Good 1st encounter

[Rotgirl]

One of the foreclosures I'm managing is in a pretty nice, isolated neighborhood. They have a strong neighborhood watch and had actually been giving me hell for awhile about this house (long personal property eviction process so the grass had gotten a little long and there was "trash" in the driveway that we couldn't touch until after the eviction).

Eviction finally got done and I was at the house to take pictures and do my evaluation. I'm standing in the front yard taking outside photos when the police car pulls up. Two officers get out.

Neighbors had called about a "suspicious person".......little ol' me, my clipboard and my camera look VERY suspicious!!!!

I explain that I'm the licensed real estate broker managing the property and I'm taking pictures and evaluating the property. They ask me for my ID.

So now, for the first time, I get to say it........"I am a licensed CHL holder and I am carrying."

I tell them my ID is in the right pocket of my vest and unzip the pocket and take out my license holder and try to hand it to the officer. He tells me to take it out of the holder. I ask him if he wants my DL or CHL or both. He just wants the DL.

He walks off to run my DL and the other one asks to see my CHL. I hand it to him. He looks it over and hands it back.

We start talking real estate and this neighborhood in particular. He says they get a lot of calls around here for suspicious activity and most of it amounts to nothing. While he's talking to me, he gets a call for a burglary-in-progress.

I'm thinking, isn't this special that they're wasting their time with me when they need to get to a break-in. Other officer comes back and hands me my DL and tells me to have a good day.

They never asked where or what I was carrying. Both were polite the whole time. I could tell they thought it was a waste of their time too.

So, first one is out of the way and went well.

Ciao.....rg

[joe817]

Another good post rg! Thanks. It just goes to show you that some LEO's don't think it's a big deal to be a CHL holder, after all it's your right, and you are exercising it. I'll bet a lot even respect you for having it.

My $0.02 worth.

[Liberty]

So now, for the first time, I get to say it........"I am a licensed CHL holder and I am carrying."

You might want to reconsider how you identify yourself as a CHL holder who is carrying. I present my license and CHL at the same time. If I am not carrying I let them know that. If I am carrying I let the officer bring up the subject if they wish. My concern is that I don't want the the officer to in any way consider my mentioning a gun as a threat. I don't want to give the officer more information than he wants. We are under no obligation to inform the officer that we are armed until he asks although presenting our CHL does provide a big clue. I suppose it depends on the situation, but I've displayed my CHL a few times, and none seemed interested enough to ask if I'm carrying or where it is.

[A-R]

So now, for the first time, I get to say it........"I am a licensed CHL holder and I am carrying."

You might want to reconsider how you identify yourself as a CHL holder who is carrying. I present my license and CHL at the same time. If I am not carrying I let them know that. If I am carrying I let the officer bring up the subject if they wish. My concern is that I don't want the the officer to in any way consider my mentioning a gun as a threat. I don't want to give the officer more information than he wants. We are under no obligation to inform the officer that we are armed until he asks although presenting our CHL does provide a big clue. I suppose it depends on the situation, but I've displayed my CHL a few times, and none seemed interested enough to ask if I'm carrying or where it is.

I'm split on this. I've always just handed over the DL & CHL and waited for the LEO to ask the question. But I hear from some LEOs that they prefer that we be pro-active in telling them that we are carrying.

As for LEOs being interested or not, I actually had a motorcycle cop in Austin about 2 years ago become VERY interested when he asked "where is your weapon sir?" and I told him it was in the front pocket of my pants and he said "No way, really?" then asked what I was carrying. I told him a Kahr PM40 (my primary carry at the time) and he said "Cool. I've heard those are good guns. How do you like it?" .. we then proceeded to have a two-minute conversation about guns on the side of the road (he was looking for a good "back up piece") before he issued me a warning and sent me on my way.

[ELB]

In my (few!) interactions with police, which include a burglary of my house, witness to a couple accidents, and one actual late night stop because he thought I might be up to no good I have always just handed over the DL and CHL together. In all cases except the late night stop, the cops immediately handed back my CHL and said/asked nothing about guns. In the case of the late night stop, I just don't remember whether he gave it back right away or a little later, but in either case, he didn't say boo about guns.

I have read a couple posts about cops getting upset that their first notice of an armed CHL'er was handing over the license, but frankly I these are cops with an attitude problem. I believe the majority of posts show most cops realize that CHL'ers are way down on the "might be a problem" list.

[The Annoyed Man]

I've always just handed over the DL & CHL and waited for the LEO to ask the question

I must lead a boring life. I haven't had to show an LEO my ID yet.

[A-R]

I've always just handed over the DL & CHL and waited for the LEO to ask the question

I must lead a boring life. I haven't had to show an LEO my ID yet.

I was a 25-year-old with a lead foot when I first got my CHL ... I tended to meet our fine Texas law enforcement officers on the side of a road at least once or twice a year for those first few years. I also worked a job for four years that had me driving 60,000 miles per year on a company vehicle - with that many miles, it's just a matter of time before a LEO decides to have a chat

[stevie_d_64]

I've always just handed over the DL & CHL and waited for the LEO to ask the question

I must lead a boring life. I haven't had to show an LEO my ID yet.

You are such the model citizen...