Last week, as a part of my job, I was interviewing a suspect in order to write a pre-trial report for the courts in which I give my recommendations regarding parole and probation in case the suspect is found guilty. The interview was going great and the suspect was a really nice person. Suddenly, my personal safety alarm - which signals that there is a medical emergency or an ongoing assault - goes off and the display indicates that the incident is taking place just across the hall. I tell the suspect to stay put, I jump out into the hallway (first mistake), hastily pull open the door to the room in question (second mistake) and see that a colleague is having a seemingly normal conversation with a parolee. I look into my colleague’s eyes to read their needs and I immediately realize that they want the parolee out of there. I look at the parolee, who’s reeking of alcohol, with a kind smile and tell them, “let’s take a walk 🤗” and point in the direction in which I want them to go with my left arm. The parolee follows my instructions and I keep talking to them in a calming but firm fashion. While moving towards the exit, I also give them positive affirmation on how not everybody would’ve been able to follow instructions in such a calm manner in such a stressful situation.

After following up with my colleague who had sounded the alarm, and who had already been taken care of by our on-site counselor, I learned that the parolee had said to my colleague, twice, “I am going to kill [some direct threat of bodily harm] you before this meeting is over”.

Edit: I suddenly became unsure of whether they actually used the word “kill”, but at the very least, it was about harming my colleague in some way before their meeting concluded.