Expert: Jack Toomey - 1/2/2009

Question
QUESTION: I see you answer questions from writers-wonderful!
How would an off-duty officer approach a business in the dead of night if he saw suspicious activity taking place inside? Such as arsonists about to set the place on fire and suppose the bad guys were about to kill someone in the process? Thanks in advance!

ANSWER: Steph,

You are going to have to tell me what the off-duty officer is doing there.  Is he walking?  Is he driving?  What is he driving, his own car or his take-home car?  How does the officer know that the "bad guys" are going to kill someone?   Is this in a one horse town or a big city or somewhere in between?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for responding so quickly. In the current situation, the off-duty officer is on foot. He was nearby the place of business when he spotted suspicious activity inside the building. He hears the victim plead for her life.
He is in a one horse town.

Answer
Steph,

You have to understand that every single situation or call that a police officer encounters in his lifetime is/are going to be different.  No two calls are the same so its impossible for me to tell you what this officer is going to do.  You haven't given me nearly enough information to tell you what would probably happen.

I will give it a stab.  I am going to assume that the officer is walking down the street and since you said that "he spotted" activity I will presume that he looked in the window of a store and saw someone inside.  Knowing the habits of this little town he knows that no one should be inside this store or business at night.  Combined with seeing something and hearing someone pleading  for their life gives him the right to kick down the door (which is probably impossible) because of the "hue and cry" rule which the courts have said that an officer can enter any structure when he believes that someone's life is in danger.  Unless this building is a hundred years old and has a wooden door I would doubt that he could kick down a metal door.  So the wise officer would call the police.  If this is a little town and he is off-duty then he doesn't have a radio with him so he would probably use his cell phone (every person alive seems to have a cell phone) and then call whatever police cover his town at night.  If this is such a great emergency it wouldn't be long before other officers start to arrive.