Educate Local Law Enforcement

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I’ve had an idea I’ve been mulling around in my head for a while now, escalated moreso recently due to the repeated encounters the carrying public have had with law enforcement officers in Alexandria, Norfolk, Manassas and many other jurisdictions.

What ability do citizen groups have to address the Police in a formal setting, I.E. being allowed to address officers during roll call or at a police educational function? It would be great to have a well informed, well spoken member of the VCDL or OCDO present all the laws on the books to the officers as a “refresher course” and educate them on exactly what the law says, but more importantly how it is improper for officers to opine or to editorialize on the practice of carrying a firearm, so long as such is done within teh confines of the law.

Their job is to enforce laws. Period. Recently they have been trying to enforce laws in error, and more often editorializing on how they want the laws to be, which is not appropriate.

What availability is there for this type of vehicle to reduce the number of incidents being reported?

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We've got the Captain's email addy, shoot him one, and ask if a concerned community group would be able to address his officers at roll one morning. It's a good idea, just gotta follow it up. Thing is, it'll be a hard battle to hit each and every municipality one by one, shift by shift, unless you get a conference or education course set up. I don't know how to go about it, but I assume LEO's just like EMT's need to take Continuing Education Units (CEU) every couple years... if we could get a course put together statewide and have it approved as a CEU elective, you'd have a lot of police who could/would have to take it every couple years.

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Now that right there is an awesome idea.

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I'll bet he won't allow it any more than I would have let Greenpeace on my ship to address my Sailors. You'll get the whole "who the hell are you to tell me how to run and train my officers" attitude.

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Scheetz wrote:

Now that right there is an awesome idea.

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Yes, it's a great idea.

Communication, communication, communication....

Professional organizations are always interested in effective communication. With employees, customers, supporters, opponents, anyone in their sphere of operations, really.

Opening up a line of communication is always a good idea. Good one, ChinChin.


ETA: Don't listen to the naysayers.... :X

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Guys, you're not certified trainers, have no experience as instructors/educators and are not recognized legal authority.

It would seem that others want this to fail...they should be careful, their agenda is showing.

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Iunderstand your intent but at the moment it would appearyou want topreach to cops for them to mind their own business and just enforce laws.

Keeping in mind that the LEO's job is actually more than just enforcing laws. A LEO responds to many other events that can just be unknown, suspicious, or even civil in nature. Most often there is no violation of law involved but this is not immediately known.

There are situations where the trained eye of the LEO prompts him to investigate to determine if someone is involved in criminal activity. There is noviolation of law known unless the LEO does an investigation. Just because it is not obvious does not mean the LEO should turn a blind eye.

Ibelieve you want to talk about gun laws inan attempt to have the uninformed LEOleave you alone while you OC. Since many agencies are already aware that OC is permitted.. this would be a waste of your time. Sending a letter to each CLEO to be disseminated would be much more practical.

Furthermore... your training would take several months to accomplish in roll calls all over Northern Virginia. Keeping in mind there are numerous departments having multiple stations. Then each station having at least three shifts and then at least two separate squads or more that work during a given period.

Having said all that... It is not impossible to actually do what you are suggesting. I have seenoutside agencies come to roll call and let us know what they are about and howwe can utilize their services. You do notneed to be trained instructors to do this informally.

You could provide an outline of what would be discussed in order to foster better relations between the LEO and the OCer.

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LEO 229 wrote:

Having said all that... It is not impossible to actually do what you are suggesting. I have seenoutside agencies come to roll call and let us know what they are about and howwe can utilize their services. You do notneed to be trained instructors to do this informally.

You could provide an outline of what would be discussed in order to foster better relations between the LEO and the OCer.

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So, sure, it would be difficult. But possibly doable. It's worth investigating the feasibility of it since there could be some good benefits to the OC community. Especially at a time when there seems to be a spike in uninformed or harassing LEO behavior regarding legal OC.

Why on earth would anyone be against even exploring the establishment of a favorable communication channel? Hmmm.

Go for it ChinChin. You can always find naysayers who are comfortable with the status quo. They're a dime a dozen.

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HankT wrote:

LEO 229 wrote:

Having said all that... It is not impossible to actually do what you are suggesting. I have seenoutside agencies come to roll call and let us know what they are about and howwe can utilize their services. You do notneed to be trained instructors to do this informally.

You could provide an outline of what would be discussed in order to foster better relations between the LEO and the OCer.

Click to expand...

So, sure, it would be difficult. But possibly doable. It's worth investigating the feasibility of it since there could be some good benefits to the OC community. Especially at a time when there seems to be a spike in uninformed or harassing LEO behavior regarding legal OC.

Why on earth would anyone be against even exploring the establishment of a favorable communication channel? Hmmm.

Go for it ChinChin. You can always find naysayers who are comfortable with the status quo. They're a dime a dozen.

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Clicky -> Medication Time!