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PTSD as transferable skill
i.e. it's actually pretty useful to have enough experience of abruptly having a bloodstream mostly composed of adrenaline that I can stay clear and precise about communicating information, and thoughtful and careful about contamination risks -- by which I mean that the police were very surprised that when they announced themselves at the door and the dispatcher had confirmed it was them, I called through that I'd just be a moment while I got some gloves, and then opened the door wearing nitriles.
This was, in point of fact, overkill: yes, I'd seen someone reach an arm through the letterbox toward the latch, but I'd also seen that they hadn't reached it, and I'd therefore not have been actually causing contamination (on something that would've been absolutely covered with our prints anyway), but. Good practice and making sure I didn't accidentally touch anything that did matter in a way that would fuck it up, and so on and so forth.
Also nice to know: I still have the NATO phonetic alphabet down sufficiently well that I can rattle it off as required while that high on adrenaline.
And, of course, as I noted somewhat wryly to my housemate at the time, I've had worse adrenaline dumps from mistaking a partner for an abuser from my past; at least this time there were relatively few ghosts around, and a clear and immediate course of action.
Forensics have been by; not much by way of fingerprints, but a partial bootprint and he's sent off the sample, and said that from what he'd been told about the case they were pretty certain the two suspects they picked up were a good match with adequate evidence, not least because one of them was covered in a fine dusting of glass (which, because forensics, is going to be compared to a sample from the broken pane if necessary). I've got reference numbers for my 999 call and the incident number; I've passed both onto our estate agent; our property manager swung by to check that we were in one piece; forensics told her we'd done good; and the estate agents' contractor is currently in the process of taking the old pane out and putting a new one in. Meanwhile an upstairs neighbour swung by before I'd quite got dressed to pick up a parcel that got left with us earlier this week; meanwhile the wild geese.
This was, in point of fact, overkill: yes, I'd seen someone reach an arm through the letterbox toward the latch, but I'd also seen that they hadn't reached it, and I'd therefore not have been actually causing contamination (on something that would've been absolutely covered with our prints anyway), but. Good practice and making sure I didn't accidentally touch anything that did matter in a way that would fuck it up, and so on and so forth.
Also nice to know: I still have the NATO phonetic alphabet down sufficiently well that I can rattle it off as required while that high on adrenaline.
And, of course, as I noted somewhat wryly to my housemate at the time, I've had worse adrenaline dumps from mistaking a partner for an abuser from my past; at least this time there were relatively few ghosts around, and a clear and immediate course of action.
Forensics have been by; not much by way of fingerprints, but a partial bootprint and he's sent off the sample, and said that from what he'd been told about the case they were pretty certain the two suspects they picked up were a good match with adequate evidence, not least because one of them was covered in a fine dusting of glass (which, because forensics, is going to be compared to a sample from the broken pane if necessary). I've got reference numbers for my 999 call and the incident number; I've passed both onto our estate agent; our property manager swung by to check that we were in one piece; forensics told her we'd done good; and the estate agents' contractor is currently in the process of taking the old pane out and putting a new one in. Meanwhile an upstairs neighbour swung by before I'd quite got dressed to pick up a parcel that got left with us earlier this week; meanwhile the wild geese.
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Also, good thought on the nitriles.
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good thoughts.
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Eep!
Wow, surprising efficiency!
Still glad you're okay.
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...And partly because my first reaction is to step in and say: "Here, let me explain, from a position of privilege, the thing that *I* would do".
That would be unhelpful.
Looking at what you did, you took exactly the correct actions - immediately, and in the follow-up when the police arrived - and I am very, very glad to hear that you're OK.
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