Let’s say you are a convenience store clerk working the late shift and you notice this guy who’s in your store for about 20 minutes “browsing” while you wait on customers. Or let’s suppose he is sitting in his vehicle parked away from the front acting suspiciously, or yet again you spot him standing beside some pay phones (yes, believe it or not there are still some around, and if you don’t know what they are, consult someone who was born in the 20th century), and you know these phones do not accept incoming calls and he has yet to pick up the phone to call anyone. This man, although not engaged in a crime as of yet, is making you nervous. You tell yourself that you are probably just getting yourself worked up over nothing. Certainly, the police are busy taking care of actual emergencies and you shouldn’t bother them over something as silly as your nerves. Any minute this customer will stop browsing and buy something, come into the store and buy something, or just walk or drive away. This situation will surely resolve itself soon. Besides, you don’t want to feel stupid when you call the police and they find out it’s nothing. Then the police and your customer will be angry at you and it will probably land you in hot water with the boss.
Of all of the robberies of convenience store clerks where I was tasked to interview them (sometimes they are answering my questions from a hospital bed), I heard them say something like, “I noticed that man acting strange, but I didn’t know if I should have bothered you guys.”. They picked up on the warning signs, but they didn’t act on it because they second-guessed the need to do so. They didn’t want to put themselves in the middle of something that would highlight their own skittishness or what they thought might be unwarranted concerns. What would happen if they called 911 and they were wrong?
Of course, I’m speaking to those of general intelligence who are not suffering any genuine psychosis, such as schizophrenic individuals hallucinating and not existing in reality. Although what they feel is real to them, it is not based on what actually is going on. I have taken these types of unfortunate ones to have a mental health evaluation frequently in my career. These are people who are human beings in every sense of the word who deserve the dignity and respect from society (who rarely receive this), but cannot function in this world without medication and therapy. When they call, even though what they report is not actually occurring, it still gets us to those who, nonetheless, need our help.
But that’s not you. And it may be that you’re not a gas station attendant, but are working somewhere else where you deal with the public, or maybe you are coming from a friend’s house in your vehicle, and you notice someone seemingly following you in a vehicle behind you, or you may be walking home and someone on the street is constantly watching you. You could be at home at night and you hear a noise or some pounding, but you cannot tell what’s going on. Someone keeps calling your phone and hanging up. You can be anywhere, literally, and something is just not right.
However, you feel the need to investigate to some degree before calling 911. After all, you shouldn’t tie up the lines of 911 dispatch and the time of the officers with nonsense. You tell yourself you’re just going to wait a little longer and see what happens. When you read this, please realize what I present to you is from an old retired cop who has worked, in the capacity of a street officer, many assault, robbery, rape and abduction cases. This is it: At the very moment you are experiencing fear and concern, you need to trust what you are feeling, stop jeopardizing your life and those around you, and call 911.
Can I just say something? No one, I mean no one, goes to a convenience store and browses for twenty minutes unless they are waiting for food to be prepared (and I wouldn’t come back if it took them that long). The vast majority of the customers, unless they are in a slow line, are in and out in under a minute and a half. If I want to browse, I’ll do it where things are priced reasonably, and so would you. When I pull up to a 7-11 or a Wawa, I know what I want, I get it, pay for it and I’m gone.
Also understand, no one has your best interests in mind if you ask them to leave you alone and they still constantly show you unwanted attention, no matter how nice they seem to be. And anytime you feel unsafe around someone, you probably are. Trust how you feel, and not how you would possibly make others feel about you, and act to secure your safety.
If you have read most or all of my blogs (and I feel honored that you have), you’ll remember a situation I wrote in detail where a young man was standing beside some pay phones that, incidentally, did not accept any incoming calls. He was not calling anyone, but looking at the clerks in the convenience store. I just happened to pull up in the parking lot when one of the clerks ran out and flagged me down.She expressed her concerning and I made contact with the gentleman.
While interviewing this young man, I discovered the initial information he gave me didn’t come back, but eventually got his real information from his ID, and ended up arresting him for a couple of outstanding bench warrants. The search incident to arrest resulted in finding an air gun in his coat pocket that appeared to be similar in appearance to my Beretta 9mm service weapon. It could have easily been a real firearm. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize what he was about to do. The clerks told me they noticed him for some time, and were discussing whether or not to call 911. If I hadn’t pulled up in the lot when I did, I would have eventually been dispatched to that store to deal with the aftermath of an armed robbery (yes, in VA, if you pull out an air gun that looks like a real firearm, and this puts mortal fear in the mind of the subject you are brandishing it at in order to rob them, it is still considered armed robbery).
The whole time I went to the police academy, they taught me the laws of Virginia and the ordinances of the city of Suffolk. They did teach me some things to look out for that may build probable cause for arrest in these crimes. However, the one thing that did not instruct us in are things that consist of general suspicion. In other words, we as individuals have instinctively in us the ability to look at a situation and say, “Hey, I don’t think that’s right.” That is the survival instinct God made us with (and not to offend my atheist friends, what you would say Mother Nature gave us) that allows us to prepare for flight or fight. What I am saying is, when you think something is suspicious, more times than not the police will think the same thing.
Now, if we are doing surveillance on a situation looking for further evidence, this does not involve placing someone innocent in harm’s way. If police officers see some suspicious activity that looks like it may escalate and someone may be hurt, we act immediately. As you explain your urgent situation, given the information and observation you have right then, we would at least make contact immediately with the suspicious one(s) and find out what’s going on. Our doughnuts and coffee can wait. So, what I am saying is, if we wouldn’t wait to act until someone starts hurting someone else, don’t you.
But in the scenarios I have mentioned in the article, police are not typically exactly where you are at. You don’t know where they may be. Statistics reveal that the average response time in America of the police to a location of emergency with lights and siren is 11 minutes. In our city, even though we have a vast area to cover, the last I heard, our average response time was better than that. But if all the officers but one are tied up on “hot calls”, it could take that lone officer about 15-18 minutes if you are in the southern segment of the city and he or she is in the northern segment. That’s responding with lights and sirens. Those nights where we were so overtaxed were not often, but they did happen.
So, what should you take away from this article? This is it: I am now giving you authorization to call 911 at the very moment you do not feel safe. Wondering if you should call is unreasonable when it comes to your safety and well-being. Give us a chance to get to you before you become a victim. It is not enough for you to be safe. You must also feel safe. Let us make the determination if you are or not. I have told convenience store clerks in particular that I would rather that I come out a thousand times and find out that everything is fine, than just one time when they are hurt…or worse. Police officers use tact many times when explaining to the suspicious person why the clerk called on them. In my experience, those who had no idea that they were causing concern would actually, while we police are still there, go to the clerk and apologize and give them an explanation. The arriving police officer should also understand what I am saying. If a police officer appears angry or annoyed that you called, they need to be reported. Assisting you in making you safe is their job.
You have only one go around in this life. Ensure that it is a safe and long one.
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