My first interaction with police while OC

smokeyburnout · Aug 26, 2012

I wasnt speeding. I followed all traffic laws. The sole reason the officer pulled me over was because he saw me walking to my truck (I park in the road in front of my house) while OC.
To the others who would have liked me to do more I would have if I wasnt going to be late for work. If you disagree thats fine. Honestly, I'm not going to base keeping my job and source of income on the opinion of someone or a few people on the internet.

I will say although i didnt object to him asking for my permit i did refuse to cover my pistol when he suggested I do so. I informed him that OC is legal in CT and I do it everyday.

larch · Aug 26, 2012

smokeyburnout said:
I wasnt speeding. I followed all traffic laws. The sole reason the officer pulled me over was because he saw me walking to my truck (I park in the road in front of my house) while OC.
To the others who would have liked me to do more I would have if I wasnt going to be late for work. If you disagree thats fine. Honestly, I'm not going to base keeping my job and source of income on the opinion of someone or a few people on the internet.

I will say although i didnt object to him asking for my permit i did refuse to cover my pistol when he suggested I do so. I informed him that OC is legal in CT and I do it everyday.

A little off topic here............in reading your post about heading back to work while OC'ing on your lunch break made me wonder if you OC at work, cover up when you get there or disarm before entering the workplace.

Now I'm wondering if it's common or not for employer's to have a policy of firearms in the work-place. I'm guessing that most large corporations probably have a policy regarding firearms but I have no idea about small to mid-sized companies.

davidmcbeth · Aug 26, 2012

Rich B said:
It is unrealistic to expect ever OCer to be ready to go to jail when confronted by a stupid LEO.

maybe he had to go to the bathroom .... or going to work, as he said. Many reasons for just moving on ...

Of course, the police depend on this

SPOProds · Aug 26, 2012

I see no problem with complying with BS when you have something to do. However if you have the time available, in the words of Flava Flav "fight the power". I've been confronted by LEO while OCing in Maine recently. When OCing here ID isn't required, I give up ID 80% of the time so I can get on my way. When im not in a hurry though you better believe you aren't getting my first name.

smokeyburnout · Aug 26, 2012

larch said:
A little off topic here............in reading your post about heading back to work while OC'ing on your lunch break made me wonder if you OC at work, cover up when you get there or disarm before entering the workplace.

Now I'm wondering if it's common or not for employer's to have a policy of firearms in the work-place. I'm guessing that most large corporations probably have a policy regarding firearms but I have no idea about small to mid-sized companies.

I OC at work as well. I work at a garage and my employer doesnt mind. I've had only 1 customer tell me i needed to cover up because its illegal and after having a conversation with him and showing him a few things he has since apologizied saying he never knew that CT was a OC state (with permit).

Tosta Dojen · Aug 26, 2012

smokeyburnout said:
I more made this post to point out an officer who treated me like a person and not like a criminal

What you seem not to understand here is that he did treat you like a criminal. A police officer has the authority to forcibly seize a person only when he reasonably suspects that person has committed or is about to commit a crime.

What you do about it is up to you, but you can't say that he treated you like an ordinary person. Ordinary people don't use force to initiate a friendly conversation with somebody else. I would not be impressed by anybody who made me late to work because he kept me against my will.

smokeyburnout · Aug 26, 2012

Im not saying the interaction was handled perfectly on either end here. I said he at least treated me like a person meaning I wasnt held at gunpoint, I wasnt disarmed, I wasnt handcuffed and he spoke to me in a calm friendly manner.

Personally I feel this encounter was a step in the right direction. It shows that progress is being made if you consider others interactions with police regarding OC.

JoeSparky · Aug 27, 2012

smokeyburnout said:
Im not saying the interaction was handled perfectly on either end here. I said he at least treated me like a person meaning I wasnt held at gunpoint, I wasnt disarmed, I wasnt handcuffed and he spoke to me in a calm friendly manner.

Personally I feel this encounter was a step in the right direction. It shows that progress is being made if you consider others interactions with police regarding OC.

This is my problem... per your recitation of the situation.

You are forcibly (color of law) stopped on the side of the road by an "officer" who has seen you OC'ing. He does NOT ask for your Driver's License or vehicle registration papers. (Adds strength to support you contention that this was merely for your OC'ing) He wishes you on your way after you provide documentation that you have the firearms permit. you have expresses gratitude that he didn't draw his firearm on you or disarm you in this VIOLATION OF YOUR RIGHTS. And you are OK with this? Just how bad does it have to be before you are willing to take action?

There is something you can do about this. Seek the records thru your states version of open records or Freedom of information act variant. As a minimum key on your license plate and the location of the stop on your request as it will be recorded in the radio log record assuming the officer did follow protocol and call in the plate number of the vehicle he was stopping and its location.

Once you have that info it will identify the officer involved and may also give you additional information as to the motivations of the officer in this stop. THEN you can start your letter writing to his supervisor.

The choice is yours. But know this (my opinion follows) if any of us allow the violation of rights of any of us then NONE of us have these protected rights that so many have given their lives, blood, sweat, and tears.

Allowing the Opinion Enforcement Officer's to violate your rights will ONLY encourage them in further violation of citizen's rights.

PistolPackingMomma · Aug 27, 2012

smokeyburnout said:
Im not saying the interaction was handled perfectly on either end here. I said he at least treated me like a person meaning I wasnt held at gunpoint, I wasnt disarmed, I wasnt handcuffed and he spoke to me in a calm friendly manner.

I understand what you are saying. The encounter could have gone much, MUCH worse, and it didn't, and you're glad. Okay.

Personally I feel this encounter was a step in the right direction. It shows that progress is being made if you consider others interactions with police regarding OC.

When you share your story, people are going to comment with their opinions on it, not clap you on the back and agree with you all the time. Is it great the cop didn't threaten your life? Yes! Does that make it a good encounter? Not by the standard of most of us here. The officer used color of law to perform an unlawful investigation of a lawful activity. That's not a step in the right direction, no matter how polite he was.

smokeyburnout · Aug 27, 2012

JoeSparky said:
This is my problem... per your recitation of the situation.

You are forcibly (color of law) stopped on the side of the road by an "officer" who has seen you OC'ing. He does NOT ask for your Driver's License or vehicle registration papers. (Adds strength to support you contention that this was merely for your OC'ing) He wishes you on your way after you provide documentation that you have the firearms permit. you have expresses gratitude that he didn't draw his firearm on you or disarm you in this VIOLATION OF YOUR RIGHTS. And you are OK with this? Just how bad does it have to be before you are willing to take action?

There is something you can do about this. Seek the records thru your states version of open records or Freedom of information act variant. As a minimum key on your license plate and the location of the stop on your request as it will be recorded in the radio log record assuming the officer did follow protocol and call in the plate number of the vehicle he was stopping and its location.

Once you have that info it will identify the officer involved and may also give you additional information as to the motivations of the officer in this stop. THEN you can start your letter writing to his supervisor.

The choice is yours. But know this (my opinion follows) if any of us allow the violation of rights of any of us then NONE of us have these protected rights that so many have given their lives, blood, sweat, and tears.

Allowing the Opinion Enforcement Officer's to violate your rights will ONLY encourage them in further violation of citizen's rights.

Like I said I had to be at work and would have refused to id in anyway if I had the time to do so without the probability of losing my job. My livelyhood took presidence over the interaction at that point in time. Im not looking for a pat on the back and a good job. Im just sharing something that happened to me in the course of my day. Some people here act like I should have written off my job to argue with the officer about why he stopped me and such. I can understand what your saying to some degree but some of you need to think before you speak as your gonna do one hell of a good job driving people away from this site.
For future refrence I will keep my encounters (fingers crossed the wont be anymore) to myself.

JoeSparky · Aug 28, 2012

Please that was not the intent of my post. But you do have other options between accepting the encounter at the scene or standing for your rights at the time. U understand that you had work or family commitments. But this does not mean that you gave to accept what was done. All it takes is an open records request of the incident and that may give you more info allowing you to make an informed decision on what to do next if that is what you chose to do!!
Yes, I do have some strong opinions. But I am not you. The choice is yours my friend!

Rich B · Aug 28, 2012

JoeSparky said:
Please that was not the intent of my post. But you do have other options between accepting the encounter at the scene or standing for your rights at the time. U understand that you had work or family commitments. But this does not mean that you gave to accept what was done. All it takes is an open records request of the incident and that may give you more info allowing you to make an informed decision on what to do next if that is what you chose to do!!
Yes, I do have some strong opinions. But I am not you. The choice is yours my friend!

You keep saying to make an open records request. And I usually do with anyone who has an issue while OCing. We have done it numerous times.

To that end, what do you think would come of this particular situation? Why are you so adamant that he try to make something of this?

We have more egregious offenses of rights in this state and nothing comes out of those without a 1983 suit, so what do you think will come from a state trooper making a traffic stop?

JoeSparky · Aug 28, 2012

The records request would potentially give more info on the nature of the call. It seems from the op that this was almost certainly a case of officer seeing a gun on a person who then got in a vehicle. The request might indicate other info that might in some way bring more light on if this was a truly unjustified stop or not. Just a way to make sure all the I'd are dotted and t's crossed. Nothing more.

Bottom line the choice is his and his alone.

Rich B · Aug 28, 2012

JoeSparky said:
The records request would potentially give more info on the nature of the call. It seems from the op that this was almost certainly a case of officer seeing a gun on a person who then got in a vehicle. The request might indicate other info that might in some way bring more light on if this was a truly unjustified stop or not. Just a way to make sure all the I'd are dotted and t's crossed. Nothing more.

And then what? The OP has made it clear that he is comfortable with the way his first interaction went and wants to leave it alone.

We know it was an unjustified stop. We know he did nothing wrong.

What is to be gained from any of what you are suggesting at this point?

JoeSparky · Aug 28, 2012

Rich B said:
And then what? The OP has made it clear that he is comfortable with the way his first interaction went and wants to leave it alone.

We know it was an unjustified stop. We know he did nothing wrong.

What is to be gained from any of what you are suggesting at this point?

Obviously I've steped on someone's toes without intending too. Please forgive me. I do have some strong feelings on this but in no way was I attempting to say or suggest that it is my way or the hyway.

Assuming the OPer was not aware of potential options letting him know that he had some I don't see as a big problem...

Rich B · Aug 28, 2012

JoeSparky said:
Obviously I've steped on someone's toes without intending too. Please forgive me. I do have some strong feelings on this but in no way was I attempting to say or suggest that it is my way or the hyway.

Assuming the OPer was not aware of potential options letting him know that he had some I don't see as a big problem...

I think that is what is going on here, the OP knows the officer's stop was unjust, he knows there are options (none of them really worth anything though) and he is making a choice to leave this alone.

Continuing to push someone like this is akin to 'shaming' them for not doing what we would do.

The OP did fine, got out safe, hopefully the trooper learned *something*.

First interactions are not easy, we shouldn't be so quick to pig pile on people for not doing what we would do after a few interactions.

Miketech · Aug 28, 2012

Rich B said:
I think that is what is going on here, the OP knows the officer's stop was unjust, he knows there are options (none of them really worth anything though) and he is making a choice to leave this alone.

Continuing to push someone like this is akin to 'shaming' them for not doing what we would do.

The OP did fine, got out safe, hopefully the trooper learned *something*.

First interactions are not easy, we shouldn't be so quick to pig pile on people for not doing what we would do after a few interactions.

I'm new to this forum and I live in CT and I am here to learn from people like Ed Peruta and Rich Burgess and really want facts and sound advice. Getting a tongue lashing from people on this forum is not fun. I am here for the same reason as most of the people who joined and that's to open carry and not have any of my rights infringed upon. Thank all of you for everything you do to keep the Second Amendment Alive.

davidmcbeth · Aug 28, 2012

Miketech said:
I'm new to this forum and I live in CT and I am here to learn from people like Ed Peruta and Rich Burgess and really want facts and sound advice. Getting a tongue lashing from people on this forum is not fun. I am here for the same reason as most of the people who joined and that's to open carry and not have any of my rights infringed upon. Thank all of you for everything you do to keep the Second Amendment Alive.

Most all said that what the police did was wrong; I guess you can expect folks to put in their 2 cents worth - you did, after all, post the post. Keep in mind that most posters do not wish any ill will, they are just vocal in their opinion as to how they would have handled the set of circumstances.

Keep on posting and ask questions if you like ... you can pick and choose who you wish to focus upon.

Keep on carrying !

Haz. · Aug 28, 2012

I learnt early in life, when a dingo trots up and sniff's and licks your hand, you dont poke it in the eye! You did well mate!

Confucius say: It takes many nails to build crib, but one screw to fill it.

My first interaction with police while OC

smokeyburnout

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larch

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davidmcbeth

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SPOProds

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smokeyburnout

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Tosta Dojen

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smokeyburnout

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JoeSparky

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PistolPackingMomma

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smokeyburnout

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JoeSparky

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Rich B

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JoeSparky

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Rich B

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JoeSparky

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Rich B

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Miketech

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davidmcbeth

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Haz.

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