Someone asked me this one recently, and it got me thinking about what the wider communities response would be. It is not related to any real world situation, but is one of those “what if” things that someone I know who is a new shooter and concealed carrier thought of.
Here’s the situation:
You leave $GroceryStore at about 9 PM after running to pick up a few things for the next day. Your bag of groceries is in your left arm, and you are reaching for your keys with your right. As you approach your car, two men, one old, one young, come up and ask you for money. You politely tell them that you have nothing for them. Upon hearing your answer, the older man pulls out a weapon and demands money. You reach to your holster and draw your carry gun. Upon seeing the gun, both men run away. There is no-one else in the parking lot, and no-one from the store has come out to see what is going on.
Do you:
A) Call the police immediately, since the first one to call the police has more credibility.
or
B) Get in your car, and drive straight home. You don’t want to get the authorities involved since no-one was harmed and you don’t want the hassle.
Please leave your answer in the comments. I’ll put my own response down in a day or two.
DaddyBear’s Den 
(the other) Bear
/ June 12, 2012Three real world mugging attempts: Perps ran as soon as they realized my hand was _on_ my handgun; didn’t have to draw either time. Absolutely did not call police. I can understand why someone might for CYA, though.
The one time I _did_ call was a very dissimilar scenario: Elderly, mentally-ill woman tried to force her way into my apartment (on a walker! mentally-ill, right). I got the door closed and called 911 because I knew she had a record of calling the police herself 1-2x/week to report that some randomly chosen resident of the apartment complex was kidnapping and molesting children (she also called in false alarms to the FD about once a month). Since I now knew I was on her list of imaginary bad guys, I wanted CYA for when she would inevitably file a bogus report on me (which she did, a couple of weeks later). One of the responding cops, who responded in a timely manner that allowed the old, crippled woman to waddle away (glad I only wanted them for CYA), told me I was apparently the last remaining resident that she hadn’t already reported. Despite that, she was never arrested or taken in for eval & treatment.
The decision in calling/not calling came down to “I can’t ID the muggers, they’re gone, and the jurisdiction(s) isn’t friendly to lawful carry” versus “the nutcase is known, _will_ report her own version, and _I_ could be ID’d”.
LikeLike
Chainsawferret
/ June 12, 2012that would depend if there were witnesses or not. If someone else saw, then yes call the cops to CYA. if not in the car and on my way.
LikeLike
derfreiheit
/ June 12, 2012I’d call it in to the non-911 line, 574-LMPD in Louisville.
The cops can’t react and add another patrol or have the property owner re-aim their cameras if they don’t know theres a problem.
LikeLike
ZerCool
/ June 12, 2012Call it in. “Complainant is reporting an attempted strongarm robbery, weapon was displayed, suspects fled when complainant displayed a handgun.”
UCR is (even more) useless if things don’t make the numbers.
Alternatively, the bad guys waited around the corner for you to leave, then called the cops themselves. “Some guy in the parking lot just pointed a gun at us, and he left in a red Ford with license plate ABC123.”
If your gun comes out of the holster, you need to call the police.
LikeLike
Comfortably Numb
/ June 12, 2012Call the local LEO’s and make the report. Covers your own posterior and also makes the notification that there are a couple of predators prowling around.
You might not be able to do a full identification on them, but at least the LEO’s have an idea of who to watch for in the area (race, height, clothing, etc..). Local cameras can then be reviewed for a better identification, and to help substantiate your side of the story.
It might just save their next potential victim.
LikeLike
Bob S.
/ June 12, 2012I’m with the calling it in crowd.
The others have good points and I’ll add another; when you call it in a crime report, it adds to the statistics.
This way people can get a realistic appraisal of the crime in the area. If no one reported an attempted crime, police presence will be reduced.
LikeLike
Jake
/ June 12, 2012I’ll also go with the “call it in” crowd. Not only for CYA reasons, but because the cops won’t know to watch out for someone going around trying to rob people if no one calls it in. Even if you can’t give rough descriptions, they need to know that it’s happening. The crooks may have run from you, but who’s to say that they won’t try again in a couple of hours if they don’t see a cop show up to at least look around?
And next time they could get more aggressive and hurt or kill someone, because now they’re worried that the next person might resist and think they’re better off not giving them the chance.
Caveat: Where I live we have a decent police force, and I’m on good terms with several of them due to my EMS activities. Your best course of action may be different if your local cops are actively hostile to armed citizens.
LikeLike
Six
/ June 12, 2012I’ll say up front that I’m a retired police officer so that will certainly color my answer.
I’d call and my advice would be to call. As citizens and lawful concealed carriers it’s our duty to uphold the law whenever and however we can.
Those two men WILL offend again and the next victim may be someone’s grandmother. Or daughter. And they may not be armed so the encounter may not go so well. Any help in arresting those two men is worth the time, potential hassle and effort.
I had to write paper every time my gun came out of the holster. Yes, it’s CYA but it’s common sense CYA. You did a good thing, go the extra mile.
You aren’t in control of how the local law enforcement agency will react but you are in control of the ethical environment. You might be pleasantly surprised. If I’d had such a call I’d have been impressed with your actions and assistance in stopping a crime and help in apprehending the culprits.
LikeLike
Bob
/ June 12, 2012I would notify the LEO’s like the other posters have stated, it is better to CYA than take a chance on you getting hemmed in “by da man” due to a report filed on you. Also if the cops get the guys, you just saved an unarmed victim from being traumatized by this incident.
LikeLike
Peter
/ June 12, 2012Call it in, every time. Two main reasons:
1. If they call it in first – “This scary dude just pulled a gun on us for no reason at all!” – the cops are likely to take the report seriously. This can lead to all sorts of complications for you. If they’re of a different race to you . . . think Trayvon Martin.
2. If you don’t call it in, and the wannabe muggers don’t, other witnesses may still do so – and they may not be sure what went down. All they may have seen from their angle is two guys talking to one guy, who then pulled a gun. Again, this doesn’t sound good for you – and you can never be sure that there weren’t other witnesses. Even if you didn’t see them, they may be sitting out of sight in a car, behind tinted glass – and they’ll likely have a cellphone.
Basically, according to most laws I know of, producing a potentially deadly weapon is the legal equivalent of using deadly force, even if you didn’t injure or kill anyone. That means you need to cover your fundamental jujube, pronto!
LikeLike
Mad Jack
/ June 13, 2012Given any choice at all, I would not call it in. Getting the police involved is an invitation to get manhandled, cuffed and stuffed and sorted out at the considerable leisure of the authorities, not all of whom are sympathetic to CCW license holders.
If I had to call it in because of witnesses, etc. I’d put my pistol in the trunk of my car and call my attorney. Yes, I have his cell number.
LikeLike