Most street thugs are basically cowards. They look for an easy mark to intimidate. If you look them in the eye and don't let their demeanour or "rep" nerve you they will back down.

Around October 2000 I was posted to a small sole charge position in a town of about 800. I soon learnt that my predecessor had been called 'The Owl" by locals because he spent his evening shifts sitting in the darkened station looking out over the main street with a pair of binoculars watching what was taking place outside the towns two bars.

A month or so after I moved in a local young (early 20's) offender with a propensity to violence arrived back in town. I was told my a supervisor in the main town 15 minutes away never to approach him on my own and to make sure I was armed if I had to interact with him at night.

Late one summer evening I got called to the band rotunda which sat on a big traffic island where the state highway intersected with the main road north. There were a number of youths being disorderly, kicking a rugby ball off the milk tankers as they made their was around the roundabout.

As I approached the group I noted that one of them was the young man I had been warned about. As I approached he stood up and "toughed up" squaring his shoulders and standing tall. I pulled out my OC spray and held it openly in my hand while reaching for my radio mic clipped to my collar. All the while I just looked this tough in the eyes. After calling for backup I then dropped my right hand to my Asp button and pulled it out too, holding it by my thigh.

The young "tough" just slouched down again and said nothing as I gave the group marching orders.