ADDITIONAL PROOF? HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH

Additional proof is what’s needed to make an official arrest.

Can we all agree on that?

No one wants a guilty conviction based on one finger pointer.

So, what is additional proof?

I’m no crime buster, but when I see two men and a woman beating on a door and screaming, something is up.

That happened across the street from my front door.

What to do? Gather additional proof, of course.

That’s the safe, legal, and moral path.

But they’re beating my neighbors door pretty good and the shouting is escalating.

Because it’s the only house in view, I’d seen the man leave alone.

His wife was inside listening to the door beating and screaming.

I’ve been on that side of the door with someone is beating it down and screaming. Maybe you have, too? I opened the door. It didn’t go well.

I hoped to hell the woman in the house didn’t open the door. Then I’d have the choice of going in, or collecting proof of a possible assault.

They didn’t look like a friendly bunch.

Setting The Scene For Proof

A local house owned by a nice couple changed, took a downturn, when the man of the house died.

He’d been an accountant, owned an accounting business on the main street where widows from the local fifty-five and over community came to settle their estates.

A common question: “What should I do with my husbands guns?”

He decided to accept the weapons.

When he closed shop he moved things to his home.

Then he died.

Soon after the couple’s adult children saw a chance to help their mom.

So far their help has resulted in two mounted responses from local and county law enforcement.

If you’ve never had a SWAT team at your curb, an armored personnel carrier, and ambulances, it’s a big deal.

The legal system’s efforts resulted in one prison term of two years.

After they did their time, they moved home and reported to a probation officer.

Off Probation Or Additional Proof

Traffic to the house picked up when they got out of prison. Different cars, different walk-ups, and life went on.

More cars, more walk-ups.

More police, more accumulation, more tension.

And concern about safety.

So, what do you do if you see two men and a woman pull up to a house and pound on the front door?

If they get in, do you go in? Then what?

Movies show us how to handle conflict from Mission Impossible to James Bond to John Wick.

Real life works out differently.

What happened when I opened my door to the person pounding it down? My apartment got trashed before a two-hit fight and a promise.

The guy faced up on me in some kind of martial arts stance. I blocked a punch and a kick, circled, and told the guy he could walk out now or get drug out later. Seems fair? He left and I cleaned up.

The people pounding the door across the street, two men and a woman, would have found a woman alone in the house if she had opened the door.

What’s your move? Go in, or collect additional proof.

The last thing anyone wants to see is crime scene tape on a door across the street.

Change may be slow, building a case may take time, but a violent act happens in an instant.

Are there signs to follow before hand? What are they?