Thinking about the bad ol’ days again, and reminded myself of a couple of stories; one disturbing, one satisfying. So cast yourself back to the mid 2000s…
This story starts with the Georgia State Patrol (God’s Special People, GSP)… Or, rather, the chase they initiated. I don’t remember why they had initiated this pursuit; but it had come in to my county from a neighboring one, and ended up in a dead-end cul-de-sac in an unfinished subdivision. The driver had turned around and come face to face with the Trooper, who blocked the road. Troopers aren’t normally known for their restraint (ahem), but instead of charging in, this one approached cautiously. The driver yelled out that he had a gun and he’d shoot anyone who got close. (Nice of him to get blocked in on a deserted cul-de-sac; no one to evacuate.) So the other chase units are here and have the car roughly surrounded, the driver is still crouching in the car and occasionally waving the pistol around.
Barricaded gunman, something I had to deal with quite a lot in this county. I get called in with the rest of the SWAT team and the negotiators. Car dude still isn’t talking to anyone, says he won’t leave until we do. Meanwhile, we’ve got a good perimeter set up if he runs, a contact team, and a marksman in place. If we have to force a removal, I’ve got a 40mm launcher with a barricade-penetrating OC round loaded. A barricade penetrator will either breach the glass and dump it’s payload of pepper irritant inside the car; or will go through and rupture on the roof of the car. Yes, we had tested it.
(Note on militarization of police: Yes, I agree it’s happening. Yes, those launchers have been misused by cops. But when you’re in a hostage rescue or barricaded gunman situation, having that barricade penetrating option is really handy. I don’t have an answer.)
ANYway, at one point I’m using binoculars to see what else I can see in the car; and I pay attention to the gun… And it’s a BB pistol. Dammit. This guy’s bluffing us with a BB gun.
I key up the radio. “Hey, that’s a BB gun. That’s not a real gun.” The guy next to me slaps my shoulder. “Hey, shutup! We might have to shoot him!”
Uh. What? It’s a BB gun, jackass. It might put your eye out if you raise those expensive Bolle goggles at the wrong time. WTF, over? Do you have such a hard-on to shoot someone that you don’t- want to lose your get out of jail free card? “We all believed it was a real gun, your honor, and were in fear for our lives.”
In the end, the guy agreed to give up, tossed the BB gun out the window, and the contact team cuffed him. Another successful op.
But that mentality seems to have exploded in LE since then. And that wasn’t the last time that county made me wonder what the hell I was doing.