It's high time for a video of a great cop

[BadgeBunny]

In that case, he had reasonable suspicion, investigated it and discovered they had concealed weapons and were trying to hide it from him. I have no problem with that.

In the case we are discussing, they were investigating a call, the guy complied to the extent that he was required by law and it was then suggested that he be slapped along with all kinds of other names and accusations then +1'd and agreed to by another poster. I have to apologize to GED and BadgeBunny, I went back to check my facts and now see that it wasn't him, it was another poster, sorry about that GED.

That's the part I was offended by.

No worries ... I generally only post in threads like these because the usual suspects come along with their one case synopsis of the law of the land like what they say came from the Tablets of Moses ... Then they get mad and tell me how insensitive I am while they are calling me a liberal. (Hey!! I'm not calling any ONE person out ... if the shoe fits that'll smack a little ... If not you'll find it funny as all git-out! )

It's all good ... It's just the internet.

 

[jakeman]

I can stop...detain...frisk....

That's a long way from harass, slap and confiscate.

The only thing I think he should have done differently would have been to run the serial on the gun.

Sadly, I now believe this guy's actions are the exception and no longer the rule.

I did it for a few years, and I've defended them for decades now. I'm tired of defending them. The LE community needs to do a better job of weeding out the bad seeds. When one officer is a douche to someone, it makes it ten times as tough on the next officer that comes in contact with that person because of the individual's experience with a dick head police officer. The good ones need to make it tough on the bad ones. Tough enough that they leave the profession, and start selling shoes at the mall, not enforcing the law. I had a wise old captain tell me once, "Son, when you leave this station, you can conduct yourself in one of two ways. Professionally or unprofessionally. You can be Andy or you can be Barney. But the only one that gets to make that decision, is you. Be safe out there."

I thought the officer handled the situation perfectly.

 

[LightningCrash]

Good for you ... You know a Supreme Court case when you see one. I'm impressed.

Because it is obvious you can only see what you want to see when you read, here, let me help you:

Here we simply have a difference of opinion. That is all. And ON THE NOES! GTG is a better person than me ... *sigh* I'll take notes ...

Trolling is beneath you Patti.

That's a long way from harass, slap and confiscate.

The only thing I think he should have done differently would have been to run the serial on the gun.

Sadly, I now believe this guy's actions are the exception and no longer the rule.

I did it for a few years, and I've defended them for decades now. I'm tired of defending them. The LE community needs to do a better job of weeding out the bad seeds. When one officer is a douche to someone, it makes it ten times as tough on the next officer that comes in contact with that person because of the individual's experience with a dick head police officer.

I thought the officer handled the situation perfectly.

I think Michael Brown is right when he says things are better than ever. With the easier and more timely feedback from the community they are going to continue to get better. Yeah we don't have a solid metric on it, but I'm sure if you track anything, it's moving in the preferred direction.

+1 on the officer handling it perfectly.

 

[BadgeBunny]

Trolling is beneath you Patti.

If only that was what I was actually doing, huh??

Have a good day! I'm off to find a cool place to hang out!

 

[LightningCrash]

If only that was what I was actually doing, huh??

Have a good day! I'm off to find a cool place to hang out!

If you change your mind and decide you would like to participate in the conversation, you know where to find it.

 

[Glocktogo]

The officer did NOT know that no laws had been broken. At some point he became aware of that.

In Oklahoma, and 49 other states as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, a police officer may open an investigation without wrongdoing. They may detain and possibly search or pat-down a subject without any wrongdoing as well if the officer has reasonable suspicion that a crime MIGHT be occurring.

That specifically does NOT mean the subject must be actively breaking any laws, but merely that the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe he might be.

Michael Brown

Now where have I heard that before?

In the jurisdiction in question, OC is only legal if the firearm is unloaded. That gives an officer RS to investigate. Once the officer determined the gun was unloaded, he obviously had no intention of investigating further.

As SPD67 states, a Terry stop frisk is warranted anytime there's reasonable suspicion that a subject "may" be committing a crime, not "is". It was perfectly reasonable for the officer in question to stop the subject, disarm him for the duration of the contact and release him with his property once a determination was made that no crime was committed.

It would be interesting to examine the laws of states where loaded OC is legal to see if they have restrictions on officers investigating persons with holstered handguns, absent any other suspicious indicators. Say, something similar to Oklahoma's restriction on "examining" SDA permit holders handguns.

It seems interesting to me that pretty much everyone in this thread agrees that the officer did a good job, that the subject was trying to catch an officer exceeding their authority, that he was at least willing to post his results, regardless of whether it went the way he though it would, and that it's a good idea to at least make contact with a person openly carrying a gun under circumstances where a reasonable person would not reasonably expect it. Excuse me if I've taken liberties with your personal opinion in this statement, but why do we have 7 pages of argument over the concept itself?

As for my opinion, if holstered OC was a legal and accepted norm in the community I worked in, I would not contact people on the street absent any other suspicion. If anyone asked me to, I'd politely explain the legality of open carry and why I was declining to do so.

If it was legal, but not an accepted norm, I'd probably make contact, have a hopefully reasonable dialogue with the person just like we witnessed in the video, and both of us could then go on our merry ways. I'd follow the legally proscribed protocols for the contact in doing so by the way.

Regardless of whether you feel OC should be legal and no one should question it, we don't live in that realm. LEO's are expected to perform certain functions and they're getting paid by the community to do so. Whether they're legally bound to do it or not means little. Only what they're legally restricted from doing is critical. All other functions are at the whims of the community and the command structure. If they want officers handing out flowers on the street, well, they're paid to follow lawful commands.

Oh, and guys, PLEASE don't use me to correct others! It's just not cool, mmmmkay?