Mainsail
Regular Member
imported post
I was expecting it to be just another normal day here in Tacoma. I went for a coffee at the usual place and read a few forums from my laptop, including posting to this one, and then after an hour or so I walked back to the car. After I dropped the laptop in the trunk, I decided to head over the Bridge of Glass to the marina by the Museum of Glass. After admiring the boats and enjoying the warm sun I headed up the ramp to the street level (I had come down those pain-in-the-ass shallow steps). At the top I noticed two people with bright yellow shirts emblazoned with SECURITY on them. They took one look at me and headed down the stairs away from me. Huh, whatever.
Well, only moments later up the stairs comes your friend and mine, Officer Olsen. Thankfully he decided to drop the ‘Little Hitler’ approach he used last time and just talk to me like a normal person, which I appreciated. He asked how I was doing, and then asked if I had my permit on me. He asked if he could see it, I told him no, that he had already done it about six months ago (actually it was nine months). He asked if I was the same guy, I affirmed. He said he didn’t recognize me and that he deals with a lot of different people which is understandable I guess. He asked to check it again and then I could be on my way. I asked if I were being detained, he said no but that I was “causing some alarm”. He asked for my permit again and I realized that we have to show it when asked, but also realized it was still up in the visor of the car from last week, so I declined.
He pressed it again and I told him that we’d already been through all this, and he again claimed he didn’t remember. He then claimed he wanted to check the expiration date because he didn’t remember when it expired, reminded me that they have an expiration date, and then I could be on my way. I asked if I could be on my way anyway, and asked if I were being detained. Without answering he again asked if he could check the expiration date. Well, I began to realize this was an exercise in futility since I didn’t have it with me, when one of the other two officers that were standing there called him over. I suppose he was a supervisor but I didn’t get his name or rank. The third officer asked, “What’s with the hostility sir?” That was odd, since I had been nothing less than polite the whole time, even while I was firmly asking if I were being detained. I told this officer that I had already been through this, with him [Olsen] and that it was ridiculous. I reminded him that I couldn’t be detained unless I was committing a crime, which we all knew I was not. Then the supervisor told me I was good to go and that open carry was legal in Washington. I walked back to the car and headed home. I was ‘not detained’ for about six or seven minutes.
In hindsight I suppose I should have just told him I didn’t have the permit when I realized it was in the car, but I was also somewhat irritated that Tacoma seems to insist that open carry requires a permit. It also bugs me that, even though he admitted that open carry was legal and that I wasn’t being detained, he kept asking over and over to see my permit. Additionally, for someone who didn’t remember me (despite all the big to-do we had last spring) he wanted to see the permit because he “couldn’t remember the expiration date”. The other cop with the dumb question about why I was being hostile, when I was going out of my way to be polite to an officer that lied to me and later to his sergeant in a written statement, was puzzling as well. The statement that I was ‘causing alarm’ was pretty alarming to me since I was watching everyone closely for just that. I think, again in hindsight, that it was the museum security that made the call and the few people down there didn’t think anything of it. I would have to get the dispatch tapes to be sure though.
I was expecting it to be just another normal day here in Tacoma. I went for a coffee at the usual place and read a few forums from my laptop, including posting to this one, and then after an hour or so I walked back to the car. After I dropped the laptop in the trunk, I decided to head over the Bridge of Glass to the marina by the Museum of Glass. After admiring the boats and enjoying the warm sun I headed up the ramp to the street level (I had come down those pain-in-the-ass shallow steps). At the top I noticed two people with bright yellow shirts emblazoned with SECURITY on them. They took one look at me and headed down the stairs away from me. Huh, whatever.
Well, only moments later up the stairs comes your friend and mine, Officer Olsen. Thankfully he decided to drop the ‘Little Hitler’ approach he used last time and just talk to me like a normal person, which I appreciated. He asked how I was doing, and then asked if I had my permit on me. He asked if he could see it, I told him no, that he had already done it about six months ago (actually it was nine months). He asked if I was the same guy, I affirmed. He said he didn’t recognize me and that he deals with a lot of different people which is understandable I guess. He asked to check it again and then I could be on my way. I asked if I were being detained, he said no but that I was “causing some alarm”. He asked for my permit again and I realized that we have to show it when asked, but also realized it was still up in the visor of the car from last week, so I declined.
He pressed it again and I told him that we’d already been through all this, and he again claimed he didn’t remember. He then claimed he wanted to check the expiration date because he didn’t remember when it expired, reminded me that they have an expiration date, and then I could be on my way. I asked if I could be on my way anyway, and asked if I were being detained. Without answering he again asked if he could check the expiration date. Well, I began to realize this was an exercise in futility since I didn’t have it with me, when one of the other two officers that were standing there called him over. I suppose he was a supervisor but I didn’t get his name or rank. The third officer asked, “What’s with the hostility sir?” That was odd, since I had been nothing less than polite the whole time, even while I was firmly asking if I were being detained. I told this officer that I had already been through this, with him [Olsen] and that it was ridiculous. I reminded him that I couldn’t be detained unless I was committing a crime, which we all knew I was not. Then the supervisor told me I was good to go and that open carry was legal in Washington. I walked back to the car and headed home. I was ‘not detained’ for about six or seven minutes.
In hindsight I suppose I should have just told him I didn’t have the permit when I realized it was in the car, but I was also somewhat irritated that Tacoma seems to insist that open carry requires a permit. It also bugs me that, even though he admitted that open carry was legal and that I wasn’t being detained, he kept asking over and over to see my permit. Additionally, for someone who didn’t remember me (despite all the big to-do we had last spring) he wanted to see the permit because he “couldn’t remember the expiration date”. The other cop with the dumb question about why I was being hostile, when I was going out of my way to be polite to an officer that lied to me and later to his sergeant in a written statement, was puzzling as well. The statement that I was ‘causing alarm’ was pretty alarming to me since I was watching everyone closely for just that. I think, again in hindsight, that it was the museum security that made the call and the few people down there didn’t think anything of it. I would have to get the dispatch tapes to be sure though.
?"
