Anyone seen this video (a.k.a. - a good cop)

[T.O.M.]

A buddy just sent me this video.  I think it shows that there are good cops out there, though I'm sure someone will disagree.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFzH5Oe-YL4&feature=player_embedded#at=166

Comments?

[GigaBuist]

I should dig up the one I saw about a month ago.  Big storm comes through and cops are going around town to make sure people are safe.  They ask the family if they've got any guns.

Yep, they do.

Cop shows 'em how to get a full 5 rounds into a Saiga 12.

Yeah, I'll take that over the Katrina type response.

[T.O.M.]

Was it a YouTube video?  I'll go searching during my trial this afternoon.   

[GigaBuist]

Here it is:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7SWgstujAg

The first 55 seconds or so aren't directly related to the gun thing.

[Tallpine]

I fail to see the point of the officer "checking out" a gun that he didn't know how to operate.  He could have very easily ND'd into one of the passing vehicles.

[AZRedhawk44]

A buddy just sent me this video.  I think it shows that there are good cops out there, though I'm sure someone will disagree.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFzH5Oe-YL4&feature=player_embedded#at=166

Comments?

Cop was being deliberately snarky/mocking, IMO.

I still laughed.

I think the fear of giving your last name ("Jeremy" didn't give his last name or present a DL to the officer) is misplaced, since the cop didn't prone him out and was very personable in the first place.  I understand the principle behind denying the information (open carry shouldn't be an actionable justification for a police interview on its own).  But I think the exchange is inherently petty.

Overall, I think the cop was deliberately trying to get the guy to stop being an OC advocate by mocking the Youtube OC community.

[Perd Hapley]

The cop said they got a lot of calls about the guy. I could see why the department wanted him to check the guy out. The officer hit a good balance between recognizing and affirming the gentleman's right to carry, but also covering his own and the dept.'s backside, in case the "man with a gun" had been a dangerous person.

He talked to him, only took the gun for a minute or so, and didn't even insist on a last name. You could say it was an "infringement," but the people who called get the blame for that. I've been hassled much worse, just for turning my car around in an empty parking lot at night.

[vaskidmark]

California allows unarmed open carry - no ammo in the gun, but magazine/speedloader OK on the belt.  Also allows "administrative check" of any openly carried firearm to ensure it is not loaded (+ running the serial number, carrier's SS#/DL#, and fingerprints/iris scan if they could get it) [/snark].

For California, that was a "good" encounter.

stay safe.

[Tallpine]

The cop said they got a lot of calls about the guy.

Man Walking Down The Street Not Breaking Any Laws

[Perd Hapley]

Man Walking Down The Street Not Breaking Any Laws

But you don't blame the cop for that, right?

[PTK]

Nope, I blame dispatch and the idiots calling in. Dispatch should know better than to send someone out to check out a "Man With A (holstered) Gun (minding his own dang business) call, and instead go talk to the folks calling in...

But then again, it's 2011. Hopefully in the near future, we'll be past all this and people will once again understand that we, humanity, have a born right to defend our lives with modern tools. :)

[Tallpine]

But you don't blame the cop for that, right?

Harrassing people based on nuisance calls - sure. 

[cordex]

I'm the first to condemn poor police behavior (like the Ohio cop who lost it), but this was a good interaction, and fantastic by southern California standards.

Cop was being deliberately snarky/mocking, IMO.

From my perspective, the cop was doing his job and doing it well.  The videographer was intentionally being evasive and trying to make a statement, which was fine.  The cop didn't push him too much on identification, gave him the gun back after quickly checking that it was unloaded in compliance with local law, and generally treated him respectfully.  He didn't detain the guy any longer than was necessary to perform a brief interview (made necessary by people calling in to complain), acknowledged his right to carry the weapon in that way as well as video the interaction.  Yeah, he was a bit bemused by Jeremy's stonewalling, but I had no problem with it.

I think the fear of giving your last name ("Jeremy" didn't give his last name or present a DL to the officer) is misplaced, since the cop didn't prone him out and was very personable in the first place.

I don't think he was really afraid of it, I think he was going out of his way to comply as little as legally possible.  He was well within his rights (as the cop affirmed) but the whole interaction was about pushing the boundaries of what it is acceptable for him to do.

Overall, I think the cop was deliberately trying to get the guy to stop being an OC advocate by mocking the Youtube OC community.

I didn't get that vibe at all.  If that's the case, he was certainly doing so in a pretty darn friendly way.  I think his intent was to say "Dude, I'm just not going to hammer you like you expect me to.  You're legal, you're fine, but your video isn't going to show me oppressing you the way you seem to want."

Dispatch should know better than to send someone out to check out a "Man With A (holstered) Gun (minding his own dang business) call, and instead go talk to the folks calling in...

Dispatch doesn't have much leeway in that.  In my area, if someone calls in a "suspicious person" they will send a cop around to talk to the subject - even if their suspicions are absolutely unfounded.  Same deal if someone is carrying a gun.  If the suspicious person doesn't want to talk to the cops, there isn't much they can do, but a cop politely talking to you isn't jackbooted thuggery.

Harrassing people based on nuisance calls - sure. 

That's harassing?

[Tallpine]

fantastic by southern California standards

That's harassing?

I guess it depends on your standards, then 


I've happily stood around and chatted with MT peace officers, neither one of us even mentioned that the other was armed.   

[PTK]

That's the ticket, really. No more an item to comment on than a hat, or shirt, or boots. The most recent comment I got when OC'ing (which is very unusual for me to do, I lost my taste for it in Colorado...) was "Very nice, young man. Not enough people your age give a damn about polite society", said with a wink. Made my day....

But... here in Montana, it's like living in a different country, Tallpine. In most of the US, we're odd for even owning more than one gun, nevermind having a dedicated carry gun, nevermind CARRYING that dedicated handgun, etc. Sad, but... the state of things. Overall, we are the strange ones, and when you take the whole thing in that perspective, this was indeed a police officer doing his job and yet not treading the Constitution underfoot.

[Perd Hapley]

Nope, I blame dispatch and the idiots calling in. Dispatch should know better than to send someone out to check out a "Man With A (holstered) Gun (minding his own dang business) call, and instead go talk to the folks calling in...

So you think the people were calling dispatch to say, "I see a man with a holstered sidearm walking peacefully down the public thoroughfare, obeying the law and helping old ladies to cross the street"?  I don't know about you, but I don't know what the cops were hearing. Probably some frantic blabbering. I don't see how the police can fail to respond when multiple eye-witnesses (the citizens they're paid to serve and protect) report a "threat." Until they get there, and talk to the scary guy with the gun, they don't know what's really going on. And that's what they seemed to be doing.

I also wish open carry of sidearms was widely accepted and understood. Until the people of Oceanside get to that point, open carry will be like this (at best). I thought that was the whole point of open-carry, as a political movement. (As distinct from those carrying openly just from personal preference.) The open-carry movement is trying to kill the stigma. If it didn't freak people out, they wouldn't have to do it.

[PTK]

I agree fully with what you said, however dispatch (in my experience) asks questions to clarify the situation. The right questions weren't asked, combined with the current overwhelming cultural prejudice against blacks Asians Irishmen Jews firearms in certain panicked minds.

Seems like a bit of history repeating, eh? 

Sorry, that's depressing. We are making HUGE strides in freedoms in this country. I'm just glad to be in Montana, overall. We generally don't have anyone but the feds screwing with our freedoms. 

[Hawkmoon]

Man Walking Down The Street Not Breaking Any Laws

"Suspicion of engaging in lawful activity."

Yep -- he's a bad one, Lieutenant.

[Hawkmoon]

I agree fully with what you said, however dispatch (in my experience) asks questions to clarify the situation. The right questions weren't asked, ...

In an ideal world. In the real world, dispatch never asks the right question (singular) when they get a man with a gun call: "M'am, what is the person doing with the gun that you think is illegal?"

That's really all that should be required.

[PTK]

I like to think that's the sort of question asked here in MT, though when I was shooting gophers another cruiser rolled up, the second one in 6 weeks. This time, the officer came up and asked what I was doing, then asked if he could try my silenced .22 rifle, too. He did, wished me luck with nailing "all the little bastards" as he put it, and went on his way.

Still, it's a shame they had to waste his time because of someone in the neighborhood calling.



....either that, or they got a call and the previous officer told them how neat my silencer is.

[Ben]

For California, that was a "good" encounter.

stay safe.

Affirmative. I might even say great encounter.

It could have gone like this one (if anyone finds the video, please post):

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/21/video-shows-ohio-cop-grow-irate-during-arrest/?test=latestnews

ETA: Oops - Cordex already mentioned this incident. I'd still be interested in seeing the video.

[GigaBuist]

Affirmative. I might even say great encounter.

It could have gone like this one (if anyone finds the video, please post):

Here you go:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kassP7zI0qc

I picked up on a thread on an Ohio board where the guy's lawyer posted a bit about the incident.  Even he said he didn't believe his client until he saw the video.  The officer's actions are that far over the top.

[Ben]

Thanks Giga! Had I read more carefully, I might have found it myself.  

Yeah, way over the top. Sounds like the officer already had issues. Anyway, don't want to hijack the thread. This video just makes me hope that if i ever have a run-in, it is with the cop in post #1.

[GigaBuist]

Yeah, way over the top. Sounds like the officer already had issues. Anyway, don't want to hijack the thread. This video just makes me hope that if i ever have a run-in, it is with the cop in post #1.

Runs in like the guy in OH were what I was worried about when I got my permit back in 2008.  The lawyer had some horror stories about the early days where police would treat them like a felony stop.  Granted, that was because their computer system flagged a CPL holder just like they did a felon with a warrant out.  After a while somebody realized officers had to be trained to hit the "next" button on the screen to see what the asterisk was all about next to the name.  Seems to have worked.

I've only had two encounters with police since I've had my CPL, both with Michigan State Police, and these guys weren't the least bit concerned about me having a gun.  The first was waiting for the MSP after getting rear-ended on the highway in an ice storm and the second was for speeding while headed to a work function early in the morning.

For all they cared I could have told them I had a potato with me.  The first never even looked at my CPL and the second handed it back after maybe a two second glance.  Heck, in the second one I nervously informed the trooper that I'd have to move the Glock in my glovebox to get to my registration.  He didn't care.  I'd imagine his line of thinking was: "I ran your plate, you've got a CPL, you'll be my easiest stop of the day."  And I did my level best to live up to that.

[RevDisk]

A buddy just sent me this video.  I think it shows that there are good cops out there, though I'm sure someone will disagree.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFzH5Oe-YL4&feature=player_embedded#at=166

Comments?

Guy was right, well within his rights and slightly being a tool.  (It's his right to be one, I'm just one for decorum.)

Cop was very professional.  Couldn't have asked for anything better, especially dealing with that guy.  I'm guessing that guy knows the Peelian principles.  Debating dropping a supportive email to his department.