Police ride-along in Kirkland

imported post

Washintonian_For_Liberty wrote:

Sounds like we need to become more familiar with the police in our towns.

I have been planning to start a range event where we invite the police or sheriff from our local community to come and shoot with us as a group. Kind of a "get to know" all the law abiding responsible gun owners and OCers so that the police will feel more comfortable with us. Its harder to be a jerk to people you know and like, than it is to total strangers. It also shows we in no way want to provoke or just parade our guns around, but rather, we're just another group of people concerned with civil rights in our country.

It would be nice to start some sort of annual OCer + LEO range & picnic event.

What are everyone's thoughts on this?

Click to expand...

100% YES and Excellent idea. I work alot, ALOT, but would definatly take a day for this. And i agree with the "getting to know eachother" formula. When i have to deal with an officer who is polite and understanding, i am always sure to ask thier name and give them a positive "Thank You" hoping that next time they might remember me and go "Oh, this guy's nice and friendly, cooperative too.." - at least thats the intention. Not that i intenetionally look to get stopped - lol -but itdoes happen in our modern world.



pardon.. i am longer winded in type than in person ...lol



Bat

imported post

Washintonian_For_Liberty wrote:

Sounds like we need to become more familiar with the police in our towns.

I have been planning to start a range event where we invite the police or sheriff from our local community to come and shoot with us as a group. Kind of a "get to know" all the law abiding responsible gun owners and OCers so that the police will feel more comfortable with us. Its harder to be a jerk to people you know and like, than it is to total strangers. It also shows we in no way want to provoke or just parade our guns around, but rather, we're just another group of people concerned with civil rights in our country.

It would be nice to start some sort of annual OCer + LEO range & picnic event.

What are everyone's thoughts on this?

Click to expand...

Sounds excellent to me, falls under "why didn't I think of that??" Could be a great way to get the ball rolling on getting more LEOs too look at us as allies rather than adversaries.

imported post

Sorry to be a week late on this but I've been a bit distracted lately.

I hate to be a spoiler, but to me this whole thread misses the point. I have done a number of ridealongs, first about 40 years ago, and they all have a common thread. Their original purpose from the viewpoint of the departments that host them is to offer their constituents an inside view of their operations. I have had varying experiences, most recently with the Whatcom County Sheriff about three months ago. This was the first experience since I began carrying, and during that ride the subject of personal firearms came up only briefly and that was when we happened to drive past the local range. I simply commented that I go to the range quite often, and there the subject dropped.

I think that a ridealong is not the place to engage law enforcement in a debate on firearms or any other controversial subject. The purpose of the ridealong is to learn something about our local police agency, and about the individual officer who has been assigned to host us. In my last ride I had the good fortune to hit it off with the deputy very well, and he responded by inviting me to stay for his whole shift. Bringing up the subject of open carry would have thrown cold water on the evening and probably ended it at the standard four hours. As it was I had a lot of fun, saw a major arrest and even had a couple good laughs.