Another Night On the Homefront ......

Around 11:45 last night, Sheila shook me awake. She excitedly said that someone was ringing the doorbell.  We don't normally have visitors at 11.45 at night.  I didn't bother to dress.  I grabbed my weapon and headed for the door.  As I approached the door, I racked a round into the chamber.

I heard a voice from the outside yell urgently, "He's got a gun."  I cautiously looked out the tiny viewing window in the door and could seen nothing but flashlights in my eyes.  They were yelling "Police."  I yelled back that we were calling the police now.  I then yelled at Sheila to call 911.  Then one of the voices behind the flashlights yelled back, "We are the police," and lowered his flashlight enough for me to see his uniform.  Their guns were drawn.

When I saw enough of the uniform and badge to verify that it actually was the police, I yelled "I am putting my weapon down now.  I am going to put some clothes on and you can come in."  A few seconds later as the officer entered, I told him that my weapon was lying on the table near the door. He very politely asked my permission to clear the weapon while they were in the house.

I asked the polite young officer to come into my office while I got the information he needed. The two new construction houses just south of us had been burgled again.  They needed the name of the property owner so that he could secure the property.

There had been two suspects. One got away into the neighborhood.  The other, a druggy looking white guy in this twenties, was banging his head against the prisoner shield in one of the half dozen or so police cruisers lined up down our street.   Before he left, the young officer reminded me to reload my weapon since you never know when you might need it again.

This situation played out exactly as it needed to for both sides.  The fact that someone yells "police" at your front door should not cause you to stand down.  Ghetto thugs regularly yell "POHLICE" to keep you from shooting through the door while they kick through it.  On the other hand, the police had no idea whether or not one of the suspects they were looking for had invaded our home or if we were drug dealers, terrorists or just crazies.  There are two lessons here:  (1) don't over react but also don't stand down until you have positive identification and (2) always call 911.