Why all the negativity?
Wow, this is my first post here. I was really excited to find this forum and have spent my comp. time over the past couple of days reading a lot of the great stuff here. Then I tripped over this thread and wonder; what gives?
Perhaps I open myself up to ridicule here but I am not even a little bit ashamed to admit that I am a cop.
I will even risk sounding like a conceited ass and say that I am a very good cop.
Many of the people who posted in this thread seem to have some very harsh opinions of me and my brothers and sisters in blue by virtue of our chosen profession. Lets look at what a cop is shall we?
You have chosen us (through your Government) to be defenders of the people. We protect those too weak or timid to protect themselves. You require us to operate in a strictly controlled environment that gives every advantage to the person(s) suspected of a crime.
We are required to be legal experts, counselors, referees, therapists, priests, teachers, social workers, diplomats, English majors, child psychologists, non-lethal combat experts, riflemen, pistoleers, racecar drivers, flat tire changers, cab driver, medical aid first responders, family counselor, Marriage therapist, babysitter, guard, deductive reasoner, etc. etc. etc…
Oh yeah, we have to be completely unbiased; fair, and impartial at all times. We have to be able to be tempted continuously and refuse to give in, we have to know where to find all the vice the world has to offer, but partake in none of it.
You give us enormous power and responsibility. At times decisions that we make impact the entire course of other people’s lives… sometimes those decisions have to be made in fractions of a second…. and we cant make mistakes.
Here’s the hitch. We are people; yes folks, human beings just like you. We make mistakes; sometimes even when we try our hardest not to.
My issued CAR is a tool; nothing more, nothing less. Lets say I worked in construction and when I left the jobsite one evening the tailgate of my pickup truck fell open and my saws-all case slid out of the box of my truck and was found on the highway the next day? Would that make me too irresponsible a carpenter to carry a saws-all in the future?
Given, some butt-monkey who tripped over something lying in the road could do a hell of a lot more damage with my Rock River than they could with the Makita, but damn.
Frankly I am shocked that there are so many people who responded to this by first firing off some smarmy comment about the police then going on to expound on how they would conceal the rifle. I couldn’t even imagine having this conversation with a bunch of other cops… somehow us irresponsible, imbecile, no-good cops find or have handed to us found property all the time and don’t convert it to our personal use. What kind of disparaging remarks would you have to make about a news story of a cop who found a man’s gun and decided to keep it for himself “because the owner is obviously too irresponsible to keep it himself?" Or do you hold us to a higher standard than you hold yourself to?
Yes there are bad cops, stupid cops, fat cops, and crooked cops. No more than there are bad-stupid-fat-crooked farmers, or bakers, or car mechanics, or engineers or whatever. Far less even, in my opinion.
Oh, and by the way, I wish I could take some pictures of my old Vic, to show you just how very easily this could have happened just as the Trooper said it did, but I drive an Expedition now.
I would attempt to explain in detail that the damn dash mounted trunk release or the pull cord for the emergency trunk escape on a patrol car can (and does) inadvertently pop open the trunk and how a cruiser’s trunk is so jammed full of equipment that those who carry their long arms in the trunk have to put them on top of all of it all for easy access, thus making it the first thing to fall out if the trunk comes open (or when you are rearended) but others with first hand knowledge have failed to reason it out for some of you, so I wont waste my or your time.
Did you know that the vast (and I mean VAST) majority of the rank and file police officers are your (by “your†I mean firearms enthusiasts) strong allies and compatriots in the struggle to maintain our 2A rights? Most of us do not fear an armed citizen, we appreciate them… we are “just†armed citizens too.
I guess it sucks that my first post here was a rant, but I am really surprised and disappointed by some of the attitudes I saw here in this thread
I am used to going to different places on the web and deciding to keep my profession under my hat because of all the negativity that people show the police, but I didn’t think this would be one of those places. I guess I was wrong. :banghead:
What a shame.
OH Ya GOOD PLAN. 
