GoldCoaster
Regular Member
imported post
Judge Blackstone said "It is better that ten guilty persons should escape than one innocent person should suffer"
That in a nutshell is how our judicial system should work. Innocent until proven guilty.
In the case of open carrying which in CT does require a permit (either to open or conceal) UNLESS there is reasonable articulable suspicion that a crime has, is, or is about to happen then they have no legal justification for demanding to see your permit to carry pistols and revolvers.
If you are walking down the street minding your own business not breaking any laws etc and a police officer happens to notice your lovely sidearm he MAY legally engage you in conversation and in doing so try and gain some evidence of a crime in progress, if you are not being "detained" then you are under no legal compunction to converse with him. If he believes he has reasonable articulable suspicion then he will detain you in the hopes he can find out more and get the next level of probable cause in which case you will be arrested.
You gain very little by talking to the police if they initiate an informal investigation trying to find out something about you they can use against you.
The most often repeated advice in any of the state forums in this site is along these lines:
You: Am I under arrest?
PO: No
PO: Yes (go to arrested)
You: Am I being detained?
PO: No ( You: if I am neither under arrest nor being detained then I am free to go - and leave)
PO: Yes
You: (stop talking and answer no questions)
Arrested: Demand to speak to a lawyer and answer NO questions without counsel.
I thought this line of behavior was a bit heavy handed until I read more stories of what happens when you DON'T establish the ground rules early on.
If a police officer acting under color of law holds you against your will with no probable cause to suspect you are guilty of a crime then he/she has violated your civil rights. There is NO qualified immunity in civil rights violations.
If you, like Mr Goldberg in Glastonbury, are arrested and carted off to jail for doing NOTHING illegal, your rights as a human being have been violated. You may then bring a civil rights suit against the department and the officer(s) personally for this violation and the damages awarded for such are usually quite steep.
The police are supposed to know this stuff cold, and many do but prey on the public that do not know it and that's how a lot of regular Joe's wind up in a jackpot. If you're going to be arrested you will NOT be able to talk yourself out of it and you will make things worse for yourself in trying.
Now if a cop were to walk up and say hello and ask what model pistol it is, well it's up to you if you want to talk guns with them. The second it goes from being a pistol lovefest to a question/answer session your spidey senses should be going into overdrive and your mouth should be clamped shut.
Good discussions though, it's a lot to think about.
Judge Blackstone said "It is better that ten guilty persons should escape than one innocent person should suffer"
That in a nutshell is how our judicial system should work. Innocent until proven guilty.
In the case of open carrying which in CT does require a permit (either to open or conceal) UNLESS there is reasonable articulable suspicion that a crime has, is, or is about to happen then they have no legal justification for demanding to see your permit to carry pistols and revolvers.
If you are walking down the street minding your own business not breaking any laws etc and a police officer happens to notice your lovely sidearm he MAY legally engage you in conversation and in doing so try and gain some evidence of a crime in progress, if you are not being "detained" then you are under no legal compunction to converse with him. If he believes he has reasonable articulable suspicion then he will detain you in the hopes he can find out more and get the next level of probable cause in which case you will be arrested.
You gain very little by talking to the police if they initiate an informal investigation trying to find out something about you they can use against you.
The most often repeated advice in any of the state forums in this site is along these lines:
You: Am I under arrest?
PO: No
PO: Yes (go to arrested)
You: Am I being detained?
PO: No ( You: if I am neither under arrest nor being detained then I am free to go - and leave)
PO: Yes
You: (stop talking and answer no questions)
Arrested: Demand to speak to a lawyer and answer NO questions without counsel.
I thought this line of behavior was a bit heavy handed until I read more stories of what happens when you DON'T establish the ground rules early on.
If a police officer acting under color of law holds you against your will with no probable cause to suspect you are guilty of a crime then he/she has violated your civil rights. There is NO qualified immunity in civil rights violations.
If you, like Mr Goldberg in Glastonbury, are arrested and carted off to jail for doing NOTHING illegal, your rights as a human being have been violated. You may then bring a civil rights suit against the department and the officer(s) personally for this violation and the damages awarded for such are usually quite steep.
The police are supposed to know this stuff cold, and many do but prey on the public that do not know it and that's how a lot of regular Joe's wind up in a jackpot. If you're going to be arrested you will NOT be able to talk yourself out of it and you will make things worse for yourself in trying.
Now if a cop were to walk up and say hello and ask what model pistol it is, well it's up to you if you want to talk guns with them. The second it goes from being a pistol lovefest to a question/answer session your spidey senses should be going into overdrive and your mouth should be clamped shut.
Good discussions though, it's a lot to think about.