IL: Police Officer Robbed of his Gun and Badge

In the United States, armed citizens are seldom robbed.   When they are, it is usually because the robber does not know that they are armed, and simply makes a mistake in victim selection.   That may be what happened with a Illinois police officer.  It happened on 7 September, 2014.   From wgntv.com:

An off-duty Harvey Police Officer is in critical condition after being attacked and robbed.

It happened around 3:00am this morning near 59th and Lake Shore Drive, at the nearby harbor.

The officer was reportedly hit in the head with a gun, before his gun and badge were stolen.

It is noteworthy that the officer was off duty when robbed.   Very likely, the criminal did not know if he were armed.   Criminals do not want to be shot, so they avoid armed victims.   Criminal surveys have confirmed this fact.  From The Armed Criminal in America:

Fifty-six percent of the felons surveyed agreed that “A criminal is not going to mess around with a victim he knows is armed with a gun;” 74% agreed that “One reason burglars avoid houses when people are at home is that they fear being shot.”

A 57% majority agreed that “Most criminals are more worried about meeting an armed victim than they are about running into the police.” In asking felons what they personally thought about while committing crimes, 34% indicated that they thought about getting “shot at by police” or “shot by victim.”

Of course, it is hard to determine if these numbers are accurate.  Criminals lie, and the desire to "look tough" and appear fearless very likely suppressed the numbers.   I suspect the actual percentages to be much higher.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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