Solid read, with some good points. Dealing with a lawfully armed citizen is not touched on enough in police training, at least in Louisiana. It gets touched on during retainers every few years, but it could easily be an 8 hour refresher every year rather than 10 minutes every few years. I have a sensitivity to this subject because I was a concealed carrier before I was a peace officer, and had been stopped a few times by police while having a gun. Once was handled well, by a veteran police officer who just nodded when I told him I had a legally concealed weapon on my person and asked me to keep my hands visible for the remainder of the traffic stop. Once was handled poorly, and could have gone a lot worse had I not noticed the cues and did everything in my power to show the nervous cop that I was not a threat.
I have had to remind a few rookies that seeing a gun on a person walking down the street is no indication of a crime. In Louisiana open carry is legal, so unless they are doing something unsafe with the gun, or are showing some other illegal behavior (smoking a joint, or being in a school zone with said gun, for example) there is no probable cause to stop them.
There is a decided need for training cops in this area.
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Solid read, with some good points. Dealing with a lawfully armed citizen is not touched on enough in police training, at least in Louisiana. It gets touched on during retainers every few years, but it could easily be an 8 hour refresher every year rather than 10 minutes every few years. I have a sensitivity to this subject because I was a concealed carrier before I was a peace officer, and had been stopped a few times by police while having a gun. Once was handled well, by a veteran police officer who just nodded when I told him I had a legally concealed weapon on my person and asked me to keep my hands visible for the remainder of the traffic stop. Once was handled poorly, and could have gone a lot worse had I not noticed the cues and did everything in my power to show the nervous cop that I was not a threat.
ReplyDeleteI have had to remind a few rookies that seeing a gun on a person walking down the street is no indication of a crime. In Louisiana open carry is legal, so unless they are doing something unsafe with the gun, or are showing some other illegal behavior (smoking a joint, or being in a school zone with said gun, for example) there is no probable cause to stop them.
There is a decided need for training cops in this area.