Quote:
Originally Posted by qdmcg
I saw this a few days back, and obv the cop's language are reprehensible (and he's no longer a cop afaik), but it does seem the dude played this incredibly stupidly. I mean the cop was searching his backseat (illegally I suspect), and the guy can't even go like 'hey buddy have a concealed weapon.'
I'm not a law enforcement officer, but I'm wondering what my reaction might have been after pulling the bunch over due to suspicions they were up to illegal activity, then when I start looking for illegal stuff in the backseat of their car with my focus on the backseat, the cracks between the seat cushions, my head is down.... and the driver says "I have a consealed gun on me officer". One thing I think should be pretty obvious is that if it was that severely emotionally disturbed cop with serious anger issues there is a good chance he could have perceived it as a threat rather than 'notifying him of lawful possession' and dove out of the car while reaching for his gun and blasting away.....
It also seems to me the proper protocol should have been, at a minimum, for one officer to stand by the drivers door guarding/monitoring him while the other officer searched. And I'm guessing the better protocol would have been to have all the individuals out of the car prior to any search. This seems like common sense to me and I have no training in how to be police. I have general training in how to deal with dangerous/ex-cons and severely mentally ill people and their approach seems unsafe to me. If it is the good approach I'd like for someone with police training to explain to me why because common sense dictates to me it's not. Sure, this might be considered monday morning quarterbacking on my part but hell, they are police officers who are supposed to have training for these sorts of situations so that it becomes standard and second nature for their and the suspects safety.
Can you immagine if the guy in the front seat turned his head and said "I have a gun on me" rather than saying it more officially?