I think that I've only seen an off duty officer intervene once, back in L.A..

I am wondering how often this happens.

Has anyone here acted in an official capacity while not technically on duty?

I am not talking about helping someone changing a tire or getting a drunk out of the street,

I am asking about having to announce yourself as a police officer and showing your badge stuff.

Do Departments encourage this or dis courage this ?

Avoid it, unless lives will be lost.

Be a good witness.

I followed and grabbed a couple drunk drivers when I first started, not worth it. Jones has it right, be a good witness.

I concur.

Several of the more stupid things I did were off duty.
One particularly stupid thing I did ended up with me being being named "Officer of the Year" by a civic group.
My actions were scrutinized, reviewed by command staff at all levels and officially designated as its better to be lucky than smart.

I’d say it is discouraged.

My agency does expect you to take action to preserve life even if you’re off duty.

But in today’s climate, it’s rare to hear about it. A lot of risk, including confusion from the on duty guys showing up. It’d have to be something significant for me to interject. Back up is a long time away when you’re not on the radio and fighting someone by yourself.

They used to issue passes we could show to ride trains free even out of uniform. You discretely showed it to the conductor when he checked for tickets and that was it unless there was trouble he couldn’t handle, in which case he’d come to you to step in.

Once, on my way to a Metallica concert and dressed appropriately, the conductor came saying a young girl traveling alone had been subjected to unwanted sexual touching and was softly crying but too paralyzed by shock/fear to move away from the guy, who was sitting next to her in a suit acting like nothing happened.

I nonchalantly strolled into that car like a run of the mill NYC obnoxious jerk, spotted her and said I wanted her seat. The conductor gestured her to go with him and I took her place next to creep. He wanted to move too at that point but I told him to sit because he wasn’t going anywhere, giving him a peek at my tin.

Best part, at the next stop, when the uniforms poured in, the conductor had to explain which one of us was which due to our respective appearances.

Another time, late 80’s, middle of the day by the Museum of Natural History, I came upon a foot cop tying to arrest a guy who was strenuously not complying but so fixated on the cop he never saw it coming when I slammed him from behind out of nowhere.

Things were different then though.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Avoid it, unless lives will be lost.

Be a good witness.

100%

We are encouraged to act on violent crimes where the safety of the public is at risk.

We are discouraged from acting during property crimes (be a good witness).

I've been in quite a few, but I also live in the area and have a take home car that I am allowed to drive off duty, with the understanding that I have the radio on and respond to something if needed, or take action if I witness something while in said vehicle.

Funny story...

A few years back when I was still with my ex, I have her and my dogs in the car as we were leaving Petsmart after having the dogs groomed...

A radio call came out for an "Officer in need of Aid" came out where one of our officers was getting their ass kicked at a gas station that was on our way home. So i flipped the lights and siren on and flew there are Warp 9.

I arrive on scene and helped wrestle the asshole into cuffs. Meanwhile, one of the dogs starts whimpering in the backseat and the ex got her out of the car, at which time the dog runs to the curb grass strip and takes a giant dump...

My code driving literally scared the crap out of my dog...

Yep. Intervene in violence. Otherwise be a good witness.

Funny story: A while back, I was sitting on the patio of a Mexican restaurant with my wife, and saw a clearly terrified bawling young child (6-7 years old) run past at full speed while being chased by a mob of 5 or so yelling bigger kids (10-11 years old). I hopped over the rail of the patio and intervened. Turns out the little kid was low-functioning and had wandered away from home and become lost, and the group of older kids were very boisterously trying to get him to stop running away from them so they could help! But it sure looked like an imminent 5-on-1 bully beatdown at the time. I got the kid handed off to an on-duty patrol officer, who reunited him with Mom.

Intervene when life is on the line, otherwise being a good witness is best.

And there is a good lesson here for anyone else that carries (us non-professionals), from those that do this for a living and have the correct credentials and training.

Yep. You don't want to be "that guy" in the headlines like "Man with concealed carry license charged after brandishing firearm/shooting at shoplifter" or similar.

Be a good witness. Protect yourself or others if they're in imminent danger of serious physical injury or death.

What Jones said carries the day. I have stopped to help another officer who needed help but, I properly ID'ed myself! Off duty I watch and dial 911 like any good citizen should. Communicate , Communicate and then provide when safe to the responding officers your direct witness. Remember when you jump in you OWN IT...VI

I once was waiting to pick up my kid from karate...it was cool out and they were doing forms on the grass outside. I look over toward the back of a strip mall and I see a small fire at the bottom of a green dumpster. I tell the karate instructor to call 911 and I run over and jump a fence to begin stomping the fire out.

When I got to the dumpster I immediately am overwhelmed by the odor of marijuana. And as I’m looking around the dumpster I see some guy setting a burger king bag on fire.
Not knowing what is going on, I pull my gun and start giving verbal commands to the guy to show me his hands. He eventually complies. All the while I’m stomping the fire out...or trying to.

Meanwhile the karate instructor is still on the line with 911 and he’s giving a play by play, to include.”ohh now he’s pulled his gun out and he has a black guy at gunpoint-and the dumpster is still on fire”

The karate guy yells over that the cops are on the way. Thirty seconds later unmarked cops roll in hot and find me. We manage to handcuff the guy. And I find a bag of marijuana the size of a softball,the guy tried to hide from me. FD shows up and waters the dumpster fire and now I have to go give testimony to the magistrate about the arrest, and do paperwork for use of force (pointing a gun).

I get an IA over it because the staff doesn’t want us doing work on our time off. I told the IA guy that I was trying to put out a fire, fires can’t be ignored and you can’t witness a fire, like crimes in process. The drug thing was because I caught an arsonist who also sold drugs. Turns out this guy had been setting fires all over town for months and I caught him. And because of it, he confessed to several fires.

IA eventually unfounded the complaint because of the fire/arson angle. My captain told me I was lucky, because the major was the one who wanted me to be suspended for doing work on my time off.

So, the take away was, you are damned if you do and you should be a good witness (per policy).

Yeah. No, unless something REALLY dire is breaking.

Off-duty, I don't have most of the "stuff" I have with me while working (radio? Intermediate weapons? Armor? Cuffs?) Neither do I necessarily have "face recognition" with most of the patrol officers in this area, so for the first few moments after their arrival at an incident, until they can sort out who's who: from their perspective I'm potentially part of their PROBLEM, not a solution. I don't risk blue-on-blue violence without a good reason.

I have intervened to help a trooper who was getting stomped on the roadside. No-brainer. Short of somebody about to be hurt/killed, I'm going to be an EXCELLENT witness and reporting party.

In 30+ years of law enforcement, I've only voluntarily gotten involved in things while off-duty a few times:

1) I saw a man cross the street in front of my car with a knife in hand, then confront a man and woman who were a block away from the police station as I was en route to work. I confronted the guy at gunpoint and detained him until co-workers arrived at our location. They subsequently charged the man with attempted armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

2) In 1989, I saw a Maserati that had been taken at gunpoint from a victim in our city a few hours earlier, as I was driving home from work. The car was being trailed by a Jeep Cherokee and I followed the two vehicle about five miles until they entered a secured parking lot for an apartment building. I then went to a payphone (having no cellular at the time), called the local department and the local agency where they holed up, and waited for the "cavalry" to arrive. Just before they got there, I saw the Jeep get on the freeway. I gave the info to the first officers to arrive and they stopped the Jeep with the suspects a few miles away. They recovered the gun, the guy that took the car at gunpoint, and identified the second suspect (who lived at the apartment complex) as the contractor for the crime who'd had alternate VINs and paperwork to disguise the stolen car with inside his residence. No direct action on my part to confront these guys and everything worked out safely for all!

3) While en route to work one morning and waiting in line to enter the city's secure parking lot, I saw a guy run out of the police station, pass my vehicle, approach the car behind me, reach in via the open driver's side window, grab the driver, punched him a few times in the face and dragged him out of the car so he could steal it. I got out of my car, confronted the carjacker and pepper sprayed him when he tried to attack me with a brass jail key. After other officers from the station arrived and we took him into custody, I learned he'd attacked one of our jailers and was in the process of fleeing the jail (when I saw him) after being in custody for a domestic violence incident the night before.

4) I was en route to work from my home and not a block away, saw a very DUI driver weaving slowly in front of my car. When he signaled and started to enter the wrong way on a freeway on-ramp, I honked and flashed my car's lights at him. He turned around and went about 100 yards, as I followed while calling "911", then stopped at the curb. I approached the guy, ID'd myself, and asked for his car keys, then stood by with him until local officers arrived. I was later contacted by my neighbor from across the street, who thanked me for what I'd done and learned he was the judge that arraigned the suspect (who'd beenon felony probation for DUI at the time I detained him)!

5) In April of 2008 (two months before I retired), I was in a local gunshop (as a regular customer) when a guy tried to sell them or place on consignment two guns, one of which the manager noticed had it's serial number removed. The subject said he didn't know anything about the guns other than the fact that they belonged to a family member who'd been involved in organized crime, and was associated with a man wanted at the time for 19 filed counts of MURDER, who was on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list. After the store manager advised the subject he should take the guns to the local sheriff's station so they could restore the serial number and verify it wasn't involved in any murders or other crimes, he said he'd, "think about it" and then left the store with the two guns. I followed him to the parking lot, ID'd myself to him, seized the guns and detained him while I summoned the local agency to our location. Having worked in LE for so long (including time as a homicide investigator), there was no way I'd let guy walk away based upon his statements inside the store.

When a deputy sheriff arrived, I gave him the guns, my info, and notified my department of my involvement (as per policy). My department mandated that any personnel that got involved in off-duty incidents make such a notification, and we'd be considered to be "on-duty" retroactively. This provided us with worker's comp coverage, department pay for any future court appearances, and liability coverage should things go "sideways" while taking official actions.

The incident itself occurred about 25 miles from my employing city, but would have a rather interesting "twist": The fugitive (wanted for 19 murders at the time) associated with the guns was James "Whitey" Bulger. I contacted the deputy's supervisor and the FBI that night (when I arrived for work) to confirm proper follow-up would occur on what seemed to be a viable lead on the fugitive as well as potential evidence in associated cases. I retired two months later and in 2011, Bulger was arrested in the city where I'd worked, not six blocks from the police station I'd called the sheriff's department and FBI from. He'd been living in the city I'd served for more than 15 years, and I subsequently learned things that causes me to believe the FBI either hid him there or knew where he was and elected to allow him to remain a fugitive.

If anyone's interested in learning the details of this incident, I was recently interviewed about it for the "Things Police See" podcast. If you'd like to learn the rather frustrating (and highly relevant) story involving former FBI Director Robert Mueller, here's a link: https://thingspolicesee.com/tp...tey-bulger-cover-up/

TONS of off duty interventions around here. We are a very young department and we have take home cruisers that we can drive as much as we want off duty.
So the intervention is expected around here if you are driving a cruiser.
I have not driven my cruiser off duty in years. You always get hung up on something.

Back when I was young and did not have kids to pick up or get places or want to be home hanging with I drove the cruiser a lot responded to a lot of calls.
The OT for helping out was nice and I was young and did not know how to turn off the police switch.
Now it is quite easy to just be a good witness as Jones said. Though I drive a stretch of road frequently that has lots of single vehicle collisions.
I’d say I intervene in an injury collision off duty at least twice a month.
On one occasion my wife (ER nurse) and I worked on a guy who most certainly would have died on the scene without our intervention.

I’ll go to wager that our department trains in target identification and off duty officer identification worlds more than the vast majority of departments.

Once when I was a youngster me and another uniformed officer were in quite the melee with 4 dudes.
Out of no where a 5th came in the mix. I snatched him up slammed him on the hood of the cruiser.
Yup, off duty officer made no form of identification until after the slam.

I once stopped a car jacking in progress at the mall. As I walked out of the Home Depot, a woman was screaming "he's stealing my car" as the no-goodnik shoved her out of the way and attempted to drive off. I pulled him out of the car and got into a wrestling match until the suburban cops showed up. I got 4 hours of OT per contract for making an off duty arrest.

I was walking out of Target one evening many years ago when I heard a commotion coming behind me. Uniformed security was chasing after a shady guy dressed all in black. The guard took the guy to the ground just outside the exit door. Dozens of video games came spilling out of his jacket.
The thief began violently fighting with the guard. The guard was on the loosing end of the fight. I dropped my stuff, arm barred the shit bird, kneed em between the shoulder blades and cuffed him with the guards cuffs. It was just instinct. The Red Shirt Brigade of cashiers that had come to help the guard just stood there. One exclaimed, "Wow. That was cool. Thanks!" I told the guard, "Yours" and walked away.
I knew how my agency scorned upon such actions, even when it was in the interest of the public and good PR. Never said a thing to them about it. Only reserved such actions for the extreme afterwards.