TexasCHLforum.com

KD5NRH wrote:A license to do what, call the police?

It's probably just an ID card so that the cops will know that you're with the program.

Driving or walking repeatedly around an area is per se suspicious behavior. People who do that may be casing a burglary target or looking for a drug dealer or prostitute. I've seen it around here.

- Jim

In my opinion (IANAL, etc.), that policy was written by someone who did not understand the law or did not care to get it right.

PC 46.02 contains all the elements of the offense of unlawfully carrying a weapon, and acting as a police volunteer is not among them.

Furthermore, PC 46.02 does not apply to long guns, pepper spray, Tasers, and a range of other things that can be used as weapons.

You might want to ask one of the officers in a confidential, off-the-record situation, how the police department really understands that policy.

- Jim

Does the manual specifically state that it is "unlawful" for a CHL holder to carry while patrolling?

I don't see how it could be unlawful to carry in your own vehicle. No agency can create a criminal offense by policy. Probably they would just throw you out of the group if they found out you were carrying.

You have to think about what they are trying to do here. They don't want non-LEO citizens acting as cops -- and this has been a real problem from time to time with citizen patrols. They don't want the volunteers or an innocent party to get hurt if the volunteer intervenes, and they don't want the liability to fall on the police department.

Neighborhood Watch and other such groups have the same rule.

Personally, I would not want to identify myself with the police department, period. I think it might make me a target for the local thugs. I can't understand departments that put uniformed personnel on the streets without weapons or self-defense training.

- Jim