"On duty" while Off duty?

[Kate]

How likely are you to get involved with a crime while off duty, i.e. if you witness a holdup at a convenience store, an accident, etc...

[Star]

When I am off duty, I am usually home the first day chillin' and the second day working around the house or in the yard. I tend to hermitize on my days off. But if I came across something, I'd call it in on my radio. It's not really a good idea to go rushing in flashing a badge and yelling "police officer!".

[Group9]

Not very likely if I can help it. It is called "off duty" for a reason. It has to be something serious, where someone's life is in real danger, in my opinion, to make it my duty to get involved.

I have only taken action on two occassions while off duty. Once, to apprehend two subjects who had just robbed a service station and were being pursued by a lone civilian.
In this case, I was wearing gym shorts and a tee shirt, had no handcuffs, and was pretty nearly shot by responding officers while standing over the two proned out subjects.

And, once, in a shoplifting case, and then only because I thought the store clerk was about to get his *** kicked.

Both times, I kind of ended up wishing I had just been a good witness.

[121Traffic]

Funny story about off-duty work. Was having a couple beers with friends when I heard this story about when they were rookies and still carried a badge everywhere they went. I thought it was funny.

They were having a few beers at the bar we were currently at, but about five years ago. The table next to them had left a large cash tip. This being a bar, the waitress was busy and the money sat for a few minutes. Since there were no real bussers and hostesses, two men (younger yuppie types) came in and sat down. According to one of my buddies, then a brand-new sheriff's deputy, one of the guys whispered something, looked around, and pocketed the money. He told this to my other friend, a new city cop, and they were discussing if he saw the whole situation right. All the sudden, they see the waitress stomping around, crawling, looking for her money. They called her over, and asked her if she was missing her cash. She told them she was, and they informed her of what they saw. She stormed right over, and started cussing them out, give her money back, etc. They smiled their sh*t-eating frat boy smiles, and lied straight to her face. My buddy, the SO guy, walks up calmly, flashes a smile, sets his badge on the table and tells them in a friendly voice that he saw what they did, and if they wanted to enjoy the rest of the night, they had better give back what wasn't their's. Apparently never saw anyone dig money out of their pants at a bar quite so fast, or leave a 20 on the table for their two beers and take off. lol

They said that they had a few drinks (read: got sloppy) and had a bunch of food to celebrate, and their tab totaled out to less than $20. Bartender was more than happy to say thanks and take care of them.

[JD45]

When I am off duty, I am usually home the first day chillin' and the second day working around the house or in the yard. I tend to hermitize on my days off. But if I came across something, I'd call it in on my radio. It's not really a good idea to go rushing in flashing a badge and yelling "police officer!".

I'm exactly the same way. After driving around for 4 days straight and over 400 miles, it's nice just to be at home.

[scott715us]

Our SOG's state that we are not to get involved unless an immediate risk to public safety. I will get involved if it is medical related though, since I have a little bit more training than the lay person. ;)

[Babysmamadrama]

I plan to keep my nose out of misdemeanor stuff and be a good witness. But if its a felony going down, you may be required to act to save your skin or someone elses. I also won't let a person get hell kicked out of them while I can do something. I hate bullies and thugs.

[Piggy]

My rule of thumb, when I'm off duty I'll be the best witness I can. The only way I'll get involved is if I'm forced to.

[steelcityk9cop]

99% of the time for me when I'm off duty, no gun, no badge.

[Switchback]

Well, I always have a gun, badge and cuffs (often just the rope cuffs in my pocket). Generally, I am not doing squat unless someone is going to get hurt by me not acting. So far so good, and a cell phone has served me best.

[Old Trooper]

Not unless it is a threat to me or my family personally. Any other time, a 'good citizen' phone call to 911 will work.

[tpd_six]

I don't even go to my mailbox unarmed. But, although our policy states we are considered "on duty" 24 hours and will respond to a need for action, I generally just use my cell phone. It would take something pretty serious for me to get involved.

[K9 Police]

99% of the time for me when I'm off duty, no gun, no badge.

Ditto. My off-duty time is very sacred to me. When I am off, I am OFF. If I see something that needs to be taken care of, call it into the guys who are working. There are times where I will become involved, however those instances would be VERY rare (I can only thing of a few). Even till this day nothing has happened that has warranted me even taking the action of calling something in.

K9

[Sleuth]

The only problem for those who choose not to carry off duty:

When are the crooks you arrested off duty?

[retdetsgt]

The only problem for those who choose not to carry off duty:

When are the crooks you arrested off duty?

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.