« on: April 10, 2009, 05:34:40 PM »
Tesco Trouble
Y works as a Security Officer in a shopping centre. He saw a group of youths shouting racist abuse at people as they walked across a car park and into the all night Tesco.
The youths continued to shout abuse at members of staff and the Manager and Y asked the group to leave the shop. One of the group got very close to Y and threatened to stab him. Y warned the youth to back away and leave but the youth continued to issue threats so Y fearing for his personal safety discharged his Mk3 into the eyes of the youth. This had the effect making the youth stagger backwards and while he was distracted Y was able to push him outside, the youth then youth ran off.
Off Duty Police Constable
D made an off duty arrest, he identified himself as a Police Officer and the suspect started to resist. He threatened the suspect with his Mk3 spray and the suspect stopped resisting. Despite placing a 999 call and letting the operator know that he had a prisoner it took 20 minutes for the local police to arrive.
‘If I had not had my StoppaRed spray I would have been looking at a 20 minute struggle’ he said.
Well known offender
B works as a Security guard for a well known chain of shops. He and his manger chased a shoplifter out of their shop. As they caught up with the thief he turned around and produced a knife. Both S and his manager fired their Mk3s into the face of the thief because there feared for their own safety. The thief turned to run and tumbled off. S decided to let him go as he was armed and the police were called.
The police were unable to find the offender on the day, however a week later they were at an address on an unrelated matter when they noticed a red stained jacket. The jacket’s owner matched the description of the knife wielding thief and a quick check under a UV lamp showed that the man was indeed the thief they had been looking for. He was arrested and convicted because StoppaRed UV had been available to the guard and his boss.
Family shop
S’s father had asked a group of youths to leave his shop after they began causing trouble. They reluctantly left but once outside things turned violent. S saw his father punched in the face so he fired his Mk3 at the violent youth distracting him. A second youth went for S but was stopped by burst of spray into his eyes.
The group of 20+ youths then fled the scene. The Police conducted an area search and failed to find any of the youth, apart from the two ringleaders with their bright red faces!
Mk9 v Stick
S was stopped on his way home from work by a man armed with a short length of wood. S was able to use the Mk9 he carries in the water bottle holder on his bike to successfully stop the man each time he advanced towards him with the stick.
S called for the help of passing motorists who were forced to slow down and drive past them in the road but no one wanted to get involved.
As soon as S saw his chance to jump back on his bike and pedal off he did so without injury.
Attacked with a heavy belt
A was attacked by a group of men who were intent on using their heavy leather belts as weapons. A fearing for his safety, fired his Mk3 directly into the face of the nearest man. The man immediately stopped and backed away. He and the other men in the group caused criminal damage to the nearby building and were subsequently identified by a passing Police patrol due to the red staining to the man’s skin and clothing. The men have been charged with various offences.
The Police were happy that A acted reasonably and that his StoppaRed was legal.
The importance of awareness.
The following story is an example of why awareness is so important.
C had parked her car in a car park at night in a quiet village in what could be described as a ‘low crime’ neighbourhood.
As she unlocked her car door a man pushed her to the floor and stole her vehicle.
The man was wearing a hood of some sort and she only remembers seeing his eyes.
The Police stopped a man driving her car an hour or so later but C thought he was taller than her attacker. The man told police that although he was driving the stolen car, he was not the thief, meaning that he will face lesser charges and get off much lighter than he might have done had C managed to ‘tag’ him with a StoppaRed.
Had C seen the man moving across the car park at the same time as entered the area, she might have had the time to deploy a StoppaRed, either distracting him long enough to run back into the building she had just left or at least stained the thief so the police would have known with certainty whether the man they arrested was the thief or not.
Sorry you cannot come in
M, a doorman had to speak with a customer who had left the venue with his drinking glass. The customer became aggressive and tried to re-enter the club, striking M in the process. M pushed him back and drew his Mk3.
The aggressive customer then lunged for M, who felt he was going to assaulted for a second time so fired his Mk3 directly into the face of the aggressive man. This stopped him while he attempted to clear his vision. After a short space of time the aggressive man tried once more to re-enter the club. M and his colleague fired their Mk3s again stopping him whilst he tried to clear his vision.
The aggressive man tried once more to re-enter the club and M was forced to strike the man on the side of his head with his open hand, knocking him to the ground.
The man’s friends then dragged him down the road.
The Police attended and were able to quickly identify the man and as they attempted to talk with him he become aggressive and we are told that it took six Officers to arrest him.
The Police were happy that M had used reasonable force and that his StoppaRed was legal.
M said that he was more than happy with how his StoppaRed had performed and had he not been paid to stand between the man and the door, he would have been able to escape very easily whilst the man cleared his vision.
Back away from my car!
The following is a brief account of the very first deployment of StoppaRed UV to come to our attention.
M whilst traveling in his car beeped a taxi driver who was blocking a junction. The taxi driver moved off and turned around to follow him.
The taxi driver caught up with M a little way down the road. He jumped out of his taxi and started hitting the rear passenger window. M’s first thought was to drive off but he was too close to the car in front and was boxed in. He feared that the window would shatter at any moment showering his small child with glass. He exited his vehicle and shouted to the taxi driver to back away whilst holding a Mk9 canister in a low profile position slightly behind his leg. The taxi driver then grabbed M who, fearing now for his own safety fired the Mk9 into the taxi driver’s face. The taxi driver screamed and let go of M who then got back into his vehicle and drove home. He heard the taxi driver shouting for help as he disengaged himself.
He arrived home and called 999 to report the attack. The Police arrived at his home a while later and having never heard of StoppaRed before were curious and called us at the office for some clarification. They left a few minutes later and have not to date taken any further action. The taxi driver had not at the time of writing made any compliant against M so there was not much they could do.
I asked M what he would have done in the same situation had he not had his StoppaRed UV - he replied that he woud have had to strike the taxi driver. He was glad that he had purchased StoppaRed UV and it had given him an additional ‘force option’ that fell nicely between stern words and hand strikes.
M managed to avoid injury to himself or the taxi driver and managed to use his StoppaRed in a text book manner.
Given the other possible outcomes to this unexpected situation M used a minimal amount of force, he did not have the option of driving away and could not risk his car window breaking so had no choice but to confront the other driver. The taxi driver escalated the situation by grabbing M. At this point without StoppaRed UV M would have had no option other than striking his attacker. The taxi driver was furious until M fired his Mk9 and went from fighting mad to for calling help in an instant giving M time and space to drive away.
This all happened outside of a Police Station on a busy street in the middle of the day. The fact the taxi driver did not make a complaint against M suggests that he was left uninjured and able to drive away eventually.
Remember that whenever you use StoppaRed UV you must be prepared to explain your actions and demonstrate that the actions were reasonable given the circumstances as you saw them at the time. Being the first party to contact the Police also helps.
A trip to the shops
We have recently spoken with a customer who had an unfortunate incident last night after a trip to the shops.
He was carrying his shopping home when a man approached him asking for a cigarette. He said he had none to give and the man became aggressive asking him “why not?”
The aggressive man then produced a bottle and made threats against our customer who discharged his Mk3 canister and was expecting a fine spray instead of the ballistic stream. His aim was low and the spray hit his attacker’s chest. In the heat of the moment our customer did not think to change his aim and ran. His attacker paused as he was hit by the spray but quickly resumed his assault. Our customer ran and the man followed him. Eventually the attacker gave up the chase and ran into the nearby park.
The customer could not believe that he was likely to be attacked in such a way after a routine visit to the shops.
We cannot stress the importance of awareness and an understanding of the operation of the canisters and where the stream will hit in relation to where you are aiming the canister.
Training classes are the best way to get a feel for this but don’t forget that inert training canisters are available to User Group members for £8.00 each. These canisters are exactly the same in operation and ‘ballistics’ and will give you valuable experience should you ever face an impending assault.
Another trip to the shops
R was doing a shift as a security officer in the supermarket when noticed a man hitting the cash machine inside the shop. He went over to him an asked him to stop.
The man turned and punched R in the face once, then squared up to him making further threats. R drew his StoppaRed UV from his belt fearing another blow and told the man to back off. The man then turned to run at which point R discharged the canister onto the back of the man’s head and back.
The Police were called and they quickly found the suspect trying to hide from them. They were quickly able to link him to the earlier incident and make an arrest due to the StoppaRed UV without having to first look through the CCTV footage.
Had R not sprayed the suspect the Police might not have been able to find him so quickly. R says that he believes that just before the incident the man may have been the same offender that push a pregnant woman to the ground in another shop.
Update: R has told us that his attacker was found guilty of racially aggravated assault when the case was finally taken to court.
If only…
The following describes an real incident where the offender would have been arrested if only the householder had some StoppaRed UV.
One Bank Holiday Monday night B heard the horn sound on his Dad’s car that was parked on the driveway. Looking down from the front bedroom window he saw three figures sitting inside the car and heard the horn sound for a second time. B opened the window and shouted, hoping that they would flee. Instead they got out of the car and challenged him to come down if he dared. B rushed downstairs but before he could get very he heard the sould of breaking glass. One of the group had thrown a brick though the front room window and then run off.
The Police arrived, took descriptions of the three young men and then drove around the immediate area looking for the suspects. They stopped a man who fitted the description of one of the suspects and was even wearing the same clothes as one of the suspects, but because he was with a girl and not two other men they decided after speaking with him that he could not be one of the group and let him on his way.
The next day one of the neighbours mentioned that they had seen two men and a girl running from the driveway after hearing the window smash.
When B had seen them the figures in the car had all been wearing their hoods up, but as they ran away the girl’s hood fell down.
It later turned out that a group of men and at least one girl had beaten another man up earlier that evening in the same village. Was it the same group?
Had B sprayed the three offenders as they stood in the driveway (well within range of a Mk9) threatening him after getting out of the car, the Police would have had conclusive evidence that the man they spoke to was involved and they would have had reason to arrest him so that B could then ID him, but instead he managed to talk his way off the hook. I just hope that they have not be emboldened by their positive experience of ‘getting away with it’. If there is a next time let’s hope they don’t hurt anyone, although I presume the Police will take it more seriously if someone is hurt. We shall see.
Get out of my house!
J, an elderly man, heard a knock at the front door. His wife answered the door only to be greeted by a young man who pushed past her. The man was asking to see the couple’s ex-lodger.
J explained that the man he wanted to see was not there and asked him to leave as he guided he back towards the front door. Once the man was standing outside again he turned on J and warned him to “show him a little more respect”.
J picked up his StoppaRed UV canister that he keeps by the door, the young man looked at it and quickly walked off without further incident.
Whilst we would never recommend that you should threaten or bluff your way out of a potentially dangerous situation and tipping the offender off as to your next move, the above incident does go to show that some times the offender takes time to ‘build up’ the necessary intent to commit a violent act and sometimes all that is needed is a simple demonstration of confidence on the part of the potential victim to diffuse the situation.
© StoppaRed
