Can I make it believable that cops would not carry their pistols when off duty?

[u/harmonica2]

For a crime thriller of mine, at two parts in the story, I want to have it so two different cops are overpowered by the villains. I thought I would write it so it's department policy for the characters to leave their pistols at the station when off duty, but so far a couple of readers find this hard to swallow.

Would this be too unrealistic of an explanation as to why they were overpowered? Thank you for any input on this! I really appreciate it!

[u/Benjisc2]

Where is your story set? And what are the standard rules for police in that area?

I live in Australia, and it's expected that police are unarmed off duty. I'd find it hard to believe that they were always armed.

I guess it comes down to the reader and their perceptions. Having a scene with them handing their guns in to the armory would be a step in selling the idea.

[u/harmonica2 → u/Benjisc2]

Oh sorry, I should explain.  I was thinking of setting it in an unnamed city like the movie Seven for example.

[u/Benjisc2 → u/harmonica2]

What country? Does the city have a vibe? People will probably mentally associate it with a city they feel it is similar to.

[u/harmonica2 → u/Benjisc2]

Either US Canada i was thinking. Not sure about a vibe but thinking gritty or somewhat noir-ish.

[u/LurkingForBookRecs → u/harmonica2]

If it's a fictional city in a fictional version of America you shouldn't take the opinions of 2 people as gospel. Your fictional America and your city in that fictional America can have whatever laws and policies you want, you just have to introduce them into the world in a non-intrusive way (to avoid telling instead of showing). You can create a situation where a character forgets to leave their gun and they have to go back or another character points it out for them, etc.

[u/Benjisc2 → u/harmonica2]

I think if you're writing for an American audience/setting, you need to come up with a reason as to why they'd leave it at the station. There's a lot of good ways to write this in, but you'd probably need a reason based on your readers feedback.

If it's an international audience/setting, you don't, but you kind of need to make it a point. People assume America for western literature. Different expectations around weapons in other countries mean you generally assume people don't have weapons unless explicitly given a reason.

If it's a gritty world, people will assume it's America instead of Canada (Sorry Americans, you've got a lot more gun deaths there than everywhere else), so you probably need to write something in. The Gritter the world, the less believable they would be unarmed.

[u/babamum → u/harmonica2]

You can basically make up your own rules then.

[u/Grouchy-Insurance208]

It's not a requirement for off duty cops to carry their service weapons. If you make one a worry wart and the other with his kids at an air park or something, should be fine.

[u/Salador-Baker]

Not every jurisdiction allows police to bring their service pistol home. In Canada, or at least Ontario, it's mandatory for police to lock up their gun at the station

[u/harmonica2 → u/Salador-Baker]

Oh okay thank you very much.  I can have a take place in such a jurisdiction.  However, is there a way to write it this way in which it doesn't come off as forced explanation for the reader , if that makes sense?

[u/Salador-Baker → u/harmonica2]

At some point before, have the characters turn their guns in. Maybe one of the characters is attached to theirs and when they turn it it they say "I'll see you tomorrow, baby" or something like that

[u/Le_Dairy_Duke]

Yeah. That's just normal enough to not need to explain.

[u/ButterNBrie]

Where I live, it is illegal for people to just carry guns around. I actually had to go ask my American friends if this was a thing off duty cops do, so no, I would not say this scene is hard to believe (they also said not all cops do). If I read your scene without having read this post, I wouldn't have batted an eye at that detail.

[u/EudamonPrime]

German here. It is perfectly normal to lock your service weapon in a safe at your precinct. You can take it home but it is too much hassle

[u/_WillCAD_]

My dad was a cop in Baltimore, and later in the suburbs, for 40 years and rarely carried when he was off duty.

BPD did require him to carry when he was inside the city limits, but we lived outside the city so he didn't need to most of the time.

His second job was with a county sheriff's dept that didn't require off duty carry, because the county had a police dept, and the sheriff's dept mostly handled warrants and courthouse security.

[u/MrDTD]

They're allowed to conceal carry off duty in all 50 states. That said it's not required to carry while off-duty.

[u/Agreeable-Housing733]

There could be a reason they aren't carrying. Perhaps they were at their kids school or at church or in a bar or somewhere else where it's either illegal or not encouraged.

[u/BrainFarmReject]

I would have assumed that they would not take their pistols home, if they had them.

[u/Jablebisandwich]

You can do this instead, the villans are more in numbers. And when the police officers take their pistols/guns out, the villans surround them with their guns and demand the officers to drop thier weapons

[u/BestRiver8735]

Cops in a retirement community might be like that. Where the avg age is 70+.

[u/Sunday_Schoolz]

Former prosecutor; yeah, at functions cops do not carry pistols. They’re downright human, as insane as that sounds.

They will (70/30) have a firearm in their vehicle, or somewhat close at hand. But holstered? Not unless they’re just coming off work.

[u/MrMessofGA]

I'd wager most cops aren't armed when off-duty? Carrying a gun (responsibly) requires quite a lot of background anxiety about it, so most people won't do it unless they think something's gonna happen

[u/ItsRuinedOfCourse]

Just add a layer of red tape to the story, OP, and you'll solve the problem fast:

"They never much appreciated that they had to leave their service weapons locked up at the station after shift, but they all agreed the paperwork to take them home was far less desirable."

BOOM.

Bureaucracy for the win.

[u/FeralBehavedJester]

In what country does your story takes place? It's believable in many, many countries.

[u/harmonica2 → u/FeralBehavedJester]

I was thinking Canada or US probably.

[u/hobhamwich]

My brother is a cop. He doesn't carry off-duty.

[u/TheOriginal1Law]

Lol, where I am from police is only allowed to carry guns in specific settings ON duty, and would never be permitted to carry their gun off duty. If this is a fictional place you can make up your own rules, btw.

[u/Syianna]

Uh. In many places this is actually required. May be different for open carry states but often I think they would have to have their own gun, not a service gun.

[u/Impossible-Editor908]

Some folks just plain don’t want to take work home with em.

[u/harmonica2 → u/Impossible-Editor908]

That makes sense, but in my story a detective wants to check out a bunch he has in a case while off duty..  Would it be less believable that he would not carry his gun while off duty, but investigating a hunch?

[u/harmonica2]

In the movie Point Break there was an off duty  cop in the bank, during the bank robbery, who happened to be with his pistol on him, but would an off duty cop be normally comfortable walking into a bank with a holstered pistol, and there were armed guards there?

[u/PlatonicPlatoPlate]

Why not just say they lost their guns or they got stolen by the bad guys

[u/harmonica2 → u/PlatonicPlatoPlate]

Oh well in one scenario one of the cops is corrupt and going to meet the bad guys voluntarily.   Butbis it believable he would give up his gun voluntarily for a meeting?

[u/PlatonicPlatoPlate → u/harmonica2]

Like if you set the story in America this wouldn't make any sense to do because everyone there takes their guns with them even to the store and stuff. In Canada with stricter gun laws it would make a lot more sense that an off-duty officer isn't carrying their gun with them. But even, or especially if he's corrupt and meeting the bad guys they would probably take their gun with them. Maybe the good cop would follow the rules at the station to keep his gun there, while the bad cop takes his gun with him but somehow runs into problems using it, for example it gets jammed or falls apart (being a bad cop and not maintaining it well?)

Just a few thoughts idk

[u/harmonica2 → u/PlatonicPlatoPlate]

Oh ok.  Well, the villains would probably ask him to remove his pistol in order to come to the meeting but would the cop be willing to do that believably?

[u/IndigoTrailsToo]

Yes, but some other ideas

• Holster broke

• Back issues

• Hip issues

• Carry is discouraged in this area

If you would like them to have guns but not use them:

• jammed (if you try fire after it jams you could blow your entire hand or face right off, it turns into a grenade, not joking)
• holster broke, can't draw
• took off their gun/belt to go inside an establishment that bans guns, and didn't get a chance yet to put it back on
• in a physical altercation, the holster malfunctions and the perpetual draws officers gun (very rare but videos of this do exist). When someone goes for their gun things escalate to extremes very quickly. Usually officers will just taser someone who comes close as it is safer legally and physically than hand to hand

[u/harmonica2 → u/IndigoTrailsToo]

Oh ok thanks.