Nothing good happens after 11:00 p.m. — at least that’s what I tell my kids. If you’re not going to or from work, there’s no need to be out that late at night. The motto on the midnight shift is that everyone is up to something, we just have to figure out what that something is. It’s a game of cat and mouse; sometimes they win, sometimes we win. It’s a game of chess without the nerds.
The Sixth Sense
Cops have an eye for spotting criminals — a sixth sense, instinct, a gut feeling. It’s our Spidey-sense that makes us take a second look or a look a little closer — a super power we use to sniff out the criminal element and foil their plans. I also know that this sixth sense is innate in all of us, planted at birth like a tiny seed, that with feeding and watering can develop over time into something effective and powerful — something uncanny.
Like A Shark
It was sometime after midnight, and I was patrolling a road in my sector that served as a main corridor from the highway to a bordering city. The town I worked in was an average size town dominated by single family homes with blue and white-collar kinds of people. There weren’t that many actual bad guys in town, but plenty of them passed through. I knew it, they knew it. Motor vehicle enforcement not only kept driver’s safe on the roads, but it also served as a means of detecting and deterring crime. That night I was on the hunt, circling like a shark.
A car coming into town passed me going in the opposite direction. My radar squealed and displayed a speed above the posted speed limit. As the distance between us diminished I could see it was packed full of people. Then, in that brief moment we passed each other, my headlights glanced off the car and gave me a flash-picture of who was inside. Once it passed I hit the breaks and whipped around to follow. Something was up. There was blood in the water and I could smell it.
A Car-Full
After strategically closing the gap between their car and mine I could see the occupants’ silhouette and count the heads. There were at least five people packed into that little four-door. They appeared to be moving around a lot and periodically turning to look back at me. I kept my distance and paced them, watching for any other tell-tale signs of criminal activity. Adrenaline began its course through my veins as I readied myself for what would inevitably come once I flipped on my blue lights.
Something Wasn’t Right
The car pulled over in response to my flashing lights as I radioed in the stop. I lit up the interior with my spotlight and take-down lights before tactically approaching with heightened senses and beads of sweat on my upper lip. When I got to the trunk and looked through the rear window, all I could see was a car packed tight with people wearing all black with their hoods on. As I scanned the back seat with my flashlight and searched for hands before moving on to the driver, I sensed that something just didn’t add up. Something wasn’t right. Then the driver’s window rolled down and a sheepish female voice greeted me. I bent down and looked at the driver and the passengers, shocked at what I saw.
The car was full of nuns. Nuns in full regalia. Nuns as old as my grandmother.
The driver apologized while the mischievous sisters in the back seat giggled. Apparently it was the nuns’ night out and they were on their way back to their convent. What had they been up to? I wasn’t about to find out. In a self-defeated instant, I immediately gave the driver her license back and wished them a good night. The giggling continued as the driver’s window rolled up and I walked away.
So much for instinct.
Not What They Seem
The truth is, sometimes our instincts are wrong. However, and this is a big however, that does not mean we were not right to sense that something was off in the first place. Another way of saying it is that sometimes a perceived threat, once investigated, turns out to be quite different than we first thought or feared, and that’s okay. The inverse can also be true. A person or situation can seem completely innocuous on its face, but after some time and some digging, we find that something sinister is actually going on.
Things are not always what they seem and it is our job to figure that out. Our brains were created to constantly scan for danger — to process information faster than we are even consciously aware– all for the very purpose of protecting and preserving us.
The Verification Imperative
In any given situation, whatever it is that you perceive or sense, it needs bearing out. If we perceive danger or criminal activity and act solely on that perception without articulable facts and circumstances, we can end up in a world of legal hurt. If we perceive comfort and safety, drop our guard, and do not take steps to verify that, we can end up in a world of physical hurt or end up dead.
In order to keep ourselves and everyone else safe on the road or at a call, it is imperative that we listen to our gut and are diligent to professionally and tactically confirm or deny our suspicions and perceptions. That is how to fight crime and keep ourselves safe while treating the public with dignity and respect.
Your next car stop could be a car full of bad guys in hoodies lying in wait or a bunch of mischievous nuns out for a night on the town. In this job, there are no crystal balls. So, listen to your gut, your instinct, your sixth sense, or your whatever and then be polite, be professional, be tactical, and follow the verification imperative principle.
__________________________
- How has your seed of instinct grown over the years?
- When have your instincts been right? What were the circumstances?
- When have your instincts been wrong? What were the consequences?
- How can you apply what you learned from those encounters?
__________________________
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