# Would a cop leave another officer behind in this type of situation?



## ironpony (Jul 6, 2018)

Basically for my story, a cop is assigned to watch over a witness who knows too much, in case any harm comes to her and the villains come for her.  The cop calls for back up and tries to save her, but the villain manage to incapacitate him.  I want this to happen cause I want one of these cops to be out of the way for the rest of the plot, so the plot can go a certain way.

Now when another cop, the main character, arrives as back up, he has two choices.  He can try to save the witness, in which case he would have to leave the incapacitated behind, which means the villains could find him again, and do worse to him possibly.  Or he can try to save the incapacitated officer, and take him with him, and go after the witness to save her as well.  But that would be a lot harder compared to leaving the cop behind to save her.  So what would the main character do in this situation do you think?


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## Ralph Rotten (Jul 6, 2018)

Police are not medical professionals, they are trained in basic CPR and pressure bandages.  Actually, they are more trained in how to handle the logistics of an injury than actually treating the injury; cops don;t usually provide medical aid beyond CPR and crowd control, the occasional heimlich...

So your hero may not be inclined to stick around if he can't do anything for the guy.  
Also, the injured guy may urge him to go after the bad guys or the heroine.
Really, it would matter most if the two cops had a personal relationship.  

He would leave the guy if he mistakenly thought he was dead.
It's not as hard as you may think, missing a weak pulse while under stress. 
He could mistake the guy for a stiff, call code 99 and move on.  code 99 makes the whole law enforcement world buzz like angry hornets.
Some departments use 999. Code niner-niner-niner.


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## ironpony (Jul 7, 2018)

Oh okay, what I meant more so is, is if what if the villains come back to finish the cop off?  There is that risk too for the main character in leaving him behind, isn't there?  Not sure if the cop's know each other on a more personal level, or if they are too just meet that night.  I was thinking they know each other from work, and that's it.


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## K.S. Crooks (Jul 7, 2018)

What would the injured officer want to happen or what does your MC think is most important. If the witness is extremely critical and the villains are terrible then the mission should come first. Again this depends on the mental disposition of your characters.


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## ironpony (Jul 7, 2018)

The MC doesn't really know much about the witness at this point.  As far as the injured officer, he is a very minor character, only for this one part of the story, so not sure what he would feel.  I guess he would want him to go after her, and maybe he can take care of himself and get away, till more back up arrives.


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## Bloggsworth (Jul 8, 2018)

The policeman's duty is to the public first, though in most television series the second officer would let the villain escape while helping his partner - this is usually in order to prolong the action.


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## ironpony (Jul 8, 2018)

Okay thank you very much, this helps me with some good ideas on how to write it I think!

I have another police question now that I think about this scenario.  The cop assigned to protect her.  Where would he be?  Would he park his car outside her place, and keep a lookout there while in the car, or would be inside the house watching over her, or outside the house, standing outside, do you think?


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## Ralph Rotten (Jul 9, 2018)

Whenever I have used body guards, they were with me, not outside.
Hollywood frequently puts the cop outside in a car as a cheap plot device (the guy in the car always gets killed first as a precursor to the main scene.)
Realistically, it would depend on several factors--risk level, the citizen's level of cooperation, and architecture.

I'd walk it thru the process in your mind; cops arrive, they talk to this woman, she may be okay with a guy in the house...or not...the DA may have become involved and wants her protected (he woulda called via chain of command so you got it from your captain) so he's putting pressure on them to watch her close...but it would all come down to what she agrees to, so what would your heroine opt for? The cops could press for a cop in the house, but it'd ultimately be up to her.  If she's dirty then she may not want them that close (while she snorts coke in the bathroom).


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## ironpony (Jul 9, 2018)

Oh okay thanks, that helps.  Well if it's up to her, she is shady herself, so she would want them on the outside, so it would give her the privacy to make a phone call she does not want the cops to know about.  So she would want the cop on the outside then, if it's up to her.  Thanks.


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