Hey, ribit ... when you were a police officer, I betcha you carried a nerf football with you at all times for just such an occasion, right???!!!
...don't think nerf had been invented when I wuz a cop. However I once broke up a bank robbery / hostage situation with a basketball.
Five guys went into a bank to rob it, somebody tripped an alarm; hostages were taken and soon there were cops everywhere. I quietly snuck up to the back door and tossed in a basketball. All the hostages escaped in the confusion.