Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related FFQ: Brandishing a Weapon and Police

Hi all,

I'm wondering if there is anyone that can describe to me the workings of the law when say, police get a phone call that person X is holding person Y at gunpoint. When the police get to the place and find that person X has no weapon would they still handcuff them and take them to the station or would they just interview the person to see what's going on? What if the person was running after someone at the moment? Would this be considered the 'scene of a crime'?

This might be a really silly question, but I don't know how this works at all. I'm hoping someone might. I checked some old threads, but nothing specific comes up.

Thanks a bunch:)

I suggest making friends with a police officer and asking him/her that very question, because every situation is different, as is the law from state to state.

For example, in your scenario, if X and Y are laughing and joking around and the police think that the call they got was a deliberate false report, someone might get arrested. But if the officers on the scene don't think that X and Y are involved in anything potentially violent (after questioning them thoroughly), and that they didn't participate in making a false emergency call (which is against the law everywhere in the US), probably nothing would happen.

The third scenario that occurs to me is that the police would question X and Y and try to find out if there is a possibility of trouble. If this were a domestic violence call, for example, they would probably try to be sure that neither person was in immediate danger. If they believed that one or both persons was in real danger, they'd take some kind of action. Of course, the presence of children changes things, as would the presence of other adults.

But if X runs away as the cops drive up, X is going to be pursued and questioned, at the very least. Arrest would be a definite possibility here.

Sorry, but other than the running away part, there isn't an absolute yes/no answer to this question. It just depends.

This was incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for the detail Terry!

Not only does the situation effect how this would be handled but the location as well. Big city versus small town versus resort town. In each you will find some basic differences as to how any situation is approached.

From my experience at working the night audit shift (11pm-7am) I have had to call the police for different disburances. I can tell you that although they take every precaution to insure their safety as well as anyone else in the area of the altercation, that they try to talk the situation down and calm everyone down. Nothing pisses off tourist more than getting arrested for disturbing the peace.