New M P 2.0 9 C

[pop pop]

I carried my new M P 2.0 to church, as my primary, and moved my 7 shot Taurus revolver to my weak side pocket. I used the Aker Belt Slide Holster and covered it with my sports coat. Rode fine and had no problems. Going to try the same rig under a light long tail jacket for tonight.

I am still more comfortable with the 7 shot revolver, for now, but want the extra rounds(15) on board. Getting more accustomed to the 2.0 as it does not have the weight nor the recoil the 357 revolver has. Have had it out on several occasions and plan another this week. Wish the ground would dry so I could get in some serious movement. Just too wet as the ground has been frozen and we had over 1 inch of rain last evening.

It is hard for an old dog to learn new tricks. I have always loved revolvers. Need to check out the new 8 shooters, but so far they all have been a little too large for concealed carry in church.

Our church leadership has agreed to put signage on the back entrance doors, and it is already there, to alert late comers to go the main entrances to enter the building. Several have expressed agreement with their decision and want them doors locked to control someone entering in our classroom wing doors, which are a good 100 yards from the main entrances and auditorium. Our ushers now stays in the main lobby, even during Bible Classes, after locking the back doors. Now everyone who enters, after classes start, will be profiled by our ushers. I think that is a good thing.

Our attendance is way up and we has several visitors today. We meet/greet every visitor, who enters the building, and talks with them. I believe that is a good thing, and it gives one a feel of the disposition of folks.

We have had a man circle our parking lot almost every Sunday morning, after services start, for the past 6 weeks. I seen him circle 2 times this morning. We have a policy not to confront anyone, after entrance doors are locked, in the parking lot, but just to be a good witness. Don't know what this guy is doing, as he does not drop anyone off. Kinda bugs us, but we are keeping an eye out for the car. It is a fairly new auto. Puzzling!

If it continues we may need to get Police to intercept him to find out what he is doing. What do you guys think? Any suggestions?

[Sidecarist]

I'd mention it to the local PD. He may be casing cars for robbery.  The officer may just stop in to do paperwork on Sunday morning once and a while. Sometimes just improving the chance of an officer might be there will keep those with bad intentions on their besT behavior. 

 

[Raoul]

If you can get in a position to clandestinely get the tag number I'd do so. Then have a word with the local police. Surely someone in the congregation has a police contact. It pays to be proactive these days.

[DaveTN]

14 hours ago, pop pop said:

We have had a man circle our parking lot almost every Sunday morning, after services start, for the past 6 weeks. I seen him circle 2 times this morning. We have a policy not to confront anyone, after entrance doors are locked, in the parking lot, but just to be a good witness. Don't know what this guy is doing, as he does not drop anyone off. Kinda bugs us, but we are keeping an eye out for the car. It is a fairly new auto. Puzzling!

If it continues we may need to get Police to intercept him to find out what he is doing. What do you guys think? Any suggestions?

Don’t wait, get a plate number, call the Police and have them send an Officer out. Unless you are missing him dropping off/picking up this is highly unusual behavior. They don’t need to have proof of a crime or wait for one to happen to go talk to him. Or with all that is going on with church shootings it may be a plain clothes cop. But I wouldn’t take the chance. No matter how prepared you are the shooter has the upper hand.

[peejman]

1 hour ago, DaveTN said:

Don’t wait, get a plate number, call the Police and have them send an Officer out. Unless you are missing him dropping off/picking up this is highly unusual behavior. They don’t need to have proof of a crime or wait for one to happen to go talk to him. Or with all that is going on with church shootings it may be a plain clothes cop. But I wouldn’t take the chance. No matter how prepared you are the shooter has the upper hand.

Yep. Call it in. 

[n0rlf]

Could be looking for a particular car for a cheating spouses or any other myriad of things. Call it in now and prevent issues in the future. Waiting until the fire is roaring to look for a fire extinguisher is never a good idea!

[pop pop]

If he shows up again, this coming Sunday, we are going to attempt to get a picture of his plate. Leaders don't want to see unfriendly, in case it was someone trying to get courage to come in, to which I explained the guy has been doing this for a while now, and twice a weeks ago. They don't want us to seem overly aggressive so we will keep an eye out for the car. Thanks for the advice, and I agree with you guys, but we will follow their direction, for now.

[wipfel]

Why not (cautiously and politely) flag him down on one of his loops and act like you're just trying to be helpful (Are you looking for someone?, need a place to wait to pick up someone?, Trying to decide whether to come in or not?, etc.)?  We do that all the time on our team, and it seems to clear up situations without making someone feel unwelcome.

Until I started serving on our church security team, I never realized how strange "normal" people are.  Guy came to the service with a suitcase this past Sunday.  Sat on a bench in a hallway outside the sanctuary, never went in.  Left his suitcase unattended to go to the bathroom, and one of our folks approached him to start a conversation.  Said this was his family's church (but not his), and a cab was coming to pick him up to go to the airport.  So many why's there.

On a Saturday a year ago spring, we had training for a children's ministry volunteers.  They asked 3 of us (security) to be there till 11:30am.  Guy drove up and parked in a central location and just sat in his car.  Made one of the rovers suspicious, so he wandered in the car's direction.  Guy started up and moved to an overflow lot as soon as our guy got close.  Rover walked that way and guy did the same thing, but moved to the other side of the campus.  Rover got me to get a second opinion, and I thought he was probably being paranoid.  As soon as I saw where the guy parked, I knew he was up to no good.  In an almost empty parking lot that holds hundreds of cars, he choose the only spot that was covered in 3 directions and allowed observation of the church.  Rover circled around one way; I went the other.  He watched the Rover, but didn't see me.  Got about 5 yards from his door in his blind spot, and as soon as he saw the rover getting close, started up and backed out.  He was visibly surprised to see me standing pretty much next to his car at this point.  Definitely wasn't happy about the situation, so he left the property this time.  Got his tags and BPD said he was a known member of the Kurdish Pride Gang (defunct now I believe).  Nothing ever came of it, which is great, but the randomness of it was strange.  Educational though.

[pop pop]

wipfel, our Usher Team policy is not to go out of our building and approach, once we are locked inside. We are an unarmed team, and I only conceal carry for my own personal protection. Our leaders wants us to stick to the policy, and just observe. If this continues we will contact the Police, after we get some pictures of his car and tag.  

Our team focus is on safety of our church, locking entry doors, and keeping one person on observation while Bible class and worship services are going on.  

Edited February 9, 2018 by pop pop

[SWCUMBERLAND]

On 2/9/2018 at 5:31 AM, pop pop said:

wipfel, our Usher Team policy is not to go out of our building and approach, once we are locked inside. We are an unarmed team, and I only conceal carry for my own personal protection. Our leaders wants us to stick to the policy, and just observe. If this continues we will contact the Police, after we get some pictures of his car and tag.  

Our team focus is on safety of our church, locking entry doors, and keeping one person on observation while Bible class and worship services are going on.  

Completely understandable. That said....

https://youtu.be/5V7bPyOFpys

SWC

[TGO David]

On 2/9/2018 at 7:31 AM, pop pop said:

wipfel, our Usher Team policy is not to go out of our building and approach, once we are locked inside. We are an unarmed team, and I only conceal carry for my own personal protection. Our leaders wants us to stick to the policy, and just observe. If this continues we will contact the Police, after we get some pictures of his car and tag.  

Our team focus is on safety of our church, locking entry doors, and keeping one person on observation while Bible class and worship services are going on.  

This seems like a wise policy whether your team is armed or not.  The person is already on your radar because they are acting oddly.  So long as they are odd but at a safe distance, you have time to allow uniformed police to handle the situation.  Until they are acting oddly within close enough proximity to cause your congregation harm, they aren't your problem.  Yet.

Call it in, let the police handle it.  Remain vigilant until they do, to make sure they don't become a more present problem.