I'm not sure who you are referring to. I have never said that I "will not get involved no matter what the circumstance." Far from it. From the way back machine:What we have here are people stating that they will not get involved no matter what the circumstance, that the only aid they will render is perhaps a telephone call to 911. Its outrageous to see some of the same voices that complain about crime and community are the same voices that whine when communities begin to falter and police intervention is needed...because no one stood up, no one said anything, no one did anything. Everyone assumed that someone else called 911. Everyones swallowing hook, line, and sinker advice from the AG decrying self help. What has become of you people?
My standard response would be to dial 911 and be a good witness. Are there some situations where I would intervene? Yes. But there is no clear line.
I'm not swallowing anything from the AG. My decision making process is heavily influenced from my training at LFI-1 and LFI-2, from an objective analysis of my physical strengths and weaknesses, and from the reality that in most of the places I frequent police response to such a situation would be just a few minutes.I'm not saying that I would never intervene. But I am saying that, particularly in an urban area where police response will be very quick, I'm not looking to jump into the middle of such incidents. The physical and legal risks associated with doing so are grave and I don't take them lightly.
There is no way for me to define a clear decision tree for how I would respond to such a situation. It is too dependent upon the particulars of the situation. Might I intervene to help a third party? Yes. But that would not be my default response. I understand that you, and others, have a different opinion. I respect your view. I ask you to respect mine.