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Blacksburg OC police response

mpg9999

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, Virginia, USA
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I was in Blacksburg this weekend for a biannual car show and cookout at VT. A large group of people were going to go on a cruise and met in the Food Lion parking lot. There were probably about 20-30 cars, and we were there about 20 minutes. I wasn't oc'ing at the time, but a friend of mine was. We all left and went on the cruise. A few guys showed up late and were standing there in the parking lot trying to figure out what they were going to do when the police showed up. They asked them if they were with the group that was there before. The police said they got a report of a guy "waving a gun around in the parking lot". I've OC'd all around Blacksburg and never had the police come and investigate. There was absolutely no "gun waving" going on. It was holstered the entire time and never touched.
 

nova

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Bill in VA wrote:
N6ATF wrote:
VCDL President wrote:
It would be nice if they could catch whoever filed that false police report and charge them accordingly.
They'd probably be given an award if the law-abiding gun owner was successfully harassed/arrested.
What an utterly stupid response. Your uninformed,police-baiting left-coast attitude notwithstanding, when did the OP say anythign about the Blacksburg police acting unprofessionally or harassing anyone? Blacksburg police have generally been law-abiding and above board in my experience.
This.

I read nowhere that Blacksburg PD did anything bad to the OCer. They got a 911 call and had to respond and investigate. I've never been harassed by Blacksburg or Christiansburg PD or Mongomery Co. either for that matter.
 

SaltH2OHokie

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I OC'd out of town Thursday afternoon...no issues stopping for gas or packing my fiancee's sister's car before I left.

Also, never dealt with them on the topic of OC (which is nice) but overall any dealings I've ever had or heard of with Blacksburg PD (save for 1 single event at my house where I was not overly polite and neither was the responding officer who had her boot shoved, uninvited, in my door) have been great.
 

N6ATF

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Bill in VA wrote:
N6ATF wrote:
VCDL President wrote:
It would be nice if they could catch whoever filed that false police report and charge them accordingly.
They'd probably be given an award if the law-abiding gun owner was successfully harassed/arrested.
What an utterly stupid response. Your uninformed,police-baiting left-coast attitude notwithstanding, when did the OP say anythign about the Blacksburg police acting unprofessionally or harassing anyone? Blacksburg police have generally been law-abiding and above board in my experience.
Indeed. Stories of police violating constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners have been bashed in to me so many times, it's hard to tell who to trust. Especially when even a single agency has been an angel one day, a devil the next.
 

AbNo

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N6ATF wrote:
Bill in VA wrote:
N6ATF wrote:
VCDL President wrote:
It would be nice if they could catch whoever filed that false police report and charge them accordingly.
They'd probably be given an award if the law-abiding gun owner was successfully harassed/arrested.
What an utterly stupid response. Your uninformed,police-baiting left-coast attitude notwithstanding, when did the OP say anythign about the Blacksburg police acting unprofessionally or harassing anyone? Blacksburg police have generally been law-abiding and above board in my experience.
Indeed. Stories of police violating constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners have been bashed in to me so many times, it's hard to tell who to trust. Especially when even a single agency has been an angel one day, a devil the next.
Exactly. We're not in California, N6. ;)
 

N6ATF

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AbNo wrote:
N6ATF wrote:
Bill in VA wrote:
N6ATF wrote:
VCDL President wrote:
It would be nice if they could catch whoever filed that false police report and charge them accordingly.
They'd probably be given an award if the law-abiding gun owner was successfully harassed/arrested.
What an utterly stupid response. Your uninformed,police-baiting left-coast attitude notwithstanding, when did the OP say anythign about the Blacksburg police acting unprofessionally or harassing anyone? Blacksburg police have generally been law-abiding and above board in my experience.
Indeed. Stories of police violating constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners have been bashed in to me so many times, it's hard to tell who to trust. Especially when even a single agency has been an angel one day, a devil the next.
Exactly. We're not in California, N6. ;)
CA is not the only place where constitutional rights have been violated.
 

Grapeshot

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N6ATF wrote:
AbNo wrote:
N6ATF wrote:
Bill in VA wrote:
N6ATF wrote:
VCDL President wrote:
It would be nice if they could catch whoever filed that false police report and charge them accordingly.
They'd probably be given an award if the law-abiding gun owner was successfully harassed/arrested.
What an utterly stupid response. Your uninformed,police-baiting left-coast attitude notwithstanding, when did the OP say anythign about the Blacksburg police acting unprofessionally or harassing anyone? Blacksburg police have generally been law-abiding and above board in my experience.
Indeed. Stories of police violating constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners have been bashed in to me so many times, it's hard to tell who to trust. Especially when even a single agency has been an angel one day, a devil the next.
Exactly. We're not in California, N6. ;)
CA is not the only place where constitutional rights have been violated.
And Virginia is not the only place where we have good interaction with LEOs as in this case I feel that the OP was. At the very least, it was neutral.

Yata hey
 

Glock27Bill

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Louisa County, Virginia, USA
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So is therea case here (or in similar situations) to file a civil suit against someone who files a false police report against you?

I know the police can take action, but would the subject of the false report have a case? I've often wondered about this.

(Yes, I know yuo can always sue anybody for anything).
 

Citizen

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Fairfax Co., VA
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Glock27Bill wrote:
So is therea case here (or in similar situations) to file a civil suit against someone who files a false police report against you?

I know the police can take action, but would the subject of the false report have a case? I've often wondered about this.

(Yes, I know yuo can always sue anybody for anything).

I don't know about the civil suit side.

However, I have talked to a Fairfax County magistrate about the criminal side of someone making a false report. She said she would probably not issue a warrant against the false reporter if no arrest was made. Meaning if the OCer only gets talked-to with no arrest, then no criminal warrant for the false report would issue.

Of course, the law is the law. If you were the victim of a false report and maybe had some witnesses on your side,all of you presenting your sworn statements at the same time and in person to the magistrate might sway the matter. Throw in some security camera video that shows the gun never left the holster and was not even pointed at by the OCer, and it might nudge further towards a warrant for the false report.

In any case, +10 on the FOIA request.
 

jonmaverick

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Can anyone imagine the Blacksburg police NOT taking a call like that seriously? I'd be glad they didn't roll up in a SWAT van.
 

N6ATF

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jonmaverick wrote:
Can anyone imagine the Blacksburg police NOT taking a call like that seriously? I'd be glad they didn't roll up in a SWAT van.
Details are sketchy in second-hand info, in addition to police being legally allowed to lie.

What is missing is how many responded, at what code level (lights and sirens, coming to an abrupt stop in the middle of the lot and jumping out, or driving and parking normally), did they immediately do anything with their guns (unsnap retention, unholster, hold at their sides, etc...)

If they really got a report verbatim that a guy was "waving a gun around in the parking lot", I would expect them to step up the seriousness level. Perhaps not immediately to the level of SWAT, but... certainly not walking around asking people in a semi-relaxed fashion either. That's more of a thing you do when hunting law-abiding -coughgunowners- citizens.
 

mpg9999

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N6ATF wrote:
jonmaverick wrote:
Can anyone imagine the Blacksburg police NOT taking a call like that seriously? I'd be glad they didn't roll up in a SWAT van.
Details are sketchy in second-hand info, in addition to police being legally allowed to lie.

What is missing is how many responded, at what code level (lights and sirens, coming to an abrupt stop in the middle of the lot and jumping out, or driving and parking normally), did they immediately do anything with their guns (unsnap retention, unholster, hold at their sides, etc...)

If they really got a report verbatim that a guy was "waving a gun around in the parking lot", I would expect them to step up the seriousness level. Perhaps not immediately to the level of SWAT, but... certainly not walking around asking people in a semi-relaxed fashion either. That's more of a thing you do when hunting law-abiding -coughgunowners- citizens.
This is an email from the individual who was there:

"So, (names deleted) decided to get lunch before we went to the foodlion. Because of that, we got there a little late - right after you guys left. We see the titan and focus, and no one else, so we think they are either getting food, or everyone just left. We stand outside and wait for not even a minute, and a cop drives up to us, stops and rolls down his window. At this point I'm thinking "ok, what's going on...?" The conversation is as follows:

Cop: (Greets us). Are you guys here for the guys with the cars? About 30 of 'em. You know, tuner cars?
*we all hesitate a second*
Person 1: Yeah, why?
Cop: Well, they just left. But we got a call from some people inside the stores, saying that they were getting nervous about the group. They said they were waving around guns. Do you know anything about that?
Person 1: Hah. What?
Person 2: No. That doesn't sound like us or something we would do.
Cop: Well ok. I just wanted to see if I could clear up some things, get any more information. It's just that some people were getting a little nervous especially since it was a big group of kids.
Person 3: Yeah.
Cop: Is there a car show going on, or you guys going to a race?
Person 1: No there was a car show. They all just came from a car show.
Cop: Oh allright. Well, thanks for the information. Yall have a good day now.
Peron 2: (after cop leaves) Haha. What just happened? They were waving guns around?
All: (laugh)

So yeah...this is the entire story from right before up till right after. I didn't take notice of what type of cop. It was most likely just a Blacksburg cop, since we are in Bburg. Right after Ian mentioned the car show, I don't remember exactly how the conversation went. I just know it ended really quickly after that, and all that was mentioned. This dialogue is not 100% accurate as to what was said word for word- so in no way quote it (except for tuner cars, group of 30 or so, waving guns around, people getting nervous). This is the conversation as best as I could remember
 
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