View from the cop: Crime & punishment
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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2007 > April > 17
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Most days we dodge the bullet
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For those of you who get high on life yesterday was your day to sober up.
Most officers who have a tactical training background will tell you that one person, alone, with the right weaponry and mindset, meaning not afraid to die, could cause devastation beyond what we could possibly imagine. Most will tell you that a day like Monday was very likely to happen sooner or later.
I think that it would probably floor most people to realize how many close calls there are on any given day in cities across the country. There have been so many times that officers have answered calls where someone had a gun and threatened to kill a spouse or employer, or even someone they never met.
We got a call last week from an employer who, after dismissing an employee, got a call from the man. The man apologize to him for what was about to happen and then hung up. Fortunately, he didn’t carry out the threat. But people do carry out threats quite often. Most of these threats are minor but how do you know when someone crosses that line? It happened here when Mark Barton killed nine people in Buckhead in 1999.
The world can be a crazy place. Some believe that the world is on such a fast pace that we’re now racking up casualties as a result. I don’t know but maybe this would be a good weekend to leave the laptop at home, drive up to the mountains, and make what you order on the menu you’re most difficult decision of the weekend.
