I’m back from two weeks in Spain… but I’ll spare you the details except to say there was hiking in the Alpujarras involved. And very sore feet. And lots of pork.
Meanwhile, I was just quoted in a widely read article (the AP is great for that) about dirty narcs in NYC. Though I don’t condone it, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for criminals when they get framed. But there really is nothing worse than framing an innocent man.
And an off-duty black NYPD officer, Omar Edwards, was killed by fellow police officers.
Do white officers ever get killed in similar circumstances? Rarely. I know of only one case, in Florida, when a white officer was shot and killed accidentally by police. He was undercover and busting a group of (gasp) underage college tailgaters.
Part of the problem is that as a police officer chasing a criminal, when you hear police shouting, you don’t think they’re shouting at you. You know you’re police. You feel it. You’re used to hearing commands to show your hands and drop the gun. You shout such commands. You’re a cop. You don’t drop your gun. But you can’t see yourself and see you’re out of uniform and holding a gun. I don’t know what the answer is.
In other news, Nicholas Kristof wrote a powerful piece in the New York Times, Drugs Won the War. He mentions LEAP prominently.
And on Friday I’ll be in Chicago for an interview on WGN’s Milt Rosenberg show. 9 – 11 pm Chicago time. I’m very excited about that. You can listen here.
With the discussion of cop on cop crime, I'm always reminded of the scene in Season 3 of The Wire where Prez shoots an African American cop.
The way Dominic West plays McNulty in the scene shows how tragic that outcome is for all involved.
The rookie should not have taken police action. He should have called it in, been a good witness. The only time I'll ever take action off duty is if it's a deadly force situation.
This question is with regards to the police shooting.
Is it common in the US for police to carry their service pistols when they are off duty? Do they not turn them in to a lock-up at the police station?
In Canada I know of one instance where an officer was granted permission by a judge to carry a concealed weapon off-duty. This was done because the officer had been involved in an organized crime investigation and had received death threats.
Thanks
I was *required* to carry my gun off duty within the city limits and permitted to carry (and did) within the State of Maryland.
I believe such is fairly common policy.
So yes, I carried my Glock 17 when I went jogging and when I took out the trash.
Policy allowed me not carry my gun if I were very drunk or if circumstances made it impractical (going swimming, for instance, or traveling to a state where mere possession of my firearm was a felony, which including D.C. and N.J.). At least once I found my myself in D.C. with my gun.
Since 2004, HR 218 has made it legal for cops to carry in other states.