"On duty" while Off duty?

[Deputy757]

Of course I don't expect bad things to happen to me everytime I leave the house. Those that do are diagnosed as agoraphobic.

I did not say that you should expect bad things to happen to you everytime you leave the house. The point was that most people (sheep) don't expect nor plan for really bad things to happen to them period. Which is fine if you want to live your life in blissful ignorace of what is going on around you. And hell..who knows, you may even skate through life unscathed. But you only need read the paper on any given day to see that many don't. So if you are one of those who know that these things can and do happen, and though allowed to, choose to forego carrying a tool that would be instrumental in dealing with them, you are either simply foolish or living in the same mindset of denial that the sheep do.
RDS, I know that you never had an instance where you needed your firearm while off duty and that is great, it really is. But that's not always going to be the case for every LEO in America. And unless we someone gain the ability to accurately predict the future so we know which one will and which one won't find themselves in a deadly force encounter while off duty, the prudent thing to do is to always be prepared.

When I was on duty, you can bet that I was continually alert and expecting the worst. But I'd be damned if I was going to live my life like that 24-7 and apparently that's what you're saying Grossman is advocating.
Well, though I don't think that Grossman is advocating that you remain in Condition Red (where you are hypersensitive to EVERYTHING that is going on around you), I do think that he is saying that officers should always be alert. I mean, I don't go to the supermarket thinking "ok, now..there's a possibility the store may be robbed while I'm there so I'm going to enter on the east side because it's morning and the sun will be at my back...blah, blah, blah.". However, I will strap on my off duty Glock because I know that there's always the possibility that something, I don't know what, may happen and if it's the really bad kind of "I don't know what", I want to be prepared.

Granted, I set up my life so that I didn't have to do that. I refused to live in the same area I worked. People in the town where I live, with the exception of a few friends, have no idea what I do or did for a living. I never felt the need to advertise it.
Hey...you're a good looking sheepdog. :D

[Johninaustin]

Have you ever had a crook confront you when you were off duty? I've seen them, but they want to get away from me a lot more than I need to get away from them. A lot depends on where you live and work.... I live in a small town, worked in a big city. I usually carried when I went into the city, but rarely in my little town. Never had a problem in 27 years. Never pulled my gun off duty when I did have it.

Pulled off duty gun three times by myself, twice with the wife along. Heck, had two perps SHOW UP AT MY HOME wanting to clear up the "misunderstanding" about their arrests.(sex crimes) They had bond revoked pretty damn quickly. Been followed from the substation on more than one occasion. My wife does NOT drive my truck for this very reason.

I'll introduce you to Jeff sometime. He never carried and had to endure incoming fire with his kids, wife, and Mother-In-Law with him in a rage incident with a meth head in a public park. (Who fortunately, was a lousy shot with a rifle, missed with 15 rounds at less than 50 feet) His only defense for his entire family was to run for it. He'll never leave the house without a weapon again.

Carry everytime I leave the house. Rifle and BOB goes in the car for trips. Heck, every room IN the house has a gun hidden. (yes, even the bathroom). :D

[Group9]

Crooks do come after the police at home sometimes. I personally know a Maryland State Trooper who had some crooks come all the way down from New York, break into his parents' house, and later ambushed and shot his trooper brother in a case of mistaken identity as he came home. He had to retire on a medical disability from his injuries.

I personally know a federal agent in Puerto Rico who had crooks he was investigating do a drive by on him and his family at the beach, shooting at them, and who broke in and ransacked his house looking for records and reports dealing with their case.

I know of a Baltimore Police Officer who was ambushed and severely beaten in a store parking lot while off duty, by persons he had arrested on the job.

I personally know a federal agent that had to be moved from his assigned city because crooks were staking out his house to kill him.

I will agree that dangerous off duty encounters are rare. I will not agree that they are not something a police officer should be concerned about and ready to deal with.