Bob F wrote:

If my neighbor sicced the authorities on me for some piddly drainage
issue, I'd hit the sonofabitch so hard his mother would die.


And how many times would you do it to him before he would be
justified in escalating?

Don't you think after the first time he should know better?

Heh! In my days as a cop, I made a follow-up call at the hospital emergency
room to the victim of a chain-saw attack. The conversation went like this:

Me: "We got the dude that cut you and put him in jail for being drunk. I
need you to go with me to file charges of aggravated assault."

Vicitim: "Hell, no! I ain't filin' no charges!"

Me: (?) "Why not?"

Victim: (pointing to weird-shaped bandages) "****, man, look what he did and
he didn't even know me. Whadda you think he'd do if he was mad at me?"

I took to heart that the FIRST lesson given to a miscreant has to be
overwhelming, immediate, and medieval.

----
Aside:
Cop work is usually very boring. Still, your curiosity gets peaked when you
hear (earlier in the evening):

Dispatcher: "1520. Make a fight. In progress. Parking lot of Joe's Joint,
11520 West Hardy. Reportedly two white females with chainsaws involved. Any
unit clear and close to backup 1520?"

Or this one:

Dispatcher: "650"

Unit 650: "650. Go."

Dispatcher: "650, check a report of a nude, colored female running across
the Highway 90 bridge at this time."

Unit 650: "650 clear. Enroute."

(two minutes pass)

Dispatcher: "650"

Unit 650: "650, Go"

Dispatcher: "650, have additional information on your nude, colored female
subject. She is reportedly being pursued at this time by another colored
female with a knife. Handle code 3"

Unit 650: "650 Clear"

I purposefully NEVER inquired as to the circumstances behind this radio
exchange. I knew full-well that whatever the actual events were, they could
never be as good as my imagination.