Got stopped - TRIED to inform - ignored

[3dfxMM]

If you are carrying you are required to ID and inform, if you are not carrying you are only required to ID (I always show LTC anyways, although I cannot remember anytime in the last few years I was not carrying). Some LEO's do not worry about it, he may not have been irritated with the ID as much as the speeding. (if that was the case, I irritate quite often ).

If you carrying you are required to show him your CHL/LTC. There is no requirement to inform him that you are carrying. He may ask you about it or he may not.

[WTR]

I was stopped at a check point. I had turned my lights off so they weren't in the eyes of the person in front of me. When it was my turn I handed over my DL and insurance. When the Officer came back he had a citation book in hand. I said excuse me, I should have showed you my CHL. He asked what I carried and told me to turn my lights on and to drive safely.

What sort of check point? [/quote

This one was in TX and they were checking DL, insurance and seat belts.

[The Annoyed Man]

I have never forgotten my first encounter with a Texas LEO after getting my CHL. It was for an expired inspection sticker.....just an oversight on my part which I corrected the next day. Anyway, I showed him both IDs. He asked me if I was armed, and I said yes.

"Where is it?"

"It's on my left hip, officer, in an OWB holster."

"Tell you what sir......you don't show me yours, and I won't show you mine."

"You got it, officer!"



Frankly though, that's how that kind of thing should go. You do have a requirement to inform IF you are carrying at the time. There is NO requirement to inform if you are NOT carrying. "Inform" means show them your CHL/LTC. It does NOT mean saying "I HAVE A GUN!!!".

Factually, there is no longer any penalty on the books for failing to inform, although the requirement is still in the law. There may well be off-the-books penalties for failing to inform......such as the fallout from dealing with an irritated cop whose attention you have drawn fully to yourself, and who is maybe no longer inclined to view you as above suspicion.

My personal policy is to always show both IDs. Period. There is no harm in it. I am always armed anyway so the requirement is always there, but even if I weren't armed at the moment, I'd still show both. I NEVER volunteer the information that I am armed. I let the nice officer ask, which gives me the opportunity to inform him with an answer rather than volunteered information. That leaves him in control of the flow of the conversation - which keeps him relaxed. When he's relaxed, I'm relaxed.

I've had perhaps a half dozen or fewer reasons to show ID to a police officer since I got my CHL - one of which was the above mentioned expired inspection sticker. One was a moving violation (brake light out on one side). The others were various interactions with police responding to burglar alarms and stuff like that. That first one was the only cop who actually asked if I was armed and where the gun was. The others all handed my IDs back to me like they couldn't care less.

[JustSomeOldGuy]

If you were driving a vehicle registered to you, he may have already known that have an LTC from having already queried your license plate while following you.

I believe this is not true. The LTC is tied to the Driver's License, not the vehicle registration.

Perhaps not directly, but it was my understanding that presuming your name/address on license match name/address on vehicle registration, they can 'find' your driver's license. This was mentioned by one of the instructors when I took the chl course in 1996. Perhaps someone with current access to the database systems involved can comment "yes, we can" or "no, we can't".

[puma guy]

I was stopped at a check point. I had turned my lights off so they weren't in the eyes of the person in front of me. When it was my turn I handed over my DL and insurance. When the Officer came back he had a citation book in hand. I said excuse me, I should have showed you my CHL. He asked what I carried and told me to turn my lights on and to drive safely.

What sort of check point? [/quote

This one was in TX and they were checking DL, insurance and seat belts.

I thought it was settled years ago that checkpoints in Texas are not permitted. Holt vs state I believe. I wouldn't argue with LEO's at the time doing them, but I would certainly follow up.

[WTR]

I was stopped at a check point. I had turned my lights off so they weren't in the eyes of the person in front of me. When it was my turn I handed over my DL and insurance. When the Officer came back he had a citation book in hand. I said excuse me, I should have showed you my CHL. He asked what I carried and told me to turn my lights on and to drive safely.

What sort of check point? [/quote

This one was in TX and they were checking DL, insurance and seat belts.

I thought it was settled years ago that checkpoints in Texas are not permitted. Holt vs state I believe. I wouldn't argue with LEO's at the time doing them, but I would certainly follow up.

They never claim it is a DUI check point, but they do hold organized checkpoints by El Paso County Sheriff's Dept. for the reasons I stated. Now, NM advertises that they will be holding DUI checkpoints.

[puma guy]

I was stopped at a check point. I had turned my lights off so they weren't in the eyes of the person in front of me. When it was my turn I handed over my DL and insurance. When the Officer came back he had a citation book in hand. I said excuse me, I should have showed you my CHL. He asked what I carried and told me to turn my lights on and to drive safely.

What sort of check point? [/quote

This one was in TX and they were checking DL, insurance and seat belts.

I thought it was settled years ago that checkpoints in Texas are not permitted. Holt vs state I believe. I wouldn't argue with LEO's at the time doing them, but I would certainly follow up.

They never claim it is a DUI check point, but they do hold organized checkpoints by El Paso County Sheriff's Dept. for the reasons I stated. Now, NM advertises that they will be holding DUI checkpoints.

Someone with more legal knowledge/background then myself will perhaps chime in, but I don't think the reason for the checkpoint stops mattered. If something has changed and we have allowed our rights once again to be put in the dumpster then shame on us.

[WTR]

I was hunting in the Guadalupe's one year and had gone to set up camp and scout around a day before season. We round a corner on a dirt road and we run into a check point with State, County ,Game Warden and Border Patrol LEOs. They had an enclosed stock trailer they were using as a jail. It was about half full.

[Liberty]

The thing is, once an officer sees that the LTC/CHL exist, other than the fact that the actor has the license. There really isn't any further information to be gleaned that isn't there on the Driver's License

[Abraham]

WTR,

Your experience is mind boggling.

Shades of WW11 Germany...

[MrMcCullster]

I got stopped by DPS on my way to Texarkana and into Arkansas to visit family in October of last year. Same deal. I was speeding (speed limit was 75 mph, my cruise control was set at about 82 or 83). It was right in that range. Officer was off on the right shoulder camped out and I saw him turn his lights on and point with his finger to pull over.

I immediately pulled over and stopped, and got my wallet out and set it in the front cupholder between the seats. He approached my passenger window and asked for my license. I pulled both my LTC and drivers license and gave them to him as a "stack" of cards, with my license on top. He looked at the LTC on the bottom, tapped them both on the window frame and gave me my LTC back. He said nothing about my firearm or wanted any further information about it.

He went back to his car and came back a few minutes later and asked me how often I travel this way. I told him not often, I'm just visiting some family up near Hot Springs, and he let me off with a signed warning. That was that.

Do what needs to be done and give the information needed, but if he doesn't need anything else, leave it alone. No need to call any further attention to yourself or press further.

[ninjabread]

If you presented both, you did what was required of you. There's no requirement for the LEO to take it or do anything different just because you have a LTC.

They didn't give you a hard time for failure to display. They didn't even disarm you. So, what's the problem?

[thetexan]

i would present it and get some acknowledgement from him if he doesn't want it.

For example if he ignores it I would say something like "you don't want my LTC license?" He would then give you a direct answer to a direct question. That way there's no "misunderstanding" in any future accusation, or at least, you can make your claim.

tex

[NTexCopRetired]

The LTC is tied to the DL. The DL number is actually on the LTC. Vehicle registration is not. You can always run what is called a "blind 27". A 10-27 is ten-code for a DL check. Running it blind means you don't have a DL number. It is run against a name and date of birth or just the name. With the soundex and alias's, you usually get more returns than you want to go thru.