imported post
here is the entire collection of emails so far....with sensitive information deleted of course....also to get the flow of the emails you must read from bottom to top....
Mr. LaChute,
I thank you for your quick response. With all due respect, I believe it is very clear that there is something you need to address with your officers. This is a very serious matter of possible civil rights violations and could lead into civil and criminal penalties against your officers and their supervisors. There has been quite allot of recent media attention to matters like this and several federal and supreme court decisions based on these same situations. If I remember correctly, your parish and the City of New Orleans were recently issued injunctions against violating 2nd amendment rights of law abiding citizens in possession of LEGAL firearms. I hope my concerns are being taken very seriously and this matter looked into deeply and seriously. I gave your officers and your department the benefit of the doubt and gave you the chance to appropriately handle this matter internally instead of taking it to the media, the public, and the courts. As of this time I am still willing and hoping that you will handle this internally for the benefit of your officers and their public image. I will be anxiously awaiting your final conclusion of this matter before making my decision to speak with higher authorities.
Thanks, Jack
Jack MPIC, NREMT-P, TM, CSC, RS
-----Original Message----
Subject: RE: incident with officer
Thank you for taking the time to express your concerns regarding this incident.
We are reviewing your communication to ascertain if there is anything that we need to address with our officers.
Sincerely,
Steven E. LaChute
Civic and Business Liaison
Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office
The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential, proprietary, and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from all computers.If you do not wish to receive these notifications please reply with "Stop" in the subject line.
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From:
To: Sheriff
Subject: incident with officer
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Dear Sir,
I had an incident with one of your officers on the evening of Dec 16th that has caused me great concern. Due to the special nature of this incident and the great legal ramifications involved I wished to bring it to your attention for the protection of your department, your parish, your citizens, and for myself.
I am very familiar that LA is an open carry state. I have also carried openly in many places and stores throughout LA with no problems at all even while having friendly conversations with officers. So now you know a little about me I will get to my point. The night of Dec 16th 2009 I was traveling through Metaire and stopped at the best buy store. I had my Ruger 9mm in a kydex belt holster at the 430 position open carried with no jacket. (I have been in this store several times before with no incidents or questions). anyway, I walked in past the duty officer nodding and saying hello and went about my business. After about 30 minutes he walked by me while pushing a cart and picking up a few things himself. As he got close to me he smiled and asked what department I was with. At first I thought he was referring to which department of my company I worked for since it is a very large, well known and respected, company with several departments and since I was currently wearing a nice button up shirt with my companies logo on it. When I told him this he said ''oh so your not a law enforcement officer?'' I said no sir I am not. He then asked if I had a permit? To which I said yes sir I do. He then asked if it was for concealed weapon and I told him that yes It was. He then proceeded to tell me that ''concealed means completely concealed'' and told me that I needed to return my gun to my vehicle please because it was illegal for me to carry my weapon unless completely concealed. At that time I told him It was my understanding from researching LA handgun laws and speaking with the LA Attorney General that LA was a completely legal open carry state. He then told me that ''LA WAS ABSOLUTELY NOT AN OPEN CARRY STATE AND WAS HIGHLY ILLEGAL''. As I was on a short time frame and didn't have any legal documents on me I just told him that I would make sure and double checkthe lawsand advised him to do the same. As I was ready to check out I asked if It was ok for me to go ahead and check out and leave or if he was ordering me to leave and secure the weapon first and THEN come back in to check out. He told me it would be fine for me to go ahead and check out but just be sure to remember to keep my weapon concealed at all times or leave it in the vehicle from now on. He was very polite during all this as was I. However, it does dismay me that either he was completely and knowingly lying to me, or else he really truly had absolutely no idea of what the true law is regarding handguns and open carry. Of course after this incident I again started reviewing the open carry laws of LA. In my research I discovered that LA IS A TRULY LEGAL OPEN CARRY STATE. I also discovered that there has been several recent incidents throughout the state where an officer has made an arrest and seizure of weapon for someone that was openly carrying a firearm, and then that officer, his department, and his city or parish was sued for civil rights violations, and for criminal false arrest and kidnapping charges. The LA attorney general has released several very plain and clear opinions about these cases as well have many supreme court and federal judges. I will attach several of these to this email for your viewing.
So my question and concerns for you sir are this: Could this just be a case of one of your officers not being trained in regards to these situations and having the wrong information? If so is there some way to advise your officers of this law so legal citizens are not falsely arrested for these incidents? And so your officers and your department and municipality is not placed at risk of civil and criminal legal actions?
Or is this a regular policy in your department? I could fully understand an officer approaching someone with a visible weapon to make sure they are legal and not a danger to anyone. However, The thought of a law officer telling citizens lies that they are breaking the law when in fact they are not, or even worse an officer knowingly and illegally arresting an upstanding citizen that is completely and legally exercising his free rights is just incomprehensible.
In closing Sir, I would like to make a request. I would most greatly and sincerely appreciate if you could send me an attached letter from you and your office, stating the legalities of me being able to openly carry my firearm in your parish, just so I could show it upon request to any of your officers that may approach me again in the future. Also, I would greatly appreciate if you would personally advise all your officers of the legalness of responsible open carry in this state.
I will be anxiously awaiting your response.
Regards, and Sincere Thanks, Jack MPIC, NREMTP, TM, CSC, RS
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