Stalking/Local by Fremdfirma

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Stalking/Local

POSTED BY: FREMDFIRMA
UPDATED: Sunday, January 3, 2010 10:42
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Sunday, January 3, 2010 2:48 AM

First imma post an event passed onto us recently, and expound a bit on it.

A 44-year-old Warren man is expected to be arraigned in 32A District Court in Harper Woods today on at least one felony charge after police said he pointed a handgun at a Harper Woods woman at her home on Prestwick, and she fired a shotgun three times as he fled the scene.

The woman has not been charged.

The case is under investigation, Harper Woods Deputy Police Chief Jim Burke said Thursday. The man is being held without bond at the police lockup pending arraignment.

Police went to the woman's home about 8:10 p.m. Tuesday on a report of a domestic disturbance involving weapons. She said the man, whom she knows, pointed a gun at her.

She fired shots, hitting his car. No one was hurt.

Burke said the woman had filed at least a half-dozen stalking and harassment complaints against the man prior to this incident.

====

Yowza, this kinda thing is all too common, and here's for hopin they put that guy in the cooler for a while - it seems general police policy is to ignore such situations and offer platitudes until one party kills the other and then arrest the "winner" - didn't happen here, but IMHO it shoulda never come to gunfire, shouldn't get that far in the first damned place.

Which leads me to somethin I wanted to mention - since a good chunk of apartment complexes have local security, and a potential similar situation involving one of our sites has popped up...

Private security and Law enforcement are *different* things, with less overlap between them than folk think, and depending on who is servicing the contract, if your local security force thinks it's a good use of their time, they can indeed damned well sit right on your doorstep for an entire shift, which the police cannot, AND they can enforce the complex managements property rights by throwing someone off the property and/or having them arrested for trespass after warning, which the police may not have exact authority to do, AND they are an additional, credible "neutral" witness who can log details of a stalkers transgressions as additional evidence.

All of which can come in damned handy against derailing a pissed off ex or stalker from continuing to harrass or escalating the situation, provided you make them aware of the situation - something worth mentioning in case at present or in the future someone you know has such a situation, try checking with local contract security if any, because it's no sense to not use a resource when available.

That goes double for apartment or condo residents, since some of the better companies are quite discreet and often residents are unaware that they even HAVE contract security.

Believe me, I'd rather chase some goon off your doorstep every night for a month than have to grab pavement when the lead starts flyin, I've done had enough of THAT kinda excitement to last me a couple lifetimes, thanks...

-Frem

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Sunday, January 3, 2010 5:43 AM

DREAMTROVE

Reminds me of a story of a man in an eskimo village who kept threatening white people with gun, he didn't like white people, and thought they were invading and acculturating. He shot at cars, houses, anything but not at people. This went on until he killed someone, another eskimo.

Some people are just unstable. Maybe what's needed is a little mental health rather than guns. Oh, and thanks for the anti-2a case material ;) [/snark]

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Sunday, January 3, 2010 6:02 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

The main difference between private security people and police is that the security people know full well who signs their paychecks and what they are required to do by their employer. Police think we're all their bitches.

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Sunday, January 3, 2010 8:01 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

I *did* have a worthwhile encounter with the police in a semi-similar circumstance some time back. There was an AGGRESSIVE homeless guy who was coming into my work place, DEMANDING money, which is pretty damned close to making him a robber, in my book. Anyway, I asked him to leave, he wanted to get belligerent about it, I forcibly removed him from my place of business and locked the door, at which point he stood outside yelling (pretty clearly he was mentally unstable, I thought). So I called the cops.

Cop showed up a bit later, I stepped out and explained the situation, amidst a LOT of yelling from the panhandler, and the cop finally asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I wanted the guy to leave me alone, so I could get my work done, and didn't want him coming around any more. Cop tells me, "Now tell HIM that." So I did, at which point the cop says, "Now, I've witnessed it, and if he comes around again, call us and he'll be arrested for criminal trespass."

Done. Simple as that.

'Course, if the guy had wanted to kill me later, I'm not sure what good the cops would have been...

Anyway, once you've got a witness who's heard you tell this person to leave your property and not come back, they WILL be going to jail if they persist in bugging you. It's not enough, since they get out easily, but it's something for them to think about. And if you can show a PATTERN of this behavior, the punishments are going to escalate - or you've at least shown a clear pattern of them harassing you, so when you blow them away, the law is on your side. ;) (and yes, that very last bit was snark, in case you missed it.)

Mike

Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde

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Sunday, January 3, 2010 9:12 AM

DREAMTROVE

Well, police have some immunity which enables abuse

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Sunday, January 3, 2010 9:23 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Anti-2a my arse - good thing the lady had a weapon, heaven knows where it mighta gone had she not, and despite not scoring the perp, I certainly cannot fault her marksmanship neither, given that she was firing from a lighted home in the dark at a vehicle some distance away - some might question her judgement, but once you have pointed a firearm at someone IMHO you're fair game for the duck hunt.

And yeah, Contract Security, unlike the Police, is actually ANSWERABLE to those who sign the check, which is a damned important thing - although I must admit there's definitely a QC issue depending on your service provider.

Believe me, I could go on for HOURS about Group4, Wackenhut, among others who I wouldn't hire to guard a manure farm in the arctic circle...

But, as I am fond of telling the residents I deal with -
"Sure, imma hired goon, but I am YOUR hired goon, so page me if you need me."
Technically the site three contract is for us to "Secure the comfort and safety of the residents and their property", and I personally take a rather, um... broad, view of that, you see - which leads to lots of warm fuzzies of gratitude from the locals.

Last night particularly, wind chill took it down to -5F, and I loaned one young lady my jacket to walk her dog (I have a snowmobile suit on under it, so *I* wasn't cold) and intercepting one of our elderly residents and taking thier trashbag the rest of the way to the dumpster (which I was going to pass anyway along my rounds) cause, yanno, protectin em from frostbite qualifies in my eyes as part of my job.

Even though I am very discreet, which drives the local creepers up a wall cause not knowing where I am makes it risky to even case the place, I can be paged if a resident needs me, and all else fails simply blipping your car alarms panic button or even a loud whistle is gonna bring me to investigate lickety-split, with an average response time of under thirty seconds max.
I know what side MY bread is buttered on, and while informing the police is useful as well, that's a thirty MINUTE response time, besides which they have this damned annoying habit of trying real hard to find a reason to bust someone or ticket them, and who needs the hassle when it can be resolved without them poking their nose in your vehicle or apartment looking for something to screw with you about ?

I am *NOT* law enforcement, far as I am concerned your business is YOUR business so long as it don't present a threat to the comfort and safety of the other residents, and I don't hire wannabe cops - in fact our interview process actually regards prior police or military experience as a negative cause most of em have the wrong damned attitude about it.

For the price though, Contract Security is often well worth it, since overall they will do the job the Police were founded and intended to do, but can no longer seem to be bothered TO do - and as folk around here have started to realize, if they don't do the job, then why the hell should they get paid ?

-Frem

There always has to be a price.

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Sunday, January 3, 2010 10:42 AM

DREAMTROVE

hence the [/snark]

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