You're coming with us, Miss...

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

Thursday last week was Show Day - sort of like a State Fair type thing.

The showgrounds here are right next to a large Big Green hardware and garden centre with a large car park. There is also considerable roadwork going on on the highway which runs past the Big Green and the showground, meaning all the parking available in previous years is now gone.

Three of us went to Big Green and as we entered, we observed 2 motorcycle police officers outside the car park. In the car park were more cops. It became quickly obvious that they were waiting for Show patrons to return to their cars and busting them for parking. The show patrons are easy enough to identify - Big Green doesn't sell stuffed toys, balloons or show bags!

The cops were also patrolling inside the Big Green, blatantly obvious in their dayglo yellow vests.

Several hours later (you can't hurry a Big Green shop) we were loading the ute with our purchases. We noticed Officer Friendly talking to a youngish woman a few rows down from us. Everything seemed peaceful so we figured she was getting a ticket for parking.

Not so! A few minutes later (hey, potting mix was on special, we bought 50 bags between us... it takes a while to load, okay?) Officer Friendly is driving out of the car park - with the woman in the back.

Apparently Ms Dumdum was nicked for shoplifting - in a shop crawling with cops...

Here in Tasmania... you can't make this stuff up.

[Pixelated]

WTF are people like that thinking ... if they're thinking at all ...

[Marmalady]

WTF are people like that thinking ... if they're thinking at all ...

They're thinking that they are so good at stealing, nobody will see them doing it - not even a cop.

[Rosco the Iroc]

I like the vid were a cop in full uniform is talking to a clerk, having a coffee.
Perp cuts in, displays a weapon and declares a robbery.

You see the cop put the cup down and does the "WTF really?" head shake as he steps back draws and takes him down.

[Slave to the Phone]

Many years ago, I was sitting at a bigbox pet store with cages of homeless cats and dogs for adoption. We had full view of the cash register by the door.

It was a Saturday and the store was in the middle of a large outdoor shopping mall. This also happened in one of the states where open carry is so common that sometimes guns are fashion statements*.

A single cashier with a line of 3: a lady with cat food, a man with a dog toy in his hand and directly behind him was a very buff looking man wearing a para-military look, complete with a tight military colored t-shirt that matched his desert fatigue cami-pants and desert boots. He was also wearing one of those "tactical" thigh holsters made of black straps. In the holster was what looked to me like a .45 Desert Eagle, but I wasn't really close enough to tell. I don't remember what he was buying.

Fans self then returns to the story. So, lady pays takes her things and leaves. Man moves up, puts the toy on the counter and when the cashier reached for it, grabbed her by the throat and pulled a knife on her. A collective gasp happens and customer #3 looked like he couldn't believe that #2 was that stupid, pulled his sidearm and pressed it to #2's head and growled "Drop the knife!"

Customer promptly let got of the cashier, dropped the knife, peed his pants and dropped to his knees.

*IMO please don't send this to fratching. I just feel that during a situation where bad guys are shooting, they will probably start shooting at the people they know have guns.

[wolfie]

I've read (long time ago, can't recall where) about a guy who decided to rob a bank. He picked a Friday, since they'd probably have plenty of cash on hand because people would be cashing their paycheques. True enough, a lot of people from the office building across the street were in the bank to cash their paycheques when he pulled a gun on the teller. The office building across the street was a major FBI installation.

[Seanette]

I dearly love that tale.

Then there was the genius who decided to hold up a fast-food place.

Very near a police training seminar that was on lunch break.

[wolfie]

Or the guy who tried to rob a gun shop. The owner, and all the customers in the shop were carrying. One of the customers was a police officer in uniform. His marked cruiser was parked right outside the door, so the bandit had to walk past it to get into the shop. He was promptly ventilated from several different directions.

[Becks]

a very buff looking man wearing a para-military look, complete with a tight military colored t-shirt that matched his desert fatigue cami-pants and desert boots. He was also wearing one of those "tactical" thigh holsters made of black straps. In the holster was what looked to me like a .45 Desert Eagle, but I wasn't really close enough to tell.

Ranger from the Stephanie Plum series?

[AccountingDrone]

Ranger from the Stephanie Plum series?

Or one of the Merry Men at least [hey, I have a *thing* for guys in uniform with guns, spent most of my life around military and lived with a SEAL and a Ranger .. I would fit right in!] <And IMHO Joe Morelli is an abusive asshat. I have spent at least 15 books bitching him out in my head ... how many women would go back to a guy that *dumped* them, asked for a good bye booty call then expected her to welcome him back with open arms [and legs] when he finished getting tested and it was just an allergy causing his acid reflux for the past 15 books ... not her "antics" .... grrrrrrrrrrr>

[eltf177]

Or the guy who decided to rob a bar. On the night there was a retirement party. For an officer. More guns drawn than at the OK Corral...

[MadMike]

And then there's this.

[Becks]

<And IMHO Joe Morelli is an abusive asshat. I have spent at least 15 books bitching him out in my head ... how many women would go back to a guy that *dumped* them, asked for a good bye booty call then expected her to welcome him back with open arms [and legs] when he finished getting tested and it was just an allergy causing his acid reflux for the past 15 books ... not her "antics" .... grrrrrrrrrrr>

I hear you on that!!

It's a shame that JE is setting it up that Morelli is Stephanie's soulmate and life partner.

Well, not a shame for me. I adore Ranger.

[AccountingDrone]

I hear you on that!!

It's a shame that JE is setting it up that Morelli is Stephanie's soulmate and life partner.

Well, not a shame for me. I adore Ranger.

I had an abusive ex that ended up sending me to the hospital with a depressed skull fracture that had me in a medically induced coma for 3 weeks - his claim was "I fell down the stairs" [gee, because he shoved me down them ... ] so I have a bit of insight to the whole mess.

Hm, isolate her from her family - well, her dad is a couch potato that doesn't seem to interact much. Her Grandmother is a sex mad flake who is into the gossip network and her mother wants her to be a stepford wife type clone of herself. Her family *wants* her to be with Joe so they wouldn't be much help.

Isolate her from her support network - Give up her job, stay away from Ranger and the Merry Men, hang out with Mary Lou and other Berg people, stay away from Connie and Lula ...

Control her - get a job at the button factory, get married, get pregnant and keeping house, make all *these* changes to be my wife. Also in all the off times, and the times when they are in an 'open relationship' [which is canon, by the way] he can see anybody he wants, but she can't see Ranger at all ...

If he could, he would probably marry her and take a job in Dallas or Los Angeles or anywhere that Ranger doesn't have a presence [which was the plan in a fair amount of fanfic, by the way.]

Gee, my abusive ex got me to relocate to Virginia Beach, not work other than keeping house, decided to replace my wardrobe with what he thought was 'more suitable' for the genteel south <*snarfs coffee through nose*> He knew I couldn't have kids, he knew I had my tubes tied and why. Sounding like Joe?

That is the reason I mainly read fanfic now, only reason I still have most of the books is a few people know I like the Plum universe and still get me the books for my birthday. [the preorder for kindle for book 23 notice popped in my email yesterday *Sigh* At least it is something to read and I can bitch about it to my other FF writing friends ...]

Though there are some fanfics with a seriously dark Ranger - one in particular he had secretly chipped her. The guys knew she had been chipped and didn't tell her until one meeting he was just coming back from being in the wind and he got back 2 weeks without telling her he was in Miami "decompressing" and he had picked up an 18 year old virgin and was screwing her [he wanted a virgin so he knew she was clean because he didn't want to wear a condom] and he accidentally texted her instead of the side piece. She left him and ended up inheriting a bunch of money and stuff from an uncle that let her and some of the guys escape Ranger and start new lives. There are also fanfics where Ranger is the solitary asshole and he dumps her nastily, the usual assortment of Bad Rangers. But there are also some seriously bad Joe fics also [she dumps him, he rapes her, or she is seriously going to marry him or has married him and he does the drinking and violent thing, stuff like that.]

[Trixie]

I like Ranger better, too. Joe always just seemed like an ass to me. Sure it's a coincidence that I have an ex-brother-in-law with that name.

Anyway, to kinda stay on topic. A few months back our pharmacy had an attempted holdup and the kid got caught because there were some fine members of law enforcement getting lunch from the fast food place next door.

I was on the phone with 911 when it was happening. Not something I want to deal with again.