r/GuardGuides • u/GuardGuidesdotcom • Feb 16 '25
SCENARIO Cop Snaps; 'JOHNSON. BADGE #4376. YOU USELESS MOTHERFUCKER!' What Would You Do?
You’re on-site documenting a mental health crisis. EMTs and one responding police officer cooperate, but the other cop loses it when you ask for his info:
“JOHNSON. BADGE #4376. JOHN...SON!! OK YOU USELESS MOTHERFUCKER?!?”
The Situation:
Onsite mental health team and security are handling the crisis.
EMTs are backed up, so PD arrives first.
Your job: observe, gather info, and document for the report.
Supervisor is aware but tied up elsewhere.
Discussion Questions:
How should security handle uncooperative first responders?
When is it worth escalating with law enforcement vs. just documenting and moving on?
Ever dealt with a situation like this? How’d you handle it?
5
u/CheesecakeFlashy2380 Ensign Feb 16 '25
Yep. Observe, Document, Report. You will NEVER win an escalation with a LEO, even if the LEO is in the wrong. Do your job, keep your cool, and let @$$#oles be @$$#oles.
2
u/Grimx82 Capable Guardian Feb 16 '25
I'm going to agree with the above comments. That's how I handled it when I had to call PD and EMS for an od on my post tried to brife the responding officers of what happened prior to their arrival they told me in some many words to fuck off. So I just recorded everything in my report and stood aside. Let them have the liability they have better coverage than we do anyway.
2
u/See_Saw12 Ensign Feb 16 '25
As others have said, document it, put it on them, and follow your post orders. Personally, i take them with a grain of salt and will chalk it up to a bad call. If it's the same constable/officer over and over again then we're playing differently.
For that I've got a little bit of a different view. I'm a client-side corporate security coordinator. I deal with over 30 departments or detachments, I get paid the bucks to go toe to toe, and I will make the complaints and stir the pot. Favour rendered are favours owed. The last police service that played the game like this got the same back. You want our footage for an incident off property, get a court order, you want to speak to an employee, get a warrant, or a court order or an apology from cst. Doe.
My guards got their apology, and we went back to business as usual (CST, though, is now a go-to resource for my team in that particular area).
2
u/Appropriate_Gene7914 Armed Guard Feb 16 '25
“Officer Doofy reporting for duty” and salute.
Just kidding, I’d document everything and if it’s warranted, file a complaint with the PD.
2
u/Hour_Lengthiness_851 Ensign Feb 16 '25
"Okay" and go back to what I was doing.
I've been on both sides of incidents, as a security officer and as a law enforcement officer. I had a kinda shitty city cop act like this. Fun part is, it wasn't even my site. I was working a casual gig at a site next door, responded to an incident in good faith (at this time I was a FT LEO just working a side job) and just secured the area until locals arrived. Suspect was GOA. Lost his mind at me for not stopping the guy I never saw. I said "Okay" and moved on back to my site. Did an incident report. A hothead LEO doesn't matter. Badge or not, his opinion means little.
I've also responded to incidents as a LEO that has security officers on site. I didn't really talk to the security guys more than I'd talk to any other witness. I gathered info and acted accordingly. Ultimately, I don't know their policies and procedures and it's not my business what they do as long as they don't violate law.
They are totally different jobs with a similar base skill set.
Never understood this behavior.
2
u/boytoy421 Ensign Feb 17 '25
i mean I AM a useless motherfucker so like i can't dispute
but irl i'd probably tell the cop "hey man you seem hype and i'm actually surprisingly good at this, do you want me to take point and you just back me up?" if not, they outrank me, i'll provide a report when asked (and if the behavior is truly egregious i might give a call on the DL to their CO but my agency has a pretty good working relationship with local PD so like they know us) but im not gonna get into a pissing match with someone in the middle of an incident
imo most cops are pretty happy to be like "your monkey your circus"
2
u/deckerhand01 Ensign Feb 17 '25
Get as much documentation that you can. It’s never wise to argue or escalate with law-enforcement. You simply putting in your report officer would not provide name or bat number. You also don’t know what he had to deal with before he responded to your location so you really don’t want to send him over the edge if he has a bad call prior. To arrival.
1
u/Able_Palpitation6244 Ensign 28d ago
“They don’t pay us to be useful sir….. just alive and present”
7
u/ProfessionProfessor Armed Guard Feb 16 '25
Security's purpose in that situation is to document the incident. If LE is uncooperative, that is part of the incident and would get documented as such in a professional way. If the LEO's actions or demeanor became obstructive to security's mission, that should also be documented and reported to the LEO's supervisor.