When the three men at the construction site realized they had the drop on me, they started to spread out and move to surround me. I put my hand on the butt of my revolver and unsnapped the holster.
One Sunday in the early 1980s, I was working off-duty from my job as a patrol officer for Plano Police Department. That day, I was alone working security at a construction site in west Plano.
A beat-up old pickup truck turned off the parkway into the site. I was on the top floor of the building with no walls or windows yet. I watched the pickup go around to the back side of the site, noting that it had a small crane on the back. I couldn’t see it when it went into the supply area, so I went down to ground level and started to the back of the site. I was wearing old clothes and carrying a 5-shot .38 special on my belt. I had the infamously unreliable department issue portable radio with me.
I went around to where all of the construction materials were stored. I found the men inspecting the huge spools of electric cable waiting for electricians to install.
The men got into their truck when they saw me and started to drive out, but I was standing in their path. They stopped and I asked them to exit the truck and produce IDs. They did and explained they worked with one of the contractors and were checking inventory. I tried to radio the PD dispatcher to check them for records and warrants, but I was in a blind zone and couldn’t raise dispatch.
As I was quickly scribbling down their names and DOBs onto my pocket note pad, they began separating and spreading out to surround me. I quickly handed their IDs back and put my hand on the butt of my revolver, slipping my thumb into the snap to release it. They were watching me with blank expressions. I sensed they were getting ready to jump me. I knew that if they did, I might shoot one or more of them in the fray, but I would lose the fight. We were at a standoff.
I had no probable cause to arrest them, so I told them to get back into their truck and leave. They decided that was their best option, all things considered. After they started to drive off, I tried the radio again, but I still couldn’t reach dispatch or anyone else.
A couple of minutes later, Officer Bob Crable came screeching into the construction site in a marked squad car. He was patrolling in the neighborhood and had heard the squelch break on his radio. Thinking it might be me calling for help, he had rushed over to check on me. By the time he got there, the three men were probably already out of town.
When I was finally able to run checks on them, all three had warrants out for their arrests in Dallas for copper theft from construction sites. Copper was a high dollar recyclable. The crane on their truck was for lifting heavy commercial spools into the bed of their truck. I posted a drawing of their truck and their ID information on the Plano PD briefing bulletin boards, but they were never seen in Plano again that I know of.