Posted on 12/21/2010 8:47:10 AM PST by Last Dakotan
A Fargo police officer is facing an internal-affairs investigation after leaving her department-issued gun in the bathroom of a sporting goods store on Friday, police said Monday.
Jessica Homan, a nine-year veteran of the Fargo Police Department, left the handgun in the bathroom of Scheels in Moorhead, said Lt. Tory Jacobson.
Store officials contacted Moorhead police when the gun was found, Jacobson said.
Homan, who was not on duty, had already realized she had misplaced the weapon, and Moorhead police returned it to her on Friday, he said.
Jacobson said Moorhead police contacted Fargo officers about the incident, which he described as “an oversight on her part.”
Sgt. Mike Mitchell of the Fargo Police Department, head of the Office of Professional Standards, said Monday he was asked to investigate the incident by Chief Keith Ternes to see if any disciplinary action is warranted.
Mitchell said because of the holidays, the probe is unlikely to be completed until January. Homan is not on administrative leave as the incident is investigated.
Jacobson said officers are typically encouraged to carry their weapons when they are off duty.
“Obviously, she has the right to carry her gun,” he said.
A phone message left for Homan wasn’t returned on Monday.
Homan’s personnel file includes commendations for her handling of several cases, including two sexual assaults – one in 2004 and another in 2007 – and a 2002 death investigation. She was also credited in 2005 for testimony she gave in trials in Municipal Court.
In November 2002, Homan was given an award for enforcing violations of child-restraint laws.
Other than an incident in 2002 in which she struck a vehicle with her squad car, the sole issues raised by her superiors in the personnel file were the timeliness of her reports.
After reprimands in 2006 and 2007 for filing reports too slowly, she successfully met improvement goals in January 2008 and has not been reprimanded since, according to documents in the personnel file.
The people they hire for cops nowadays is down right scary...
I would hate to see all my work-related boo-boos published and exposed on TV.
Having a gun 24/7/365 for several years might equate to locking your keys in the car.
Jeez oh Pete!
How about regular citizens? Are they encouraged as well?
Minnesota had some stupid-assed waiting requirement for buying a gun. North Dakota didn't. So when a customer came to the store on the Minnesota side and didn't care to jump through the Minnesota state hoops in addition to the federal hoops, they processed the purchase as taking place in one of the Fargo stores and had the cabbie do a delivery. The lower North Dakota sales tax and the reduction in the rigmarole generally was more than sufficient to pay the cabbie the standard delivery charge plus a generous tip.
The owners of Scheels were great people who treated their customers, vendors and employees fairly. There was an elderly guy in our neighborhood who needed the work and got hired by Scheels just to roam the floors assisting customers and looking out for shoplifters. He brought them a lot of business just by his nice way of handling people and calling all his friends whenever Scheels was having a sale on something he thought they might be interested in buying.
When you do something equivalant to leaving a (presumably) loaded gun in a public rest room you will.
something tells me that poor actress who starred in “Fargo” is gonna have an awfully long day...
A blonde suspects her boyfriend of cheating on her. She goes out and buys a gun.
She goes to his apartment unexpectedly, opens the door, and, sure enough, finds him naked in the arms of a redhead. Well, now she’s angry.
She opens her purse and takes out the gun. But as she does so, she is overcome with grief and points the gun at her own head.
The boyfriend yells, “No, honey, don’t do it.”
“Shut up,” she says. “You’re next.”
Baaad Grip! She’s ‘tea cupping’ the revolver.
Range time and instruction is clearly needed.
I often hear dispatches directing officers to a vehicle with unrestrained child,complaintant on file";that means some busybody in the next car used their cellphone to tattle.Americans, women especially ,but some cowardly men also,are all too eager to report their fellow citizens to the "authorities';reminds me of how the cattle used to bawl and scream if only one got through the fence.
She’ll get a reprimand. But nothing will probably compare to the months of abuse she’ll get from her colleagues. It’s probably safe to say she’ll never do that again.
I agree that it was just an oversight and shouldn't be punished. My problem is that if one of us serfs made an oversight like this, there would probably be hell to pay.
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No kidding, look at what happened to that Brian Atkins fellow in NJ for far less. He is still has a felony if the Governor doesn't pardon him.
Ya, doncha know!
Difficult call based upon limited information.
I’m inclined to give people the benifit of the doubt about things, but if it had been a regualr citizen CCW there’d have been a real stink.
At one time long ago the police were your friend, at least where I live, and in Plant City still are.But they will tell you that they cannot protect you all the time, then you got to protect yourself.
Exactly, cops can do no wrong but legal citizens exercising the 2nd amendment can do no right. The cops are just better than us dontcha know.
This will be swept under the rug. She’s just a girl.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000531/bio
Oh my...just a wee bit irresponsible there,dont’cha know? YAAAAAH! Ya betcha! (Loved the movie!)
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