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Whitehall Borough PD Sergeant incident

lildobe

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2007
Messages
126
Location
Pittsburgh (Beechview), Pennsylvania, USA
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So yeah... the cover letter pretty much says it all. Only my second "negative" encounter. Why is it that the smaller PD's are the ones that cause more problems?

Anyway, I'm sending them a training memo, and this is the cover letter. (Thanks Greg and Rich for helping edit it!)

11-04-2008

Chief Donald Dolfi
Whitehall Borough Police
100 Borough Park Dr
Pittsburgh, PA 15236

Chief Dolfi,

On Thursday, October 30th at approximately 16:45, I had a disturbing interaction with one of your patrol sergeants. I had witnessed a motor vehicle accident in the 4400 block of Rt-51 and during the process of providing my contact information and statement to the reporting officer, your sergeant (who's name I neglected to obtain) observed that I was carrying a firearm openly in a holster on my hip, as I do every day.

As you are probably aware, and as the attached training memo explains, open carry of a firearm by persons not prohibited from owning said firearm is legal in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Your sergeant made reference to the firearm and stated that "your permit says concealed, which means you must keep it concealed" or words to that effect. When I politely disagreed with him, stating that the word "concealed" appears nowhere on a Pa. LTCF (License to Carry Firearms), and that controlling case law affirms the legality of open carry, he responded in a very threatening tone that I "don't want to push this" and to "pull my shirt over the gun."

At that point we parted ways; but even after thinking about this over the weekend I am still disturbed by the implied threat that was made.

Please bring this training memo to the attention of the sergeant involved, as well as the rest of your command and patrol officers so as to avoid the possibility of complaints, civil or even criminal legal action against your department should one of your officers illegally detain a citizen for open carry of a firearm.

If an officer were to illegally detain a citizen or, under threat of arrest, order them to cover their weapon they could not only face citizen complaints against them, they could also face charges under 18 PaCS §5301 (relating to official oppression) or under 42 USC §1983 (relating to deprivation of rights).

I appreciate your attention to this matter, and look forward to hearing from you regarding it. If you have any questions, or would like to meet for a discussion regarding the growing open carry movement in Pennsylvania, I would be happy to at your convenience.

Respectfully


Andrew Koch
Enclosures: 1 (Pa Open Carry Training Memo, 4 pages)
 

Venator

Anti-Saldana Freedom Fighter
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Jan 10, 2007
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6,462
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Lansing area, Michigan, USA
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Very nice letter, my only comment would have been to put a time frame for a response. Write something like.....Please respond within 5 business days. Otherwise you are leaving it open that you want a response at all. I hope to hear from you leaves it wide-open.
 

lildobe

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2007
Messages
126
Location
Pittsburgh (Beechview), Pennsylvania, USA
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Venator wrote:
Very nice letter, my only comment would have been to put a time frame for a response. Write something like.....Please respond within 5 business days. Otherwise you are leaving it open that you want a response at all. I hope to hear from you leaves it wide-open.

I'll keep that in mind for the next time I have to write something like this up. I'm sure it'll happen again! :banghead:
 

lildobe

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Nov 13, 2007
Messages
126
Location
Pittsburgh (Beechview), Pennsylvania, USA
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I just got a voice mail message from Chief Dolfi!

The gist of it was that he appreciated my letter and the information that I've provided, and that he would be bringing it to the attention of his officers. He also mentioned that information on Open Carry is being added to the 2009 Municipal Police Officer Training Curriculum!

I don't know how much stock to put in this, but if it's true, it's great news!

And it's great that the Chief actually got back to me!


I feel all giddy now :D
 

spawnbringer

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2008
Messages
40
Location
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
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lildobe wrote:
I just got a voice mail message from Chief Dolfi!

The gist of it was that he appreciated my letter and the information that I've provided, and that he would be bringing it to the attention of his officers. He also mentioned that information on Open Carry is being added to the 2009 Municipal Police Officer Training Curriculum!

I don't know how much stock to put in this, but if it's true, it's great news!

And it's great that the Chief actually got back to me!


I feel all giddy now :D

Hi, I know this is a bit late (heh, there'sa lot to readfor a new member here on OC.org)but wow! That is good news. Nice work on the letter.

When I see or read responses like this I regain trust and respect for our law enforcement institutions. Their ranks do indeed include manywhoreally do wish to Serve & Protect.

Kudos to Chief Dolfi.

Let's keep an eye out for this in 2009.
 

Steve in PA

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2006
Messages
158
Location
Somewhere in PA
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Hmmm......I wonder if that means they will discuss open carry as part of the yearly MPOETC training updates for every officer in PA?
 
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