28 Sept 17
From a student:
âYesterday evening, I had to pick-up my wife at an Amtrack station in Hartford, CT.
As I waited at the rear, keeping an eye on the station as well as my car, a slovenly-dressed man turned toward me and began to approach. He muttered some sort of request for money.
At seven meters, I turned towards him, assumed my âinterview stance,â made eye contact, moved laterally, and loudly said:
âSorry sir. I canât help youâ
He stopped abruptly, apparently shocked by my crisp and practiced response. Mumbling incoherently, he turned and shuffled away.
This is the exact scenario we practiced during our training together, and this is the way I now intend to deal with all future contacts with panhandlers!
It surely worked well in this case!
I was armed, of course, but no gun was ever displayed. No threatening language. No one hurt. We unceremoniously disengaged and separated. A âhappy ending,â although I know you donât like that phrase!
You instructed us that a fight avoided is better, by far, than a fight âwon.â I now really understand how true that is.â
Comment: Another âsuccess storyâ that will never see the light of day in any police report, nor news headline. Yet, among competent Operators, this kind of felicitous triumph happens hundreds of times per day!
/John
