Both my wife and I endured threats during our law enforcement careers.
Most of the were just bravado and smart mouthed punks that thought they were somehow going to intimidate us. All were taken seriously and we never dropped our guard when we found out they were released. We had a unlisted home phone for obvious reasons and still do to this day.
My worst fears came to pass in 2001. And not from one of miscreants we had dealt with on the job.
A phone call on a Saturday night from a young man who asked for me by name, stated that I was a low life *** and he was going to burn my house down and kill eveyone for taking his girlfriend away from him. He said it would happen when we were asleep and to "Rot in Hell" and hung up.
It so happens that our oldest boy is named after me. And this kid had our unlisted number. A quick call to my son verified what was going on and he had indeed taken this girl earlier in the evening from a party where her so called boyfriend had assaulted her. Apparently, one of his friends gave this kid our phone number.
The wife took the rest of the kids to a friends house several miles away and stayed with them. I called into work and told the shift supervisor what was going on.
Within 20 minutes I had 3 off duty deputies and 4 on duty surrounding my house. The patrols were searching for this kid and couldn't locate him.
I told my cohorts that if this kid shows up let him start the fire. I don't want him getting away with a charge of attempted arson or malicious threating.
We settled in for the night. Cells were put on vibrate,radios turned down and we waited. A couple of the guys thought we would come up empty handed, just the mouth of a angry kid at work. Something in this kids voice told me otherwise.
Just past 4am, one of the unmarked units parked in a driveway a half a mile away radioed word that a pickup truck had stopped a couple of hundred feet past them with it's lights off and one subject had exited the vehicle.
Sure enough he came down the road, cut through the woods next to the house with a can of gas, newspaper and a charcoal grill lighter. He went to the back porch, stuffed the paper into the lattice work under the porch, doused it with gas and lit it..
I really had a hard time controlling myself that night. I will admit that for the first time in my law enforcement career all concerns for someones rights flew straight out the window in those first few moments.
While myself and another deputy put the fire out, he was tackled on the side of the house and put under arrest. The unmarked unit moved in on the truck and arrested the driver...this kids 36 year old uncle.
The end result was he was convicted of one count of felony arson, 5 counts of attempted murder(our family) and two counts of the attempted murder of a police officer.(my wife and myself) His uncle got 10 years for his part in it.
The DA's office did a wonderful job with the case and a total sentence of 25 years was brought down on this kids head. The parole board has rejected him both times he has appeared before them. I have no doubt he will do the max on his sentence. He is due to be released in 2016 if he stays out of trouble and doesn't screw up in prison.
We moved away in 2011 when I retired from the department. The Sheriffs Office here has a copy of the case file, just in the event something happens.
I still don't sleep well some nights. I took that whole situation very personally.
I pray for his sake he never thinks of doing something stupid when he is released.