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Officer handcuffs victim
A CCW permitee phones 911 after he finds his office was broken into. When an officer responds, he informs her that he has a CCW permit. She asks has a firearm, he says yes, so she handcuffs him , removes his pistol, and locks it in her vehicle. To be fair, she does eventually investigate the burglary, too. First things first.
Comments
That 'officer' should be fired...clearly she can't tell the difference between a victim and a criminal...and the LVPD gives her a gun and a badge?
Posted by: Flighterdoc at January 31, 2010 03:22 PM
Umm. Terry v Ohio requires reasonable articulable suspicion of a crime before detention, and detention before seizure of gun for officer safety. What was the "crime" of which the disarmed citizen was suspected? Or, is state law out-of-sync with Terry v Ohio in allowing a weapon seizure ANYTIME a cop encounters a lawfully armed citizen?
Posted by: Virginian at January 31, 2010 04:09 PM
Vin's follow-up column is also worth a read.
Posted by: Comrade E.B. Misfit at January 31, 2010 05:42 PM
This happens too often in Las Vegas. The phrase, "What are YOU going to do about it!?" comes to mind.
The one thing proven to work is to take money from them. Minimum six figures, preferably seven figures or higher. And if you can burn one scapegoat from among the ground troops by seizing their pension for violations under color of authority, the rest will never pee on that electric fence again.
Posted by: Jim D. at January 31, 2010 08:05 PM
The problem with taking money from them is it's not from the guilty people (the officer, her training officers, the chief of police, the mayor)...it's the taxpayers in the city that pay.
When thugs with badges have immunity, there is no accountability. Go after the cop, her assets (including her home, car, pension, etc) and make it clear to the thugs with badges that their employment is dependent on their upholding the law and knowing who their employer is, and that they will be severely punished for forgetting, and there will be few thugs with badges left.
Posted by: Flighterdoc at February 1, 2010 07:10 AM
Even if the lawsuit does not produce a decision, run them out of money. Sue. Sue them personaly and let the lawyers have the money. Many a lawyer will work on a contengency basis.
Posted by: Paul at February 1, 2010 02:12 PM
We had a few of these a while back ... It took some time for the police to adapt. But they did. Now they just ask if you are armed, if so they ask if the gun is secured, if not they ask for you to hand it over while they are there for officer safety reasons.
Education ...
Posted by: bill-tb at February 2, 2010 04:38 PM
One day a police officer is going to killed by trying this. And that police department better hope to God I am not on the jury.
'Cause they won't get my murder vote under such a situation.
Posted by: The N.U.G.U.N. Blog at February 10, 2010 09:16 AM