I don't get a chance to post often, but I do like to browse when I can and catch up on what's going on. As has been said many times before, low impact, be nice, politeness, professional, all qualities that will get you places. Thought I would share with you a recovery we did recently, that was successful (I think only because of those qualities).
We were contacted by a bail agent who had a defendant that failed to appear. The bondsman had tried to apprehend the defendant and got into a bit of a scuffle. He didn't get hurt to bad, but he was punched a few times and was left with some scuffs on his face and a bloody nose. We started running down some leads, and got the defendant located at his girlfriends house. Two days of surveillance and we finally had solid proof that he was there. We got everyone together the next day and had our per-apprehension meeting.
The next evening we converged on the location waited for him to show up and made entry (with permission). We searched the apartment and he wasn't there, but a man with similar characteristics was there. The bondsman was a little less than professional in talking with the girl friend. After going a little overboard on her, I asked him to come outside. I talked to him for a short time, and convinced him to just go on home and we would get his defendant back into custody.
I returned, and talked to the girlfriend (who had called her mother because the bondsman had her a little scared), so I had to convince the mother I was not the guy who was berating her daughter. My wife talked to the mom, and I spoke with the girlfriend, and after just a few minutes of being polite, nice, and civil had convinced them both that it really was in their best interest to help us. We left and setup again to watch the location, and they were to call us when he arrived. But not being a totally naive group, we were also watching the location.
Within an hour his friends had dropped him off, and my phone was ringing. The mom was calling to tell us he was there. We suited up, expecting some kind of encounter when we got there. We approached the mom and daughter who were waiting outside, and they told us he was in the back room. We made entry, searched as we made our way through the house and found him in the kitchen.
As soon as he saw us you could tell he wasn't very happy and this probably wasn't going to be a simple job. This fella (who I will refer to as Mr. Smith) was 6'3" 240 pounds, and was built like a tank. He began by telling us to get the f**** out of his house before he beat the s*** out of us. So in a very calm and polite voice I said:
'Mr. Smith, I need to you stand up and face away from me please. You did not go to court, and because of that you have a warrant for your arrest We have to take you back to the jail.'
He replied with 'I WENT TO COURT!' and about that time my wife had made her way beside me with her TASER out. He looked at her and said 'Well this is just bulls***!' So I asked him again politely, and told him if he really did go to court, we would have it all straight in just a few minutes and he could come back home. (Obviously I was bluffing, but it served it's purpose of purpose of calming him down).
Just like that, he stood, placed his hands behind his back (of course professing his innocence the entire time). I placed the restraints on him (just barely) and took him out the back door. I told him we were going out the back door so his neighbors wouldn't know and save him some embarrassment. In reality it was the most tactically sound direction to go because there was nothing out the back except a van waiting to transport him. In the front was several groups of people on the sidewalk wondering what was going on. Through our surveillance we learned that the apartment next door was friendly with him, and we didn't need his friends interfering. But he appreciated that we took him out the back instead of the front. The defendant was surrendered without a single punch, and no altercations.
I spoke with the bondsman the next day and it didn't take too long to figure out why he got punched by a guy who was bonded out on a traffic violation. Ordering people around is offensive, asking someone to do something is not. Yelling at someone is offensive, talking calmly is not.
Now that's not to say they all go like this. There have been times that we were in some really nasty recoveries, with guns, knives, clubs, and other weapons, with very violent offenders. The idea here is to know your skip AND THEIR FRIENDS, and keep a cool head. This case went from a dead end to a cooperative girlfriend and then to a fugitive who went from combative and argumentative to compliant and cooperative. Words can be very persuasive arsenal.
And as boring as that recovery was, we'll take those all day long.
Jeff
Very good job!!
.. in Verbal Judo ... it is one of the best things taught to me in the POLICE DEPT. We all thought is was a joke of a class until the day I needed to use it.. years later.. I still do use it and it works most of the time when I apply it into situations.