A Wise Man Once Said...

In light of reading about some people who can't grasp the concept that combat should never be your first choice, I wanted to share some sentiments my father shared with me when I was a boy.  To preface this post, know that my father is a very smart, strong and honorable man, one that I respect greatly and aspire to be like someday. Growing up he was an Eagle Scout, Played a lot of sports, was an honor student in school, did a lot of community service and was an excellent marksman. Now I could go on and on about why my father is great, but let me get to the point.  Fast forward a bit in time, when I was growing, I remember one day he sat down with me to have a conversation that would forever change my life.  He told me that violence should never be your first choice, and that having a solid defense is your best offense. I was told that it was important to have good speaking skills, because most of the time you can de escalate a situation before it gets out of hand. What I also learned was that if talking failed or if someone was in imminent danger it was acceptable to use force to intervene.  One rule, I guess you would call it was, if you had no other choice but to fight, that you should allow you opponent to throw the first blow, so you could counter and only use the same amount of force to best your opponent.  These sentiments have stuck with me, and I continue to follow them to this day, If this post was beneficial to at least one person, I will feel happy that I shared it.

I like this entire post, and your father sounds like an enlightened man.

One thing I would say, is that the last bit doesn't always relate to patrol. When intervening in a violent crime, getting the first shot in is essential. You don't know if the criminal has a gun or knife, and you don't want to risk getting hit because honor says to let him take the first shot. This is not a criticism of your father's advice, as I'm certain your father was not referring to RLSH activity when he gave you this wisdom.

Even -- and perhaps especially -- while on patrol, lessons like this are essential to remember. If the public sees you respond first with violence to non-violent incidents, it creates a vigilante image. If they see you do everything you can to de-escalate a tense situation, you will appear competent and slightly less strange.