This Is Where Zero Tolerance Gets You

A man is walking down the street alone in Portsmouth, NH.
He is followed by two men for long enough that he turns around 3 times to be sure they are following him
They are in street clothes with no overt identification
He turns around when they are 20 feet behind him and has a 2-inch bladed folding pocket knife out, pointed down, and asks why they are following him.

They say they are Only Ones Police and he puts the knife away and complies with their commands.

He is arrested and ends up convicted of "criminal threatening." Deferred jailtime and a fine of $500. His defense was that he feared for his safety (evincing some damn sense, unlike the Police). He plans to appeal to a higher court.

News flash: two men following you at night is an implicit threat of dealy force. Go learn something about that distance at this short article on the Tueller Drill.

What would you have done in his shoes, VFD?

I would have increased my walking pace slightly, and stopped in at the nearest storefront. If no stores were available, I would have made three right turns. If someone walks (or drives) behind you around a full circle, you are being followed. Then I would have made sure there was nothing in front of me and turned around, and kept walking backwards, with my hand on Little Brother in its holster, and asked them why they were following me. Note that Little Brother is carried in Condition Zero at all times, and I am fast as fuck with my hands. When someone with a gun in less-ready than Condition 1, who is slow, is being followed by two strange men, it has a high potential for ending up Very Badly.

I really hope this guy has a lawyer smart enough to at least try a civil rights case of some sort, so he can juice the Portsmouth PD for at least 10x his fine, in legal fees, even if his appeal fails.

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This is what you get when people have been indoctrinated in government schools for 2 generations, where BOTH parties in a fight get suspended, and anyone who brings a butterknife to school is expelled. Congratulations to the people who first got government schools in America: it's working just like you hoped it would.

Hat tip to Uncle