I am retired from Michigan LE. As we all have different personalities, so do all LEO have different personalities. Some are easy going and let small infraction slide. Others will hold you to every nitpicky law they can get you on. I called it the 10-10-80 rule. 10 percent will hold you for everything (gung ho). 10 percent are those that should not be in LE. They are too agressive, don't do their job right and give the other 90 percent a bad image. Every department has these officers and they are being weeded out. The remaining 80 percent will use their brain to determine what action they should take depending on the circumstances. The attitude of the person the officer is dealing with will also affect the officer’s attitude.
I personally let a lot of small stuff slide. I would think what is reasonable in these circumstances and does the punishment fit the crime? That doesn't mean I let them off. I would put a scare in them, but they did not get arrested or ticketed. I can't tell you how much alcohol got poured out on the ground. They dumped their weed and nickel and dime bags out on the ground. Motor vehicle violations got a warning, but were told what they could have received. This was standard practice in my department in Michigan. We were sworn to uphold the Laws but we did have some discretion.
Now I will return to the CCW question. If you are legally carrying, I would suggest in the event you are going to be in a direct contact with an officer, let him know you are legally armed. This is for your safety, not the officer's. The bad guy is not going to warn the officer so if the officer suspects you are carrying or finds the gun without your telling him, you can expect to be treated harshly, taken down and cuffed, and hopefully not shot. But since you warned the officer ahead of time, he will treat you in a civil manner while still protecting himself.
Be aware that most officers will run a check on you, your CCW License, and the gun. This is standard procedure. Remember the LEO/Police deal mostly with the bad guys and only come in contact with the average citizens during traffic stops and dealing with crimes against those citizens. When you spend 90 percent of you time dealing with the bad guys, you begin to have a distrust of most everyone. In my department if all checks out ok, you would be sent on your way with your gun.
Most LEO do not like the CCW Laws. The reason is there are too many legal guns on the street, in the hands of the drunk or enraged people. This risks the lives of all around this person, including LE. Does CCW stop crime? For every one instance I seen where CCW stopped or prevented a crime (see my last few sentences), I've seen twenty where the CCW Licensee used the weapon in an unlawful way. The most common is for showing the gun in a threatening way. The gun gets shown to prevent a perceived threat, even when there was no actual threat. It may have been just a look or an exchange of words. Not enough to indicate impeding serious physical injury or threat of loss of life. I do know for a fact that many criminals are concerned about the large number of legal gun toting citizens. They are not as bold as they used to be. However there are still a lot of just plain stupid criminals out there. If all CCW carriers were law abiding citizens, you would see LE acceptance, but that will never be the case. Alcohol can cause agesssion and lack of common sense. Rage causes all sorts of negative reactions.
I have several thoughts reading this:
1. All of the studies I've seen show CCW holders commit less crime than Non-CCW holders. CCW holders statistics are infinitesimal, which factually contradicts your 20 to 1 statement.
2. Most of the LEO's I know, in my area took an Oath to support the Constitution and meant it. They support the 2nd Amendment. CCW hate seems to be a NE and Large Metro phenomena.
3. Too many legal guns on the street in the hands of drunks and angry people---arrest statistics Nationally prove that's bogus. Those statement's sound more like Brady Campaign rhetoric than an accurate observation.
I personally think everyone has a right to carry if they are a law abiding citizen. I see no problem with an officer asking someone to leave their gun in the car etc. However, I have a real issue with an officer presuming it's OK to for them to physically disarm someone who can legally possess the gun and is in no way outside the legal requirements. That's borderline illegal in my opinion. As for the unloading the gun, please, go watch qualifying, Cops are clearly no more knowledgeable about guns than the gun toting public.
Last time I was at a qualifying:
One gun could not be pulled out of the holster tearing a layer of leather with it, because sticky soda had been spilled over it and never rectified.
2 officers had carried the duty weapon since the last qualifying with no round in the chamber.
20% of the group had to come back for round two in order to qualify, that is hitting 70% in the black of a B-27, a pathetic standard, yet 20% could not do it.
Finally, I was talking with an retired LEO the other day on here, here is what we came to. LEO's 40 and up like the general public, younger officers are part of/indoctrinated in the Federal Government's attempts since Clinton, through Bush and continuing now, to militarize LE. Given a few more years, it will be US vs Them, if the trend continues.
JMO
