imported post
Here's the story:
My car was low on brake fluid when I drove into town to go for a walk, and the warning light came on. No prob, I'll just park it here and walk to get some brake fluid at 1:30 AM. Hey, I wonder if UDF is open wonder if they have brake fluid? Oh wait, there's a sign on the door that says "No Weapons," guess I can't go in there. Silly me, I should have left my pistol in my disabled vehicle. Ah, WalMart is only 2 miles down the road, it's not raining, I think I'll walk, need the excercise anyway. Get to WalMart, do my business, then start walking back. Halfway back, A Miami University Police car passes me in my direction of travel, then flips. I am walking with traffic because it's the only place there's room. Drivers side take-down lights come on and blind me, officer asks me where I am going. "back to my car to add brake fluid, it's low" as I show him the bottle. LEO asks where my car is, I tell him about a block from where I work on High St. Then here comes...
LEO: "why do you have a weapon?"
Me: "For my personal protection"
Ride-along LEO: "OK, fair enough. The only reason we turned around was because you have a weapon."
Me:"OK thanks guys, have a safe night"
LEO: "You too"
And off they go. Not even 30 seconds of my time.
So I keep walking. I get 3/4 of the way back and 2 police cars that were sitting in a parking lot blacked-out turn on their headlights and head in my direction from behind. I notice the car says Oxford Police. Passenger-side take-down lights come on and the officer leans toward the passenger side of the car and goes through the same questions essentially, except he adds one.
LEO: Where are you heading to after that?
Me: I'm going to put the brake fluid in my car and go home.
LEO: OK, have a good one.
I walk up and add the brake fluid to my car, but I spilled some on my hands. 3 Oxford Police units were watching me, parked 3-wide in the same direction on Main St. I walk down to where I work to see if they're still open, as they schedule people until 4 and it was only 3:45. Nobody home, I go back to the car. I wipe my hands on a towel in the trunk, unload my pistol there as well (no CC) and get in my car and leave. I always unload below the trunk lip as to not offend any passers-by. I drive past the LEOs and turn down Main St. I immediately see one car flip and follow me. The other 2 meet up with us at the next intersection. The 3 of them "escort" me to the edge of town (AKA jurisdiction) and then disappear. I realized that I forgot to get something at WalMart, so I had to go back. I turn back around and head back in to town. As soon as I hit the line the LEOs are back following me. I drive to WalMart, they follow but park across the road when I turn in. As I leave, they follow. I head back out of town, hit the same driveway (just out of sight) and go back in town to Kroger. They appear again. One LEO thought he would pull a sneaky surveilance from across the street, so I pulled just out of his sight to where he had to get back on the street to see me, then I turned the opposite way. As I left town to come home, I still saw Crown Vic lights in my rear-view until I hit the city limit.
I promptly pulled off and called dispatch and asked why I was being followed by 3 police cars. I made no mention of my (legal) OC, as I have no obligation to. I explained to the dispatcher that 3 police cars had been following me for the last 30 minutes at least and I wanted to know why. After being put on hold for 30 seconds, He told me that it was because I was carrying a loaded gun. I told him that I did nothing illegal, and that tailing someone for 30 minutes with 3 cars is unreasonable and borderline harassment. His explaination: "People just don't carry guns here and to carry one raises suspicion, that's why they were following you."
Huh... Miami U PD didn't think it was suspicious even though I gave them the same exact story. (Oxford watched me unload on High St., load and unload at WalMart, then load and unload at Kroger, they knew very well that the pistol was UNLOADED and in the trunk.)
I told dispatch that it is a citizen's right to carry, and that I wouldn't change my behavior. My question having been answered (not a good answer, but an answer nonetheless), I thanked the dispatcher for his time and effort, told him the answer was not good enough, but that I understood that it wasn't his problem.
Anything to do from here? OC more often? It's a hassle to Load/Unload every time, I think they designed the laws that way on purpose. I've already accepted the fact that this course of action could potentially land me (wrongly) in the back seat of a cruiser. Also planning on getting my CC in KY where I'm from, this being a college town and all. I don't want anyone to think I like being in OH
Here's the story:
My car was low on brake fluid when I drove into town to go for a walk, and the warning light came on. No prob, I'll just park it here and walk to get some brake fluid at 1:30 AM. Hey, I wonder if UDF is open wonder if they have brake fluid? Oh wait, there's a sign on the door that says "No Weapons," guess I can't go in there. Silly me, I should have left my pistol in my disabled vehicle. Ah, WalMart is only 2 miles down the road, it's not raining, I think I'll walk, need the excercise anyway. Get to WalMart, do my business, then start walking back. Halfway back, A Miami University Police car passes me in my direction of travel, then flips. I am walking with traffic because it's the only place there's room. Drivers side take-down lights come on and blind me, officer asks me where I am going. "back to my car to add brake fluid, it's low" as I show him the bottle. LEO asks where my car is, I tell him about a block from where I work on High St. Then here comes...
LEO: "why do you have a weapon?"
Me: "For my personal protection"
Ride-along LEO: "OK, fair enough. The only reason we turned around was because you have a weapon."
Me:"OK thanks guys, have a safe night"
LEO: "You too"
And off they go. Not even 30 seconds of my time.
So I keep walking. I get 3/4 of the way back and 2 police cars that were sitting in a parking lot blacked-out turn on their headlights and head in my direction from behind. I notice the car says Oxford Police. Passenger-side take-down lights come on and the officer leans toward the passenger side of the car and goes through the same questions essentially, except he adds one.
LEO: Where are you heading to after that?
Me: I'm going to put the brake fluid in my car and go home.
LEO: OK, have a good one.
I walk up and add the brake fluid to my car, but I spilled some on my hands. 3 Oxford Police units were watching me, parked 3-wide in the same direction on Main St. I walk down to where I work to see if they're still open, as they schedule people until 4 and it was only 3:45. Nobody home, I go back to the car. I wipe my hands on a towel in the trunk, unload my pistol there as well (no CC) and get in my car and leave. I always unload below the trunk lip as to not offend any passers-by. I drive past the LEOs and turn down Main St. I immediately see one car flip and follow me. The other 2 meet up with us at the next intersection. The 3 of them "escort" me to the edge of town (AKA jurisdiction) and then disappear. I realized that I forgot to get something at WalMart, so I had to go back. I turn back around and head back in to town. As soon as I hit the line the LEOs are back following me. I drive to WalMart, they follow but park across the road when I turn in. As I leave, they follow. I head back out of town, hit the same driveway (just out of sight) and go back in town to Kroger. They appear again. One LEO thought he would pull a sneaky surveilance from across the street, so I pulled just out of his sight to where he had to get back on the street to see me, then I turned the opposite way. As I left town to come home, I still saw Crown Vic lights in my rear-view until I hit the city limit.
I promptly pulled off and called dispatch and asked why I was being followed by 3 police cars. I made no mention of my (legal) OC, as I have no obligation to. I explained to the dispatcher that 3 police cars had been following me for the last 30 minutes at least and I wanted to know why. After being put on hold for 30 seconds, He told me that it was because I was carrying a loaded gun. I told him that I did nothing illegal, and that tailing someone for 30 minutes with 3 cars is unreasonable and borderline harassment. His explaination: "People just don't carry guns here and to carry one raises suspicion, that's why they were following you."
Huh... Miami U PD didn't think it was suspicious even though I gave them the same exact story. (Oxford watched me unload on High St., load and unload at WalMart, then load and unload at Kroger, they knew very well that the pistol was UNLOADED and in the trunk.)
I told dispatch that it is a citizen's right to carry, and that I wouldn't change my behavior. My question having been answered (not a good answer, but an answer nonetheless), I thanked the dispatcher for his time and effort, told him the answer was not good enough, but that I understood that it wasn't his problem.
Anything to do from here? OC more often? It's a hassle to Load/Unload every time, I think they designed the laws that way on purpose. I've already accepted the fact that this course of action could potentially land me (wrongly) in the back seat of a cruiser. Also planning on getting my CC in KY where I'm from, this being a college town and all. I don't want anyone to think I like being in OH
