LEO Stops Me on My Evening Run:Asks "What Are You Packing?"

[M203Sniper]

"Now ,do you want to know what I'm really packing?"He replied with a laugh."Now,thats not necessary."My reply was, "If I'm nearby and you need any back up, you know you got it."
He thanked me, reached out and shook my hand.Just than I noticed another City cruiser pulling up towards us from the other direction.He himself had already called for back up!
I waved my umbrella at the approaching officer who I've known for years and continued my run.

Am I the only one who read "ROOKIE"

 

[3KillerBs]

Riiiight. Why handle it in a manner resulting in good will, pleasantries, and trust when you can take an adversarial tact with predictably less possitive results?

+1

 

[3KillerBs]

If that's ok in your world fine, in my world any cop that interacts W/ me is seeking evidence that a crime has been commited, and anything you say can and will be used against you.

I'd hate to live in a world that paranoid.

Good police officers take advantage of opportunities for friendly interactions with local people when they find them. Old-fashioned, "Cop on the beat" stuff. IIRC, they call that "community policing" now.

Being hostile during random encounters with police officers is courting trouble on purpose.

 

[F4GIB]

1. Always start off the interaction in a friendly manner.

2. Friendly does not mean cooperative with questions or actions that YOU aren't comfortable with.

3. You can always control the amount of information YOU give out in a conversation.

4. Most importantly, YOU can always transition to defensive mode at any time. "Am I free to go?" If not, "I have nothing further to say about X, I want a lawyer and, BTW, I do not consent to any searches of my person or property." Then YOU must keep your mouth shut.

5. If his suspicions have been assuaged and you are about to slide out of his grasp, don't F it up by suddenly acting like an ass. Be cool and walk away. I.E., if asked about your BACK pocket, show him the umbrella. Nothing else. That will probably end it. If not, go to Step 4.

After 30 years of lawyering, my estimate is that the number of cops who should have other jobs (with less power and responsibility) has gone up dramatically but that's a reason to be cautious, not a reason to stir up every anthill.

 

[mr.72]

Not noticing where you live or taking note of the weather (it is summer time), but around here anyone out running at any time of day, particularly 6 miles, is not going to be wearing shorts with an external pocket that would hold an umbrella, nor are they likely to be wearing a typical t-shirt.

So maybe the OP just didn't look like a typical runner, and the cop noticed the umbrella and didn't know what it was.

Of course if the cop had really thought the OP was a BG, he would have not said "what are you packing". He would have stopped the car, asked for ID, etc. He was obviously trying to make [misguided IMHO] friendly conversation while allaying some of his mild suspicions. Certainly if the cop really thought the OP was a BG on the run, and really thought he was armed, then he was a complete fool to approach the situation in that manner, pulling up in his car and immediately revealing his query about the gun. If the OP was really a BG, then the cop likely gets shot.

BTW I think this touches on one of the many circumstances where "dressing around your gun" can also readily reveal that you are carrying. I have considered this frequently because my line of work and also some of my hobbies involve a mode of dress that is pretty easily identified, and when you deviate from the norm you stick out like a sore thumb. If I go out on a 50 mile road bicycle ride on my road bike, and I wear cargo shorts and a loose button down shirt to cover up an IWB then I will look at least like a total fool and maybe as if I have stolen the bike. Certainly anyone will think I must be hiding something. The normal attire is lyrca shorts, a cycling jersey...

 

[ilbob]

Good police officers take advantage of opportunities for friendly interactions with local people when they find them. Old-fashioned, "Cop on the beat" stuff. IIRC, they call that "community policing" now.

Not much of that going on these days. Friendly interactions are rare when the only time you see them is driving by at 10 MPH over the speed limit or when they stop you at their favorite speed trap.

I'd like to see more beat cops, but they are just not economically feasible anymore.

 

[ashtxsniper]

I gotta answer this question for you guys. Why can LEO stop you for no reason well the answer is simple.............Because we can!

 

[DEDON45]

That's a pretty good story.... I grew up out in "the country" and my stepfather had a tendency, from time to time, to be a little heavy on the go pedal when in the 2 or 3 small towns near us... I'll never forget one sunday afternoon, when leaving church, we get pulled over 'cause he's 10 over the limit in town, by a county mountie. My stepdad owns up to speeding, then he asks the guy what he had under the hood (it was a "new" mustang)... they chatted about that, then my stepdad commenced to telling the young man that he needed to get something with more power than the wundernine... they ended up looking at the several guns we had in the car (not in the manner of the guy lookin' for something, he was interested in rifles, and the pistol my stepdad was telling him about; out there, everyone kept a pistol in the glovebox for snakes, dispatching wounded deer, etc. -- it's totally legal here) I think that fella ended up at our place a few times for target shooting. As I recall, I think my stepdad still got a ticket, but the points were knocked off of it.

Of course, this was a place (and not so long ago, I graduated H.S. in 1994) where the boys drove pickup trucks to school with gun racks (but no guns, though occasionally I'd forget about a .22 rifle I had behind the seat from the last time I went squirrel hunting or what not) in them, we all lived in households with access to firearms, but I don't recall any of us going nuts and shooting each other... we did thin the deer population out when fall came around though.

 

[RTFM]

treo is right on with this one mates.

But it also re-inforced to me that most LEO's,and this I've always known ,are on our side.

Your living in a fantasy world solo, if they know you or not -it's them vs: everyone else. Don't think for a minute you were not being assessed as a bad guy.

.....I told him "Now ,do you want to know what I'm really packing?"He replied with a laugh."Now,thats not necessary."My reply was, "If I'm nearby and you need any back up, you know you got it."

Dumb on both accounts.
None of his damn business what your carrying - and why would you offer anything as far as information?
And offering your services.... not your job - I'd never offer assistance - not my job either - his problem - he has a radio - he obviously knows how to use it - he already thought you a bag guy and called for Barny to assist.

You may feel warm an fuzzy over your local pd and how friendly you are with them, more cool aid?

 

[Beatnik]

Last night the family and I were driving out of our neighborhood and noticed a minivan parked at the end of the street. There was a black family sitting on the curb outside of it. I had noticed a cop talking to them when I got home 15 minutes earlier but he wasn't there at that point.

So, we stopped, and I asked if they had someone coming for them. The father said yes. I said great, as long as you're ok, and drove out.

He could have taken it the wrong way. I was trying to be a good samaritan, but he could have mentally tacked on "cause I don't want your kind hanging out in my neighborhood" to the end of my sentence for me.

I don't think he got that out of my interaction with him, but I submit, dear readers, the fact that I didn't have other people from the neighborhood join me in my interaction. That may have helped it go smoothly.

 

[wheelgunslinger]

I'll have to side with the core of what Treo is saying here.

For people who don't know the chief, don't hang out with the local cops, don't have the right haircut, and aren't an appropriate color or social class, an officer riding up and asking something can and should be met with suspicion- or at least with some measure of apprehension. If you have a firearm on you, it becomes even more important to understand your rights and the law to the letter.

Right this second, I'm a middle aged white guy from the south. I have it easier than anyone in the country when it comes to LEOs and stops- demographically. I also come from a family with 3 previous generations of Law Enforcement (from small town cops to chief to 1 Marshall), so I understand the vernacular and subculture better than the average dude.

But, if you don't know the chief, shoot with the local townies or deputies, or have a view from the inside, then a good cop and a bad cop wear the same gear, drive the same cars, use much of the same vernacular, and are impossible to tell apart until you know with whom you're dealing.
Add in a concealed weapon, and you get a potentially hostile situation. People who want to go by the book shouldn't be castigated for being cautious when cops are praised for it, especially when one felony conviction can take away your rkba and possibly ruin your career in one fell swoop or slip of the tongue.

 

[ilbob]

For people who don't know the chief, don't hang out with the local cops, don't have the right haircut, and aren't an appropriate color or social class, an officer riding up and asking something can and should be met with suspicion- or at least with some measure of apprehension.

Well said.

 

[CBS220]

Not much of that going on these days. Friendly interactions are rare when the only time you see them is driving by at 10 MPH over the speed limit or when they stop you at their favorite speed trap.

I'd like to see more beat cops, but they are just not economically feasible anymore.

Not true.

Many sheriff's departments have several cops who are "on the beat", but with the mission to more or less just check up on things- businesses, people, and to foster good will in the community.

They're out and about, which makes them still quite available to handle calls for more pressing matters, but in the meanwhile they are helping the community while generating a more positive viewpoint of law enforcement.

Some people here should ditch the tin foil. Most cops don't really care one way or the other about whether you're carrying or not. This sort of reasoning leads me to think some people may have a slightly inflated sense of self-purpose...

 

[3KillerBs]

Quote:
Good police officers take advantage of opportunities for friendly interactions with local people when they find them. Old-fashioned, "Cop on the beat" stuff. IIRC, they call that "community policing" now.
Not much of that going on these days. Friendly interactions are rare when the only time you see them is driving by at 10 MPH over the speed limit or when they stop you at their favorite speed trap.

I'd like to see more beat cops, but they are just not economically feasible anymore.

I've never lived anywhere that I didn't periodically see the police driving casually through the neighborhood.

I always wave and smile at them. Often they smile and wave back.

 

[ilbob]

Good police officers take advantage of opportunities for friendly interactions with local people when they find them. Old-fashioned, "Cop on the beat" stuff. IIRC, they call that "community policing" now.

Not much of that going on these days. Friendly interactions are rare when the only time you see them is driving by at 10 MPH over the speed limit or when they stop you at their favorite speed trap.

I'd like to see more beat cops, but they are just not economically feasible anymore.

I've never lived anywhere that I didn't periodically see the police driving casually through the neighborhood.

Big difference between a beat cop walking around the same neighborhood everyday and a guy driving through once or twice a month.

 

[ilbob]

I've never lived anywhere that I didn't periodically see the police driving casually through the neighborhood.

I always wave and smile at them. Often they smile and wave back.

I have been known to wave and smile myself. I just don't see them all that often.

 

[3KillerBs]

Once or twice a month?

I've rarely seen them less often than 4-5 times a week -- except when we lived back a long dirt road on top of a mountain.

Of course we have always, in so far as it was within our power, chosen safe, low-crime areas to live in. Regular, casual police presence is probably one of the reasons those areas were nice places to live.

 

[ilbob]

Many sheriff's departments have several cops who are "on the beat", but with the mission to more or less just check up on things- businesses, people, and to foster good will in the community.

I am sure there are a few cases where there are something called beat cops. I don't think they can be compared to real beat cops of days gone by.

Most of the time police cars are assigned to patrol certain areas.

 

[Sergeant Sabre]

I really don't see much difference between the "all cops are after us!" paranoia crowd and the skewed, emotional way the antis view us as "wacko gun-nuts waiting to kill people."

Both of those are ignorant, uninformed biases that fly in the face of truth.

 

[ilbob]

Once or twice a month?

I've rarely seen them less often than 4-5 times a week -- except when we lived back a long dirt road on top of a mountain.

I walk the dog every morning. About 30 minutes. Can't say I saw one all of June during my walks. Although last fall there was a stretch where I was almost convinced they were watching me because I saw one almost every day for a couple of weeks.

I do hear them now and then at night driving quickly down the street I live on (its kind of a main drag now).

 

[VA27]

Who besides Mary Poppins runs with an umbrella? You could fall and poke your eye out!

Without red lights and siren, I don't think I would have stopped at all. When I'm running I don't stop until I'm done.

If you want to talk to me while I'm running, you have to run with me. I'm pretty sure that's in the jogger's handbook.

 

[Zoogster]

I pulled the umbrella out and stuck it through the cruiser window.

Yeah that is always the best course of action when police ask what you are packing.
Quickly pull it out and then stick it in thier direction.

 

[Macpherson]

I really don't see much difference between the "all cops are after us!" paranoia crowd and the skewed, emotional way the antis view us as "wacko gun-nuts waiting to kill people."

Both of those are ignorant, uninformed biases that fly in the face of truth.

The difference is, if you make a mistake, say the wrong thing or if a cop doesn't like your responses, things could go from a pleasant evening run to sitting in the back of a squad car. I think folks need to watch that law professor's video on why you shouldn't talk to cops, at least of the cop in that video; he seems like a pretty nice guy but he's definitely NOT on your side. Cops can and will use every kind of deception they can think of to find evidence of a wrongdoing, even ones the person didn't know they were committing.

 

[rondog]

Jeesus, there sure are some paranoid people in this world. Must be tough to go through life with your back to a wall all the time.

 

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Cops can and will use every kind of deception they can think of to find evidence of a wrongdoing, even ones the person didn't know they were committing.

But 99% aren't looking to invent wrongdoing just for the sake of arresting someone.

Sometimes, the old "if you didn't do anything wrong, you have nothing to fear" adage is really true. Cops may or may not be constantly looking for wrongdoing, but they ARE looking for REAL wrongdoing. They do have to fill out paperwork build cases, log evidence, conduct interviews, go to court, etc. They don't just pull someone over, make up false crimes just for the joy of arresting someone. Cops are just normal guys doing a job.


If a cop speaks to me, I truly don't worry. I KNOW I didn't do anything wrong. And I know that it's not worth it to either of us or anyone else for him to invent crimes that I supposedly did.

It boils down to a fundamental difference in how we see the people who decide to be cops. Your side sees them as the type of people who get off on power trips, who have fun lording over others, and who see themselves as better.

I see cops as average guys who felt compelled to do a thankless job that needs to be done. They don't want things to be any harder or time consuming, just like a guy on any other job. They're just trying to do what they need to do to get the job done and go home without bullet holes in them.

And your side is just like the antis. You're using a paranoid emotional response to paint an entire group based off the misconduct of a widely publicized few. My side just looks at them like people, and doesn't hold anything against the individuals that the individual did not do.