We get agitated/angry people in court every day. In the 7 years I've been working there, I've never seen a court officer draw a weapon, much lessnuse one. I can estimate maybe once per month when some person gets handled hy staff. Why? You talk to people. Show some respect. Don't raise your voice. Don't threaten. Just talk to them, and let them talk as well. Listen, even if you don't care, pretend you do. Learned this real early from some good cops. Too many of these cops are trained to see everything as a threat and to act accordingly. Someone inside the magical 21 feet needs to get responded to in a tactical manner. Someone who doesn't comply needs to be forced into compliance.
It's not just a cop thing. A lot of soldiers I know complain they are taught and commandednthe same way. Some trainersnteach their atudents in tactics classes to do the same. It's too bad.
A quick story. When I was a young prosecutor, a woman with psych issues came to court with a big knife in her belt. Bailiff was a retired state trooper, saw it. Struck up a coversation with her, shared a couple of jokes, and then asked her if she would lay the knife on his desk on the other side of the room. She did, and he never touched the revolver on his hip.
I hope all the good ones aren't retired or gone.
