TexasCHLforum.com

Ruark wrote:

Charles L. Cotton wrote: Your post implies that you have frequent contact with LEOs. Are you stopped by a LEO often? If so, why? I drive a Corvette and I haven't been stopped more than 3 or 4 times in the last 15 years. I've never been stopped on the street, not once in 65 years.
Chas.

Heh, no, not particularly often. Just pulled over for things like a tail light being out, license plate fell off, etc. Haven't had a traffic ticket in ages. In those cases, granted, they did have a reason to detain me, because I was in violation. But asking me all those questions when detaining me for a "CHL check" when I'm not violating any law is a different matter; that would be hard to tolerate. Summarily, I guess we'll just have to wait until January 1 and see what actually happens.

So you have had that discussion with a cop or you haven't?

I think many take the questions about where are you headed, where are you coming from, where do you work etc wrong. While it is not just idle chit chat to build rapport, it also isn't the great violation of the 4th Amendment some seem to think it is. It is a way for the cop to engage you so they can assess your condition and determine if there may be something nefarious going on. When they ask these questions, they are listening to your voice inflection, speech pattern, watching your physical response etc to see if you are intoxicated, excessively nervous, abnormal eye movement etc.

Like it or not, it's just them doing their job. I don't mind it as I've never had one question me to the point I thought it excessive or had become an interrogation.

By the way, getting defensive can also cause them to want to dig deeper and ask more questions as they can take that as a sign of someone hiding something.

Charles,
I agree with everything you've said regarding attitude and mutual respect. I think the majority of the time it depends on how we respond to the officer whether it is a good stop or not. I also believe there will be situations in certain jurisdictions where the long detentions, running serial numbers etc will happen. That doesn't mean people should respond with belligerence on the side of the road.

Just for perspective, I have been stopped twice in the last eight months or so for minor equipment violations. Neither time was I disarmed and neither stop could have been more friendly and congenial. However, each stop took approximately 20 minutes from the time the officer hit his lights and the time I drove away with a written warning.

If a cop wants to string something out for whatever reason and slow roll a contact, it can be done easily. Just as easy as it is to come up with a factual pretext for a stop. I am sure it will happen as there are overzealous, under trained, gung ho cops out there that will cherish the opportunity to harass someone. Unfortunately, I think I may be related to one.

Again, I am 100% with you on the good attitude gets better results the large majority of the time. I also believe cops typically respond to respect with respect. I've said elsewhere that I will go along with showing ID if I chose to open carry and get stopped till the newness wears off and people get more accustomed to open carry.

Jumping Frog wrote:
Arming oneself in public before entering a Target department store is reasonably suspicious in my mind, and I have no problem with police responding to a MWAG call with investigatory detention.

I noticed the cop didn't do anything until the person was leaving the store and walking to his car. I would think if he was considered a risk of robbing the Target, the cop would have intervened while he was in the store and not wait till the guy was peacefully walking to his vehicle after shopping to draw down on him.

I also believe the gun carrier should have been more discreet and that he brought the attention on himself even though I do not agree with the manner in which the officer handled it.