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Sometimes a call saves someone else from being badly injured.

Once, I was working the complaint desk and a woman called and said that a man was beating a woman in the duplex next door. She said to hurry, "he's hurting her." This was before the domestic violence laws were enacted. I could have entered the call as a battery. That would have classified it as a misdemeanor and the dispatcher could have held the call for 20 minutes before dispatching it. Or I could have entered it as an ADW - Assault With a Deadly Weapon, which would have prioritized it and the dispatcher would then have 3 minutes to dispatch it. I had no information that a weapon was being used, all I had was the words "he's hurting her."

I entered it as an ADW and the dispatcher immediately put it out. As it was, one of our detectives was close by and he rolled to assist on the call. He went to the door and stepped in, and the suspect ran out the back. It turned out that there had been a rape in the area earlier in the day, and the suspect was at the duplex trying to rape another woman. If I had put the call in as a misdemeanor he would have succeeded.

My dad's best friend, some years ago, when his daughter was staying with him after she'd left her abusing husband, had to, at gun point, force his daughter's ex onto the ground after he showed up late one night and attempted to break down the door. His wife called 911 and reported that the daughter's ex was there attempting to break into their home (rural location). After Jim had the guy on the ground for approximately 30 minutes, and no LE had arrived, he asked his wife to call again. When she called the second time she mentioned that Jim was pointing his gun at the guy. Law enforcement was there in less than two minutes.

Jim's daughter's ex is currently in prison in another state. The conviction was for attempted murder of his ex, Jim's daughter. Jim was visiting his daughter in that state, sleeping in his camper with his wife outside the daughter's home, when the ex broke down the front door, and began looking for his ex to kill her. Jim, armed with a semi-auto, placed the gun to the back of the guy's head, and ordered him onto the floor. Jim didn't know about the handgun the ex had on him until after LE arrived. The ex apparently voided his bladder at the point where Jim placed the gun to the back of his head. All this took place after the incident at Jim's house here in California.

The responding LE, after taking the ex into custody, asked Jim why he didn't shoot the ex. Jim simply stated that he knew how much paperwork that would generate for them. However, Jim said that if he knew about the handgun the guy had, he would have shot him instead. You should know, Jim, like my dad, was a retired Corrections Officer. The ex should have known better.