Gun dispute thins auxiliary police unit. (Police told not to carry Handguns!)

Boston Globe | 10-15-2002 | Editorial Staff

[vannrox]

PITTSFIELD

Gun dispute thins auxiliary police -unit

Police Chief Anthony Riello has removed 11 of the 14 members of the cities auxiliary police unit following a dispute over whethe the volunteers should be allowed to carry handguns. Reillo said the 11 boycotted a meeting he called to discuss the unit's future, the Berkshire Eagle reported. The chief suspended the activities of the unpaid volunteers last month after the auxiliary officers, whose duties included directing traffic at parades and other events, asked the city council to be allowed to carry guns. Daniel Salzarolo, who headed the auxiliary unit, told the council that he and his colleagues felt in danger, because they looked and acted like police officers, but didn't have means to protect them selves.

I

[vannrox]

A Liberal Idea of a Police Man.

[vannrox]

AMAZING Post.

[tracer]

Now we know (as if we cared) why these civic-minded ersatz directors of traffic wanted to be "auxilliary police" in the first place. Dime to a donut they're all whack jobs anyway........

[thegreatbeast]

Wackjobs or not, they have the right to keep and bear arms...except here in the Massachusetts.
If these guys were good enough to serve the city for free for a period of time, and if their records show them to be responsible citizens then they should be granted the authority to carry.
But here in MA police chiefs are the issuing authority for pistol permits. If you were a cop sworn to keep the peace you too might be tempted to deny people their right to defend themselves because it is simply one more gun you don't have to think about.
The system here sucks. Big time.

[Tex-Con-Man]

This reminds me of how much I miss Phil Hendry...
(We had him for a while in Dallas, but they took him off)

[Navy Patriot]

dime to a donut they're all whack jobs anyway........

I'll take that dime, as your qualifier "all" will be hard to meet. I suspect that most aux. or reserve police are motivated similarly to volunteer firemen, to be available when additional trained personell are needed and to do a good job.

On the gun question, I witnessed a kind of corollary situation regarding risk. I observed a uniformed private security guard in my local bank was carying a very good quality immitation firearm. I stopped a minute to chat and suggested what might occur if a robbery took place using real guns. He told me his company required him to wear it and he really needed the job. Kind of the other side of the coin to the Auxialiary Police officers' request.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

You wanna carry a firarm and wear a badge, you go through the training. I sure don't want to see some tinshield auxiliary waving heat around at people when they're doing parking duty at the local apple festival.

[joesnuffy]

Its gotta be the shoes....

[Britton J Wingfield]

Auxiliary cops do go through the training here in AZ. They need the same cert as any other cop before they can carry, they just have their training spread out over a longer period of time than an intensive academy.

We also have other reservists who do not carry, but serve other functions like search and rescue, etc...

[Democrap]

You wanna carry a firarm and wear a badge, you go through the training.

They (the reserve police ) do here in California.

[B Knotts]

You wanna carry a firarm and wear a badge, you go through the training.

You wanna keep the means of defending oneself from honest citizens, go to DU.

[Squantos]

710AM in Amarillo (use the big antenna :o) has that idiot magnet.......ya'd think people know what that guy is doing to em. I thought he was gonna cause one old lady to have a stroke one night he got her so wound up .

Stay Safe !

[dljordan]

And how are their motivations any different from those of the regular police?

[waterstraat]

If Massachussetts thinks its state is safe enough that no citizen needs to carry a handgun, then no policeman in Massachussetts should carry one either.

[meyer]

You wanna carry a firarm and wear a badge, you go through the training. I sure don't want to see some tinshield auxiliary waving heat around at people when they're doing parking duty at the local apple festival.

Frankly, and local BS laws notwithstanding, every law-abiding citizen of the US has the constitutional right to carry a firearm.