Was drawn on and disarmed in Federal Way(was ok)

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I have to admit of all the stories about being disarmed this event was probably one of the 'best handled' by the officer.

My wife and I were open carrying while we went to check out a house we were interested in buying. We arrived to the area early(the real estate agent said 6:30, we got there around 5:45) intentionally so we could check out the area before looking at the house. While we were driving around we saw a Federal Way cruiser and pulled over near by and I called out if I could talk to him for a moment(So I could ask about the crime level in the area). He said sure, so I got out of the car and that's when he saw the glock 21 on my side in it's holster.

It was the standard 'hands above you head, hands on the hood of the car, kneel down' then he disarmed me. On a side note I was happy that my holster made it very difficult for him to take it from my holster from behind. Then after taking my glock, my weak side knife clipped to my left front pocket, and my leatherman, he felt comfortable talking. Then the poor guy asked if my wife wanted to come out of the car to join the conversation, and that's when we grinned and told him that she's open carrying as well.

We had a good conversation about the safety of the area and I offered him an open carry pamphlet. It turns out my wife and I are the 2nd and 3rd person he's ever met who open carried. Then I was able to rearm and go meet with the real estate agent.

We learned that the officer just found an abandoned car and was worried that my wife and I had come back to retrieve it(or something). So, lessons learned: "Be careful when driving up on a police officer while open carrying."

I count the experience as a plus for the department.

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I live in Federal Way, if you want to PM the area to me I can tell you how it fairs for the rest of the city. what areas are better or worse, ect.

It sounds like this was a good encounter, even if he disarmed you "for officer safety". Which I don't think is needed, but when they are in the mode of "everyones bad until your verify" I can understand. Especially with the happening up north last week I think all the LEO's are a little jumpy.

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This is bullshit. I have know idea why you are so OK with this. It was very wrong for this officer to disarm you.

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The incident was last week. The day after the death of the officer. And he was in a dead end road(I couldn't tell until after I got out of the car) and I pulled up behind him. Not on his bumper, but one car length. If I were in his situation I would feel worried too.

Disarming me momentarily I don't agree with, but his professionalism in the matter did help the situation.

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This is not OK. The officer was wrong in so many ways and action should be taken. You probably could have prevented his over reaction with advising him up front that you had a sidearm, rather than use the surprise factor. But it doesn't excuse his over reaction.

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Action taken? ... Like what a thank you letter?

Why are you guys such gold diggers?

This is one of the best encounters I've read .. For BOTH parties.

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I did notify him ahead of time, and I informed him that I did have my CPL license on me. I was informing him just before and while I was getting out of my car.

To his credit as soon as he realized I wasn't a threat(only a moment after disarming me), he gave me back my items and I was allowed to rearm.

While my rights might have been violated by being disarmed, I am more upset(even now months later) about being turned away from watching the July 4th fireworks at Gasworks park.

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quentusrex wrote:

I did notify him ahead of time, and I informed him that I did have my CPL license on me. I was informing him just before and while I was getting out of my car.

To his credit as soon as he realized I wasn't a threat(only a moment after disarming me), he gave me back my items and I was allowed to rearm.

While my rights might have been violated by being disarmed, I am more upset(even now months later) about being turned away from watching the July 4th fireworks at Gasworks park.

Click to expand...

I think that speaks volumes. Given the circumstances (officer killed the day before) I don't blame him for being a little jumpy.

Now had he arrested you and your wife confiscated your property and taken you both to the station for an inter..um I mean interview, that would be a different story.

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quentusrex wrote:

I did notify him ahead of time, and I informed him that I did have my CPL license on me. I was informing him just before and while I was getting out of my car.

To his credit as soon as he realized I wasn't a threat(only a moment after disarming me), he gave me back my items and I was allowed to rearm.

While my rights might have been violated by being disarmed, I am more upset(even now months later) about being turned away from watching the July 4th fireworks at Gasworks park.

Click to expand...

With notification ahead of time, the the officer blew it and needs a major correction to his operating procedures.

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MetalChris wrote:

quentusrex wrote:

I did notify him ahead of time, and I informed him that I did have my CPL license on me. I was informing him just before and while I was getting out of my car.

To his credit as soon as he realized I wasn't a threat(only a moment after disarming me), he gave me back my items and I was allowed to rearm.

While my rights might have been violated by being disarmed, I am more upset(even now months later) about being turned away from watching the July 4th fireworks at Gasworks park.

Click to expand...

I think that speaks volumes. Given the circumstances (officer killed the day before) I don't blame him for being a little jumpy.

Now had he arrested you and your wife confiscated your property and taken you both to the station for an inter..um I mean interview, that would be a different story.

Click to expand...

I wasn't aware that the Constitution and the rest of the laws are suspended when someone gets killed, cop or not. By your thinking the cops are justified in violating a persons rights pretty much anytime they want. Fortunately that isn't the way it works. It isn't even legal for a cop to stop you at all for having an OC'd weapon on you here in Washington.

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Bear 45/70 wrote:

quentusrex wrote:

I did notify him ahead of time, and I informed him that I did have my CPL license on me. I was informing him just before and while I was getting out of my car.

To his credit as soon as he realized I wasn't a threat(only a moment after disarming me), he gave me back my items and I was allowed to rearm.

While my rights might have been violated by being disarmed, I am more upset(even now months later) about being turned away from watching the July 4th fireworks at Gasworks park.

Click to expand...

With notification ahead of time, the the officer blew it and needs a major correction to his operating procedures.

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OK, I have to take back my "ok", with this post. After learning that you announced your situation, disarming wasn't needed, and shouldn't have been an issue at all. The surprise factor was what I was referring to going into "officer protection" mode. What BG is going to tell the LEO he has his sidearm on his hip if it was going to be altercation? Duh. None.

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CC27 wrote:

This is bull@#$%. I have know idea why you are so OK with this. It was very wrong for this officer to disarm you.

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It may have been "wrong" but he was well within his legal right to disarm him. As described by the OP, the officer has reasonable suspicion that they might have been involved in the crime that was committed and the OP opened himself up to the Terry stop by making contact.

An unfortunate side effect and the officer should have just asked questions in conversation to determine the OP wasn't a bad-guy. A POLITE email to the training officer will likely get this resolved for any future encounters. Federal Way has a training bulletin and is well-aware of OC legality.

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We talked about the legality of OC'ing. He knows it's legal, but he hadn't met but one person who OC'd before. I was only disarmed for maybe a minute, and after that he had no problem with my wife and I standing there armed.

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just_a_car wrote:

CC27 wrote:

This is bull@#$%. I have know idea why you are so OK with this. It was very wrong for this officer to disarm you.

Click to expand...

It may have been "wrong" but he was well within his legal right to disarm him. As described by the OP, the officer has reasonable suspicion that they might have been involved in the crime that was committed and the OP opened himself up to the Terry stop by making contact.

An unfortunate side effect and the officer should have just asked questions in conversation to determine the OP wasn't a bad-guy. A POLITE email to the training officer will likely get this resolved for any future encounters. Federal Way has a training bulletin and is well-aware of OC legality.

Click to expand...

Officer safety???? The Op advised the nitwit that he had a sidearm up front, how many bad guy announce they have a gun before committing a crime. The officer was wrong. By your reasoning the cop could just cruise the neighborhood and harass people at will, becausea crime had been committed recently, I don't think so. You are also wanting to drop the Constitution and laws because someone got shot, not gonna fly in court.

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Bear 45/70 wrote:

just_a_car wrote:

CC27 wrote:

This is bull@#$%. I have know idea why you are so OK with this. It was very wrong for this officer to disarm you.

Click to expand...

It may have been "wrong" but he was well within his legal right to disarm him. As described by the OP, the officer has reasonable suspicion that they might have been involved in the crime that was committed and the OP opened himself up to the Terry stop by making contact.

An unfortunate side effect and the officer should have just asked questions in conversation to determine the OP wasn't a bad-guy. A POLITE email to the training officer will likely get this resolved for any future encounters. Federal Way has a training bulletin and is well-aware of OC legality.

Click to expand...

Officer safety???? The Op advised the nitwit that he had a sidearm up front, how many bad guy announce they have a gun before committing a crime. The officer was wrong. By your reasoning the cop could just cruise the neighborhood and harass people at will, becausea crime had been committed recently, I don't think so. You are also wanting to drop the Constitution and laws because someone got shot, not gonna fly in court.

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Bear, settle down, take a breath and actually read the words I wrote.

Nowhere did I mention "officer safety"... so where do you get off starting with that?

You state the officer was wrong... guess what... so did I in my first sentence.

You have called for "action" in your previous posts and don't say what that action should be. I, on the other hand, have called for a specific action of a letter or email to the training officer to have this specific patrol officer talked to for his wrong actions.

Oh, and Fred... DON'T YOU EVER ACCUSE ME OF WANTING TO DROP THE CONSTITUTION AGAIN. Got it? You've met me once, so you sure as hell don't know me or who I am and if you base what you know on my actions on these forums, you should know I hold both the US and WA Constitution in high regard.

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Bear 45/70 wrote:

Officer safety???? The Op advised the nitwit that he had a sidearm up front, how many bad guy announce they have a gun before committing a crime. The officer was wrong. By your reasoning the cop could just cruise the neighborhood and harass people at will, becausea crime had been committed recently, I don't think so. You are also wanting to drop the Constitution and laws because someone got shot, not gonna fly in court.

Click to expand...

Might fly in a Seattle court

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CC27 wrote:

 This is bull@#$%. I have know idea why you are so OK with this. It was very wrong for this officer to disarm you.

Click to expand...

+1

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grishnav wrote:

Bear 45/70 wrote:

Officer safety???? The Op advised the nitwit that he had a sidearm up front, how many bad guy announce they have a gun before committing a crime. The officer was wrong. By your reasoning the cop could just cruise the neighborhood and harass people at will, becausea crime had been committed recently, I don't think so. You are also wanting to drop the Constitution and laws because someone got shot, not gonna fly in court.

Click to expand...

Might fly in a Seattle court

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Not on appeal it wouldn't.

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Bear 45/70 wrote:

MetalChris wrote:

quentusrex wrote:

I did notify him ahead of time, and I informed him that I did have my CPL license on me. I was informing him just before and while I was getting out of my car.

To his credit as soon as he realized I wasn't a threat(only a moment after disarming me), he gave me back my items and I was allowed to rearm.

While my rights might have been violated by being disarmed, I am more upset(even now months later) about being turned away from watching the July 4th fireworks at Gasworks park.

Click to expand...

I think that speaks volumes. Given the circumstances (officer killed the day before) I don't blame him for being a little jumpy.

Now had he arrested you and your wife confiscated your property and taken you both to the station for an inter..um I mean interview, that would be a different story.

Click to expand...

I wasn't aware that the Constitution and the rest of the laws are suspended when someone gets killed, cop or not. By your thinking the cops are justified in violating a persons rights pretty much anytime they want. Fortunately that isn't the way it works. It isn't even legal for a cop to stop you at all for having an OC'd weapon on you here in Washington.

Click to expand...

I guess I should've said "I understand why the cop was jumpy." By saying I don't blame him I'm saying I think it's coo, which I don't.

So anyhoo, for the record I can understand, given today's LEO mentality of "us vs. them", why he over-reacted.

At least he didn't arrest the OP and confiscate his property. I've read of much worse things happening to folks than what did to the OP.

Does that pass muster w/ you Bear, or are you still going to find something to jump on me for?

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MetalChris wrote:

Bear 45/70 wrote:

MetalChris wrote:

quentusrex wrote:

I did notify him ahead of time, and I informed him that I did have my CPL license on me. I was informing him just before and while I was getting out of my car.

To his credit as soon as he realized I wasn't a threat(only a moment after disarming me), he gave me back my items and I was allowed to rearm.

While my rights might have been violated by being disarmed, I am more upset(even now months later) about being turned away from watching the July 4th fireworks at Gasworks park.

Click to expand...

I think that speaks volumes. Given the circumstances (officer killed the day before) I don't blame him for being a little jumpy.

Now had he arrested you and your wife confiscated your property and taken you both to the station for an inter..um I mean interview, that would be a different story.

Click to expand...

I wasn't aware that the Constitution and the rest of the laws are suspended when someone gets killed, cop or not. By your thinking the cops are justified in violating a persons rights pretty much anytime they want. Fortunately that isn't the way it works. It isn't even legal for a cop to stop you at all for having an OC'd weapon on you here in Washington.

Click to expand...

I guess I should've said "I understand why the cop was jumpy." By saying I don't blame him I'm saying I think it's coo, which I don't.

So anyhoo, for the record I can understand, given today's LEO mentality of "us vs. them", why he over-reacted.

At least he didn't arrest the OP and confiscate his property. I've read of much worse things happening to folks than what did to the OP.

Does that pass muster w/ you Bear, or are you still going to find something to jump on me for?

Click to expand...

So are you sayingit's OK that the cop violated the law, because you understand why he did it? And it makes it better because he didn't arrest the op? That just doesn't work for me at all. If you break the law, especially when you are suppose to be enforcing the law,just doesn't get the job done for me, regardlessof the cop's reason. Anymore than he would be understanding if I robbed a bank because I was broke and needed to feed my family.