Courtesy of Better Half’s far too hyperactive, realistic, and highly-detailed unconscious, I have a somewhat interesting question for all of the police officers, former police officers, friends of police officers, and folks who have gone through similar circumstances themselves.
Say you are at home, in bed, when your home alarm system goes off / you hear breaking glass / some other occurrence alerts you to an illegal presence in your home. You and your wife (if applicable) take up arms, fall back to your defensive position (in our case, the doorway between our master bedroom and bathroom), and have the alarm company connect you to the police / call the police. The police manage to arrive before the home invader(s) come up/back to investigate the bedrooms.
So here is the question: how do you identify yourself to the police, and identify the police in turn, without one of those parties getting shot, while still maintaining an alert for whomever might be illegally in your home? Even better, bear in mind that home invaders disguising themselves as police is not unheard of.
I know what my general intentions are for such a scenario, but I was wondering if there was any specific standard operating procedure that would streamline the initial interaction. Lord knows I do not want to shoot anyone, much less someone responding to assist us.
Judging by the recent 911 calls I’ve listened to, the operator stays on the line and advises the caller that the police have arrived on scene, and either tells them that the police are entering, or that the police want the caller to come outside.
The calls have universally had the same elements, description of the suspect, location in the house where the caller is, and some sort of admonition to put down any weapons when the cops arrive.
What Sean said. It’s always of benefit to remain on line with the 911 dispatcher until the police arrive, if for no other reason than those calls are recorded. If you say to the goblin “Stop! I have a gun!” and they keep coming, and then you shoot them, that’s all evidence in your favor.
Verify through 911 that it’s really the police. There is no other option if you want police verification.
Right. And tell the 911 operator where you are, and how you are dressed.
Relay information to the dispatcher that you are armed, a description of yourself, and where you are located in the house.
Get a name or a officer number from the dispatch as well. This helps for positive identification on your side after officers arrive on the scene.
The only thing you can do is talk to dispatch, they’re you’re link to the men coming in the door. Since it’s your house being half naked and barefoot helps identify you as the home owner to the police as well.
[...] Linoge asks what to do to avoid shooting/getting shot by responding police officers when your home i… [...]
A little more complicated than just talking to the dispatcher, but this works for me.
Our plan is sort of simple.
1.) Call the police. I have a phone with bluetooth earpiece. This allows me to keep both hands on my weapon.
2.) I have a pistol and my AR easily accessible. She has a side by side and a pistol easily available. We are arming as I am calling the police.
3a.) If the little guy is here, we move to his room and the bathroom across the hall from him. I go first and cover her until she can get to him. We hold there until the police arrive.
3b.) If the little guy is not here, we hold in the master bedroom and adjoining bathroom. I cover down the hallway.
4.) Since I am still on the phone with the dispatcher, I advise them that we are armed. I inform them that the police should identify themselves by saying “police” AND a “password” I have supplied the dispatcher while on the phone with them. The police will also be provided with a reply “password” from us in order to identify us as the victimized residents.
Sound complicated? Not really.
She gets her sideXside and pistol as I get my AR and pistol. I call 911 and use my bluetooth device.
I tell the dispatcher there is someone breaking into my home and advise them we are armed.
We move to the little guy’s room and she rounds him up.
(we experience the longest 2-5 minutes of our lives). I tell the dispatcher the police need to identify themselves and also say “Thunder” so we know it is really them. I also tell the dispatcher that we will reply with “Flash” so they know it’s really us.
The police arrive and apprehend/shoot the bad guys, assuming we haven’t already saved them the trouble.
As the police begin to clear the house, they identify themselves as ”Police, Thunder”. We reply with “Flash” to let them know we aren’t bad guys.
Obviously “Thunder” and “Flash” are illustrative for this blog and will not be used should this unfortunate incident occur in our home.
This is the same “password” scenario I used as a police officer on a few of the home invasions in progress I worked. I told the dispatcher to call the victim and tell them I would identify myself with “thunder” and they should identify themselves with “flash” so I know who not to shoot.
This may not work for you. I am not saying this is “THE” way to do it. It is “A” way to do it that works for us. It is important to note however that you should have a plan. A bad plan is better than no plan. You have time to build and practice a good plan. Your family is worth it. You are worth it. So what are you waiting for?
Disavowed With Honor
Good information for a situation that I hope never happens.
I took a class recently where a police officer discussed this exact situation. He said to give a description of yourself to the 911 operator and that the police tend to assume that the person wearing the least amount of clothes is the homeowner
He also said that, no matter how well you’ve identified yourself, expect to be forcibly disarmed, cuffed, intimately searched and probably thrown into a cop car.
+1 on this. The police will not assume that just because you are the one who called 911 you are actually supposed to be in the home, and it’s not unheard of for burglars to try and pass themselves off as the homeowners to try and avoid being arrested. The police will grab and secure everybody until they can get some sort of confirmation that you are who you say you are, even if it’s just your neighbor saying “yeah, he lives there”.
Well, I think in the situation you supply, I would stay on the phone with 911 and all would be well. However, what happens if the police are serving a warrant, have the wrong address and bust down my door in the middle of the night. Or a group of thieves bursts in shouting POLICE at the top of their lungs.
Things will get crappy quickly and since those coming un-invited into my familys home will have the drop on me, I will likely end up injured or worse.
Thanks to everyone for the input… That is pretty much what my intentions / plans were, I just wanted to ensure they were not completely off-base without coloring your responses beforehand
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As for home-invaders pretending to be police, no matter who or what breaks through my door, or who or what they identify themselves as, I am calling 911, and hopefully I will reach a dispatcher who is able to tell me whether or not I am being forcefully served a warrant or having my home invaded before it is time to exchange fire with the attackers…
Why would one call the police? I don’t like to associate with drug dealers or their associates. Inviting them into my house seems like a bad idea.
I cannot say as though I am a huge fan of sweeping generalizations when it comes to firearm owners, Republicans, Christians, or any other subsection of the human race.
Given my penchant for internal and logical consistency, you should be able to figure out where this is going.