Ever feel like a magnet?
Got into an argument with an acquaintance of mine tonight ... my buddy ...
Maybe time to make a clear distinction, at least to yourself, regarding whether this man is an acquaintance or a buddy, friend, etc.
I have a growing number of
acquaintances, but a handful of
friends. My requirements for being a 'friend' becomes increasingly higher as I get older, too.
... The buddy tells us that he knew the guy was carrying an illegally concealed weapon and that's where the argument started.
Assumptions. If you feel like wasting some more time, take a napkin and draw the lines between the letters of the word 'assume', and see if it's either welcome, or sinks in, to your acquaintance, buddy, whatever.
... He goes off on some rant that the law stipulates that the weapon must be fully visible.
... Then he "surveilled" the guy until he left the restaurant.
A couple months back this guy got all hot and bothered because someone brought his kids to church in car with out child safety seats.
Okay, if he's a real 'wannabe', suggest that he look into becoming a reserve officer and volunteering his time to actually
learn about the law, and help enforce the law when
on-duty. This is presuming his background and psych profile would actually allow him to pass the background and be sworn to the position. Anybody's guess if he could actually pass whatever academy training is required in your state.
... certain one day he going to bite off far more than he can chew and either get himself killed or sued
As has already been said, you can probably add the "or arrested" option to his future path. Combine it with "sued", if he's really stubborn and unlucky, someday.
To be fair, it's not uncommon for LE agencies to have to create policies and general orders covering what their peace officer employees ought to do about suspected minor violations they may observe occurring while on their own time, off-duty. These sort of things can help provide direction and guidance, especially to newer cops, about the nature of circumstances where it might be reasonable for them to consider invoking their status in an off-duty capacity, taking LE actions.
Oddly enough, I've found that these sort of folks (everyone can find one or more of them) tend to avoid me, or at least avoid starting such discussions around me, after it happens for the first time.
I have little desire for their problems to become my problems, too.
Good luck. (And this may be one of those situations where you can make your own luck, if you want to do so.
)
