The Armed Robbery at the Loading Bay
You are collecting cassettes from a supermarket loading bay at 06:40. Your partner is inside the bay signing paperwork; you are at the rear of the armoured vehicle with the trolley half-loaded. Two men approach from the delivery ramp. One holds a handgun at his side, pointed at the ground, and says, "Close the doors and walk away, nobody gets hurt." The second man is filming on a phone. Your service pistol is holstered under your jacket. The loading bay is enclosed, with one exit behind the robbers and a fire door to your left. Your partner is out of sight. The supermarket staff are ten metres away near the tills.
1. Assess whether drawing or firing your weapon would be lawful and prudent here, applying the principles of necessity and proportionality.
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Belgian law permits firearm use only in strict conditions: lawful self-defence or defence of others against an imminent, unlawful attack, and only when the response is necessary and proportionate. Here the threat is real but the gun is pointed at the ground, no shot has been fired, and the demand is to withdraw. Cash is replaceable; life is not. Drawing and firing at this moment would be hard to justify as necessary, because retreat and compliance remove the immediate danger, and the risk to staff and bystanders in an enclosed bay is high. A shot that misses or over-penetrates could kill an innocent person.
The prudent course is to avoid any action that escalates. Keep your hands visible, do not reach toward the weapon, comply with the demand to close the doors and step back, and move away from the vehicle toward the fire door if that can be done without turning your back or provoking the armed man. Your weapon stays holstered. If the situation changes - the gun is raised at a person, a shot is fired, or a colleague is about to be shot - the necessity test shifts and a defensive response may become justified, but only as a last resort. Afterwards, report immediately, preserve the scene, and give a full statement.
2. The robbers take two cassettes and leave on foot. Your partner emerges and wants to chase them. What do you do in the next ten minutes?
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Do not chase. Pursuit by armed guards into an uncontrolled area risks a shooting, endangers the public, and is not your role; the police are the agency responsible for apprehension. Your priorities are life, then scene, then property. Check that your partner, staff, and bystanders are uninjured, and call the emergency number with a concise report: location, number of suspects, description, direction of travel, weapon seen, and whether anyone is hurt. Do not touch the trolley, the dropped items, or anything the robbers contacted; secure the bay and keep people back.
Note the time, the exact words used, and any identifying detail you actually observed - do not invent or guess. Ask the supermarket manager to preserve CCTV and keep staff available. When police arrive, hand over the scene, give your identity and a first account, and request medical check even if you feel fine; acute stress reactions can be delayed. Notify your control room and line manager. Write your statement only from what you saw, and do not discuss the case with colleagues before giving it.