Posted on 01/31/2010 5:41:25 AM PST by rellimpank
Charlie Mitchener, the Las Vegas business owner who was handcuffed and disarmed after presenting a concealed weapons permit along with his driver's license to a police officer responding to a burglary call at his place of business Jan. 3, has provided me with his Jan. 19 follow-up letter to Metro.
Mitchener says he decided to write police about his ordeal, detailed in this space on Jan. 10, lest his "silence may put someone else at risk."
"Shortly before 5 a.m. Jan. 3, the alarms in my office sounded and notified TSI, our security provider, that a break-in had occurred," Mitchener writes. "They ... dispatched a security guard.
"My wife, Peggy, and I arrived at the office about 5:15 a.m.; the security officer had arrived just before us. ... The security officer informed us that he had called Metro and they told him not to enter the building. ...
"The security officer said, 'I don't want to tell you what to do, but I'm familiar with situations where the bad guys will come busting out and your vehicle may provide them cover, so I suggest you move it away from the building.' "
(Excerpt) Read more at lvrj.com ...
“Is it illegal to carry a weapon on your own property in Nevada?”
Not at all illegal. NV is also an open carry state, so you can walk around with a holstered weapon with no need for a permit.
Some places don’t like it, will trespass you, but Metro can’t stop you without probable cause of a crime having been, is being, or may be committed. Open carry is not very common, but is quite legal.
For example, yesterday I open carried when shopping at WalMart (on Craig Rd), and in the evening went downtown to Fremont Street (Glitter Gulch). Walked around, watched the light show, ended up by shoot craps in one of the casinos for a while (shoot in the gaming way, of course). No problems. Nobody called law enforcement on me. No tourists ran away screaming, although I saw a lot of them eye my weapon.
I carry for self defense. I’m too old and fat to run away, fight, or take a beating. On balance, I’ve decided that open carry is more of a deterrent than making me a target. I can’t prove the deterrence negative, but Google away and you can’t find incidents of targeting. Risk management.
I’ll probably eventually have a run in with an inexperienced officer. It’ll be a training opportunity for the officer. Fortunately, as a retiree, I have the time to go though whatever aggravation arises.
No, but we are talking about a unique security situation. The officer had been called to a break-in, with the perp or perps still at large, unknown whether they are armed. The officer may be outnumbered, and it may be a while before backup arrives.
The owner shows both ID and CC card, and now the young police officer is probably more concerned that if the perps bust out, she could face gunfire from two directions.
Yep, there are a lot of things that have to be taken into account, and she made a poor judgment call. Things happen.
There is a huge difference between hate and distrust, or hate and disgust, or hate and refusing to kiss cops feet.
Questioning the actions of public servants is not the same as cheering when they are killed or supporting criminals.
A DOJ study found that in the majority of cases where police use force it is not used properly. Further that 56% of police in the study admitted they cover up for their coworkers when they break the law.
The officer put everyone’s life at risk, including her own, by going on off this ridiculous tangent.
First, she could have killed someone, including herself, by incorrectly removing the weapon from the man’s holster.
While she was fooling with that malarky, all kinds of bad stuff could have exploded, including the real bad guys bursting out onto the scene, the “wife” turning out to be in the crime, etc.
A lot went very wrong here. She was not trained very well to handle this situation, or else completely forgot what she was supposed to do.
Why was a lone officer responding to a break-in anyway?
Speaking of one’s property, it doesn’t seem to me that the officer was justified in taking away the man’s weapon after he produced a CC permit for it. He had done nothing to threaten any one’s safety. Seems to me that if you’re permitted to carry the weapon, and use it under the law, there has to be more going on here before a police officer can take it away from you, especially by handcuffing you.
I would think this man might have a cause of action for unlawful detention / arrest. What in the world justified him having to be handcuffed (a form of detention) so that she could remove from him a weapon he was legally allowed to possess and which she had never even requested he voluntarily surrender for whatever reason?
You are an hysterical individual. God help your community if they have the misfortune to have you on their dept.
If you are an officer, one of your primary duties is to be the eyes and ears of the court. You are supposed to report, accurately, what you see, hear, smell, feel, etc. Your wild exaggerations make you unfit for dog catcher. I suspect that you are really an unarmed security guard who has applied for a police position many, many times and have failed everytime.
You are, in short, pathetic.
“...she made a poor judgment call.”
Yes, she did.
“Things happen.” Yes, they do. Appropriate action needs to be taken so this officer doesn’t endanger innocent citizens again.
Not a dude. She’s a dudette.
'Too libertarian' for FR?
I just asked for a clarification.
Thanks. I didn’t know that. Perhaps they should all be given only one bullet like Barney Fife.
You are spewing a lot of hate, and name calling, maybe you should seek a little counseling.
Where I live, we shoot 'em. Then we call the police. Unlike Chicago, where if we shoot 'em, we'll be in trouble for owning a firearm.
If I'm being attacked, there is no way the police can get to me in time, no matter how badly they might like to. Just aren't enough. We couldn't afford enough, nor would we (Texas "we" anyway) want them.
Remember there is also a an armed security guard on the scene. But that being said, any officer worried about a CHL/CCP holder, at least in a state where they undergo a background check and are proven to commit less crime than the general public, needs some remedial training. A CHL/CCP holder is going to be an asset if the bad guys come out shooting, not a liability. For one thing, at least in Texas, you know they can shoot straight, since that is part of the test. For another, they also know the law concerning use of deadly force, for that is also on the test.
Not a snoballs chance in hell I call some punk to assess my situation.
In San Jose a few years back they had a guy trapped in an paratment. When SWAT was discharging the teargas they got on the radio and announced it. When the shot went off there were cops shooting everywhere. About 90 rounds discharged and only two hit the apartment with the guy in it.
I quite agree about remedial training. But more so, it likely indicates that the whole department needs some remedial training, at least to be brought up to date about the law and where everybody stands.
This is why I suggested that a gun organization should volunteer this to the local police departments, because they probably have the information at hand, whereas the police would have to do a lot of work to come up with a training plan of their own (and probably get it wrong.)
Police department policy is often “seniority driven”. That is, the assumption that the oldest officers know the law best. But this is not always the case, so responsible advice from outsiders is a big help.
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