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So, I've been in circumstances where I could have called the police for help but I've never called them for anything and chose to handle the situations myself. I've seen people do it and I've had the law called on me a few times for BS reasons. Mostly I've had positive experiences with officers (especially after I let them know my brother is a county sheriff) but I was curious to know what other folks might do given the opportunity arose to call in The Law. Generally I feel like most circumstances can be resolved without involving the police.

What say you?
 
I guess my thought process is the opposite, I'd rather have the police deal with the situation than myself. I'll only deal with it if the police are unavailable or until they arrive. I don't see a need to take on the liability when the police are usually minutes away.

So, I've been in circumstances where I could have called the police for help but I've never called them for anything and chose to handle the situations myself.
and if SHTF a prosecuting attorney is going to ask why you didn't call the police when you had the chance.
 
I called a long time ago when I was younger and just out on my own.

They were very helpful and I had no issues what so ever.

I would call them again if needed but as I've gotten older, I've gained some wisdom and insight on certain situations.


I would never not call them for fear of being victimized but I've never been there and hope not to.
 
I guess the extremity of the situation would really have to dictate whether or not I would involve the police in my matters. Hopefully the need will never arise. Maybe if someone assaulted my property or if a small army was marching onto my lawn. Though in our country if that is happening it's likely the police who are doing it.
 
I just called the sheriff to deal with trespassers who refused to leave. We have a problem with people trespassing in order to swim in the creek behind our house. Often, they refuse to leave, arguing that we "don't own the creek, so you can't make us leave." The fact is, we do own the creek, and both sides for 2 miles, so they have to cross our property to get to the creek, which isn't considered "navigable", so the argument they use isn't viable.

When they refuse to leave, the only practical option is to bring in a Deputy to deal with them. We have prosecuted several trespassers over the years (always successfully) but we only prosecute if they are belligerent or threatening.

If we tried to force them out, we would be charged with assault or worse, so we let law enforcement deal with them. I don't take a gun with me when I confront them because I fear they will claim that I "Menaced" them with it. I keep a loaded shotgun in a spot I can retreat to if I am threatened. I hate to think what will happen if budget cuts eliminate response to non-violent crime!

These people trash the place. My wife and daughter spent two hours cleaning up trash and broken glass after the 4th of July weekend. There were the remains of three fires there, and we are now in Closed Fire Season in this area. The chance of a wildfire is strong.

By the way, the Polk County, Oregon Sheriff's office has been very professional every time we have dealt with them. The deputies are very well-trained and even have been briefed on how to deal with open carry activists. They are sensitive to the needs of law-abiding citizens and understand that we try not to call them unless it is necessary. I have nothing but good to say about them.
 
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Usually someone else has called the cops first and I had not witnessed anything. When I lived in a suburb of Seattle, there were two drivebys where a neighbors car got shot up - not sure why, except that they were hispanic.

I went out with my handgun and stood waiting if they came back, but when the cops came down the street I went inside my house.

I did call the cops when something woke me up and I looked out to see a guy crawling into the bedroom window of my neighbors house at 2AM in the morning. They didn't come for 30 minutes and I later found out they only came after the occupant of the house came home to find her estranged boyfriend in her house and called them herself.

After all, nothing suspicious about a guy crawling into a bedroom window at 2AM. :rolleyes:

Beyond that, most of my interactions with police have been traffic stops - had about 50/50 poor/good experiences there. The poor were unprofessional and bad attitude, but I didn't wind up in cuffs or anything.

I did call the WA state cops once to report a hit and run where someone hit me hard enough from behind to know my hat off, but wouldn't stop to see if I was okay. State LEO acted like this was a big hassle for him to take the report and so on, tried to convince me that my insurance would go up even though I didn't report it to my insurance because there was no damage. In short, he simply didn't want to do his job.

Another time I called the WA state cops to report a reckless driver and they again had that same attitude and gave me a bunch of BS - basically they just didn't want to do their jobs.

Finally, I once saw some WA state cops weaving through traffic, going about 90 MPH then take an exit. On a hunch I followed (at a safe distance and speed), and sure enough, they wound up at a donut shop. :rolleyes:
 
I've had to call/interact with the police several times over the years. We had to call them on a domestic violence case with our neighbor once - they were very helpful, courteous and compassionate toward the battered wife. Other times for similar types of issues. I've had no complaints and have seen some very positive things done by cops over the years as well. We interacted with the Oregon City officer that was killed in the line of duty last year. He was representing the OC Police in downtown OC on Halloween. We had a chance to meet him and chat - a really nice guy. A few days later he was dead. Very, very sad.

Unfortunately, I think we see far more of the bad incidents on the news than the good ones. I for one think most cops are good people, and that just like in any job, you have a mix of both good and bad. That goes for all walks of life. I wouldn't hesitate the call the police if it were something that warranted their presence.
 
A long time ago, I was daydreaming at my home in the study at my desk and idly picked up the phone and started playing a tune with the hang up posts on the old fashioned Princess style phone for like ten seconds. "ring ring".. "hello?".. "police emergency, is everything ok?", me, "uh yea, I was just dicking around", them, "ok, goodbye".
 
Yes a few times at my old house.
Once for a Meth head that thought he lost gold, cash or drugs right behind my house.
I had to leave for work and didn't have time to deal with it so I called the cops thinking that he'd eventually want to take a look inside my house when I was gone.

They actually got there within a few minutes, to my surprise. Turns out the guy had a warrant out and in fact was high.. Guess he had been up for a few days.. Hence the idea there was "treasure" in my backyard?
 
I have called the cops once in my life. Came home years ago to find my shop had been burglarized and the bubblegums got away with roughly $35,000 worth of tools and '50s-'70s speed parts...also got my '47 Knucklehead. The police didn't recover a damn thing and seemed completely inept, but I managed to get a few things back on my own.
 
years ago we had a couple of break-ins in a house we had just moved into ;^(.
The AHs kicked the front door open both times, set off the alarm and tried to steal stereo and TV gear. The police were called by the alarm company and were very nice to deal with when I got home.
We were lucky in that neither of us was at home either time.
I have not had the need to call the police since, but I wouldn't hesitate to do so.
 
Called the police Mothers Day 2005 2:30am. Someone was trying to open my front door, kept trying and stayed on my front deck for the 48 minutes it took the police to arrive. I have no idea why it took so long for the police to arrive I live in the city limits. Good thing this guy wasn't trying to force his way in, he just kept fidgeting the handle then he would sit against the door, then fidget some more. Guy was just very messed up had no shirt, and was missing one shoe.
 
I had a very good experience with with the Washington county sheriff department a few years ago when my step daughter ran away. They helped find her and get her back the same day after she made it half way across the state. The deputy called several times with updates and he even came over later that night after she was home to check on her. The department is a 2A supporter as well.
 
I was rear ended in my new truck by a guy in 1980's POS who was on the phone during rush hour. He refused to give me his insurance and DL, said there was no damage to my truck, so he didn't have to. After a few minutes of arguing with the dipstick I called Gresham PD, since it was getting pretty heated. About 2 minutes later 2 officers show up, he cops an attitude with them. They tell him to STFU, sit down and hand over the info. I'm out of there 2 minutes later.
Oh yeah I did file an accident report with DMV.....exactly what he was trying to avoid.:p:p
 
I live in an extremely rural area of Benton Co, WA. One Sunday night I had gone to bed and my wife was dozing on the couch. Our two young girls were in bed. Someone started pounding continuously on our door, hard and loud. My wife retrieved me and I went to the front door with a loaded 8 inch Dan Wesson 744VH. A young hispanic woman was on the front porch bleeding all over my doormat pleading with me to let her in as there were folks after her. We let her in and she said she had been picked up in Yakima by some guys and they had brought her way out in the country down the road from us and tried to rape her. She escaped, but being barefoot and about a half mile from the nearest house (ours), she cut her feet up badly escaping. We called the Benton Co Sheriff and they arrived within about 15 minutes, which is a pretty astounding response time considering where we are. Within a few minutes WA State police and Yakima municipal police (as the crime was initiated in Yakima) also showed up. My Dan Wesson sat on top of the wood stove (not burning) in the living room the whole time and they saw the gun and the police did not even comment. Yakima police took the girl back, we cleaned up the blood, and all ended well.
 
I had a very bad experience with the Marion County (Oregon) Deputy Sheriff in about 2009. I was stopped waiting for the car in front of me to turn left when a woman in a pick up truck yakking on a cell phone rear ended my 1970 Chevelle and shoved the entire rear end into the back seat. She initially told me she didn't have any ID or insurance so I called for the cops as we were on a public street. The deputy made it really clear right from the beginning that he didn't want to be there and actually asked me why I called. I explained the situation to him and he said he would be within his rights to write me a ticket for blocking traffic. I told him to go ahead and write it and while he was doing that I would call 911 again and ask for the State Police this time. He changed his tune a bit and actually got the woman to produce both her ID and insurance information (she had lied). I asked him his unit number and he asked me what I wanted it for. He initially told me that info was not available to the public but finally relented. The guy was a jerk and really shouldn't be a deputy. I don't buy their donkey basketball tickets anymore. I used to buy them just to support the department though I like neither basketball nor donkeys. I also vote anything to do with the MCSD down every time.
 

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