Operator: "911, what's your emergency"

Caller (340PD): "There's a group of teenage girls on the metro, and I think they're trying to start fights with other riders."

That's the kind of verbage that will get police attention a little quicker. It's only slightly dishonest, and I have been dispatched to calls in that manner countless times....

These kids had real boundry issues.

In some ways when this behavior is displayed, it is because these kids are unsure of themselves and their place in the world (or in the hiearchy of criminals) and they are often looking for someone with negative energy to feed off of.

Often if left to themselves, with people just ignoring them they stay loud but do nothing.

Now, confronting them, if done perfectly could de-escelate, but it is MUCH more likely that they will either feed off that energy and escalate, OR in the heat of the moment whoever is 'chewing them out' will go too far, and make them loose "face" or intimidate THEM to the point they think they must get violent. (indeed, shaming someone while it seems silly to us may make a group shun that person, and now that person is on the mean streets alone at night were much more dangerous people prowl...so standing up and fighting is viewed as terribly necessary in their warped mind and twisted world)

Truth is, those girls have about zero impact on your life. True, they made you suffer for half an hour or so, but really, once you stepped off the train you continued your daily life. That means you won.

Lets say something went wrong, at BEST you are going to be talking to cops for 8 hours. At worst you are severly injured or killed, yes, even by girls (especially if they have weapons...and girl gangs are notorious for carrying razor blades.

you were correct that the best option would have been to get off the train.

The second best option would be to ignore them, while keeping your radar turned on waiting until they moved from abusing 'public' space to entering your own private space.

If they would enter your priveate space, that's when you do the whole 'look em in the eye and tell them that you aren't going to be an easy meal'

Of course, staring them in the eye BEFORE they violate your personal space, that will most likely just feed their negative energy and will probably backfire.

Right, get off the train and take the next one and hope for a better class of rider. I have always said that the trouble with public transportation is it allows the PUBLIC on.

I don't think you'll find anyone on this board that will disagree with any of that. My concern is the people not on this board but who ARE in the jury box. Their interpretation, and faulty it may be, is what I'd be worried about. And if the other passengers describe your asking the children to watch their language as hostile or angry, incorrect it may be, I can see a jury saying you started it.

But then I've grown considerably less trusting of all levels of our justice system since the Treptow case came to it's conclusion.

I'd go the full gonzo nuts route, but then again I'm a professional at this, so you kids shouldn't try this on the way to the MOA.

I'd start twitching and drooling, and then start craning my neck around in various odd positions, and then break out into a tourettes grand mal seizure that would teach those beatches a thing or two about dirty language. A two thousand yard stare, lots of spit flying off my lips (hopefully some of it will hiyt them) while I'm swearing, and I could probably get them to shut up in under two minutes.

Hey I think I met you at the Effen Gopher

Sam's just describing the side effects of his salsa...

I think Joel could attest to that

Combined with thoughts of his girlfriend from the night Oleg met us at The Gopher.