrades. There are several offerings priced depending on output and quality, but remember that you get what you paid for. My EDC is a 6P updated to 250 lumens which I shelled some $30 to get online.
Don’t go cheap and invest on a good light. Your life may depend on it and you may keep an innocent alive.
I had a virtually identical situation unfold for me with a CT state trooper. The main difference being he became illuminated before anyone’s guns got pointed aanywhere and he had the gall to say he would have shot first and asked questions later if he saw me pointing a gun at him. Didn’t appear to phase him that I had him deadto rights… I hope he learned from that situation.
We had cops on our property a few years back. We hadn’t done anything wrong…
… but someone else had. The cops were searching the neighborhood for him.
They were very professional. Knocked on the front door, explained the situation, asked if they could look around and if our shed was locked or unlocked. Declined my offer to come out and assist (they had a K-9 onsite). Left after the two minutes it took to ensure the bad guy wasn’t at our place.
Our neighbors made an “unannounced entry” on our property in the middle of the night, too, a few months back, right after they’d moved in. They were … not as professional. One, in a drunken fit, threw their house/car keys into our yard, so they both came over to look for them.
Understand, the entire perimeter of our lot is fenced in, so someone poking around unannounced, especially at night, is automatic cause for alarm. The wife and I both had our guns out. Once they left, we secured our guns and went over and warned them (in no uncertain terms) not to do that again. We also returned their keys (which they had been unable to locate, lacking flashlights *facepalm*). We’re all friends now, but that was a far more stressful scenario than it could/should have been.
Long story short, there are plenty of perfectly legitimate and/or non-threatening reasons for people to be on your property, even if the intelligence of their actions is … questionable at best.
I think it depends on where you live is how you should react.I live in the country and any one unannounced comes after dark on foot and is roaming around my yard will be greeted.They will also have the chance to identify themselves and to give their reasons for being there,but they will have my full attention until then.I have had a lot of robberies on my farm so I am cautious of strangers at night.Also out in the country where I live if cops show up to check on anything at night they enter your property with lights going to let you know who they are.I don’t think being prepared is a bad idea but use common sense on reactions then no accidents.
Surefires are nice but there are now many excellent quality led lights to choose from for well under $100. Olight, nitecore, Fenix, Streamlight are some of the best known. I have a Fenix LD12 that has served me for edc for 3 years and survived 2 full wash cycles and time in the dryer. The $47 paid off many times over. Their pd series has several lights pushing 1k lumens. Also look at the olight baton series.