Did This Officer Act Poorly.. or Properly .. Opinions?

[Irving]

The fact that she went to talk to him speaks volumes for me. It would be easy to argue this both ways, and I certainly feel that she made a few mistakes during this procedure.

1) One of the best things I've ever heard an officer say was that "Everyone knows who wear are, because of our uniforms. We don't know who ANYONE is though." I think the "was treated like a common criminal" saying gets thrown around a lot more than it should. She didn't rough him up like a common criminal, she put him in cuffs until she could figure things out. What he said about shouting from the roof tops about his permit is true, but at the same time, everyone acts as innocent as possible around the police.

2) If I were charged with the task of critiquing her performance, I would have told her that she should never leave someone in an unknown area like she did. She could have taken him outside at least and put him in her car as well to talk to him. It might not have been less embarrassing for him, but it would have been safer.

I don't like having spotlights and flashlights pointed in my face and car when I get pulled over, or having more than one officer arrive either. At the same time though, I know who they are, but they don't know the first thing about me; other than that I'm driving a beat to shit Honda Accord around in Aurora. It might make me feel embarrassed, but it doesn't mean they are treating me like a common criminal.

If it wasn't for her coming to talk to him and trying to explain her actions to him, then I'd probably have a tone closer to the article, but in this case, this is an event that doesn't really upset me at all.

That's my take. If you'd like to check my credentials, see my avatar.

[Irving]

I read the second article and I'm too irritated with how whiny and bitchy it is written to take it very seriously.

[TFOGGER]

That's my take. If you'd like to check my credentials, see my avatar.

Yer a Jackass!

I agree there's 2 sides to every story, but it sounds as if she's undertrained....

[clublights]

Yeah the second article was a bit "whinny" but with the added facts it pointed out brought me to the officer screwed up

This guy is standing there with his wife and a paid security guard.. He's got a CCW.. he's highly unlikely to be a bad guy.

But yeah I'll agree it's a training issue, that SHOULD have been covered in her training BEFORE this incident. Not after it comes out in the paper.

[SNAFU]

Not to long ago the story was of a Lawyer handcuffed and disarmed. Also by a female officer.
Thinking this is a duplicate story..just sensationalize.

[Pancho Villa]

My criteria for judging officer actions is usually: if I did it, would I be sitting in jail right now?

Yes, I understand officers are often held to ridiculous standards on certain things, far beyond those of your average citizen. I think those things should be scaled back a bit, at least.

I think its absolutely ridiculous to give cops leeways that average citizens do not (or put them under ridiculous rules that are far and away unreasonable for an average citizen to abide by, for that matter.) I cannot go around disarming legally armed citizens because I want to "feel safe." Neither should this cop. If a legally armed person is an asshole to me, guess what? I do my job as it relates to them and get them on their way. I don't draw down on them and then say "You're acting aggressively so I need to have your gun."

I just see this as common sense. Cops are not some saintly class above common mortals. They are people like you and me, and to my mind if the rules are good enough for me, they are good enough for cops.

[Elhuero]

stupid cop is stupid.

end of story.

[SA Friday]

Was her detainment of the individual legal? yes
Was her temporary disarming of him legal? yes

Was her showing up to a crime scene of a break-in alone tactically sound? no, but not her call. She was dispatched, and the article doesn't say just how much the owner looked around before he called 911 or described to the cops.

Was he arrested? nope.
Did he get his gun back? yep.
He was inconvienced for a while. He should have expected it, IMO. I do when I carry and I will so until there is a law that states a sworn LE official cannot do so (good luck with getting something like that passed).

I would have handled it a little differently, but not much. I wouldn't have cuffed him, but his gun would have been locked in my car's trunk till we were done there or I could confirm he was legit. Confirmation would have happened after I had secured the scene. He is part of the scene to secure until proven otherwise.

LE officials are not common citizens, they are wardens of the state. Like it or not, they do have additional powers and responsibilities that the common citizen does not. Name one country/government on the planet that this is different? If you want it so, expect anarchy shortly after all the LE officials get killed. Affability and complaciency(sp, but you get it) in a cop usually ends up with the cop quiting after getting seriously messed up or a dead cop.

I'm still trying to figure out why the first four cops didn't at the very least terry frisk and disarm... Oh ya, affability and complaciency. I would have wanted her as my partner over the other chuckle heads. I liked going home at the end of the day. Because four other cops before her did it wrong doesn't mean she didn't do it right.

[KevDen2005]

Well Said SA

[Pancho Villa]

The US, any time before about the early-mid 20th century, had no such rules having sheriffs, police officers (who reallly didn't exist until the late 19th century,) etc as having special powers above and beyond a normal citizen. A Texas Ranger, or sheriff (even in the civilized east) could not disarm a citizen without obvious justification or really take any action a private citizen could not. Legally, they had the exact same powers as any private citizen - they just dedicated themselves full-time to justice system.

Two things from that:

1) Somehow, the sheriffs and so forth managed to not all be killed. I guess they were all high speed low drag operators back then?

2) Murder rates were actually higher, per capita, back then, leading me to believe that they were in more, not less, danger than your average cop now. There were also far fewer sheriffs, officers, etc, per capita, meaning that 1 sheriff had a much larger workload than your average Denver (or Dallas, or New York...) police officer.

I know scare tactics are all the rage today but this:

LE officials are not common citizens, they are wardens of the state. Like it or not, they do have additional powers and responsibilities that the common citizen does not. Name one country/government on the planet that this is different? If you want it so, expect anarchy shortly after all the LE officials get killed. Affability and complaciency(sp, but you get it) in a cop usually ends up with the cop quiting after getting seriously messed up or a dead cop.

Is just ridiculous. You have no reason to state such - and its a blanant appeal to emotion.