[Jeff22]

So what is the proper tactical protocol for a private citizen to follow should they observe a crime in progress?

In August of this year, I will have been a police firearms instructor for 30 years. We train police officers, who are actually sworn and have the legal right to be armed off duty and make arrests, to do the following when observing some crime or potential crime off duty: OBSERVE AND REPORT. Don't follow anybody. Don't confront anybody UNLESS you are acting directly to protect somebody's personal safety. Get on your cell phone and call the ON DUTY UNIFORMED cops to come and investigate whatever situation you are observing. BE A GOOD WITNESS.

That's what ANYONE should do in a similar situation. Believe me, the on-duty police don't WANT the assistance of some clown who gets in the way and complicates the situation. OBSERVE and REPORT and let the cops do their job.

As a private citizen it is NOT your job to "take care of it myself" or "handle it my own way". The same thing is true for an off duty cop in most situations, or an on-duty cop in plainclothes. You don't carry a gun to be James Bond or Dirty Harry. You carry a gun to protect you and yours while you get on the cell phone and call for help from the police, or the fire department, or the ambulance service, or whatever . .