Hey Gang

[alzeller]

Hey all. I'm a licensed PI and provide personal security services and have many friends that are LEO. If you happen to be in the NJ area drop me a line.

[Cujo71321]

Hi Guys!

I borrowed a 'puter again so I could post. I just thought I would share a little about myself and my "career" as a "Lawdog."

Twenty-one years ago I moved up here to Indiana from Houston, Texas, with my new bride who was a Hoosier, and I settled in and decided to be a good citizen and join the local police department as a reserve. I was a young and naive twenty-five year old who was eager to be a "peace officer." I had a full time day job, and every few nights I would get away from the house and cruise in the department's reserve car. I went through training and was very proficient in everything I did... I even wanted to go on full time, but the department wasn't going to be hiring anytime soon. It was a small town outside of Indianapolis called Cumberland, Indiana.

The problem was, I didn't fit in very well. The Chief of police was an alcoholic, and in the nine months I was on the department, he wrecked his take-home cruiser three times while drunk, and it kept getting swept under the carpet. His brother was the Sergeant, and he had a bad habit of taking drugs away from the people he busted and then selling them or using them himself. The other full time guy was never available to answer a call when he was on duty, because he was always in bed with someone's wife. The rest of the force was just us reserves, and we really did most of the work... for a dollar a year.

I had this problem. I didn't think a town should be dependent on people breaking the law just to balance the budget. I didn't like to give out tickets, and my main reason to pull people over when they had made a traffic infraction was to remind them that it was a small town, and I would appreciate it if they drove safer... and have a nice day. In nine months time, I had stopped many people, but only wrote three tickets. I had responded to burglaries in progress, arrested drunk drivers, and a lot of other worthwhile things, but I only had made money for the town with three tickets. I got into big trouble with my drunk chief, and we did not see eye to eye about tickets, so he encouraged me to quit. I decided it would probably be for the best, so I resigned that night and turned in my issued badge and keys to the jail. My uniform and extra badges and gun and flack-jack were all mine... as a reserve, I had to buy all of that out of my own pocket.

The next day, I was going to lunch from my full time job, and I saw a county sheriff's car pull into the mall parking lot behind me. I was used to seeing these guys and had been waving at all of them for quite a while since I had been a "law-man" too. I didn't know him, but I figured he knew me from our small force. I parked legally in a parking space at the Castleton Square Mall and as I got out of the car, he pulled up behind me. I walked to the rear of the car and smiled and said "hi" as he approached me. He was smiling, too, and I thought he was just going to "chew the fat" with me about police work.

He said, "Didn't you use to work for Cumberland?" I said "Yes." I didn't think about the fact that he said "used to." I had just resigned the night before, and there is no way he should have known I was no longer on the force. But I didn't think about that. He said, "Hey, man, you got any of your stuff for sale?" I said, "Yeah, I everything for sale." He said, "You got a gun?" I said, "Yeah, I have a Ruger Security Six, .357 Magnum." He got excited and said, "Cool! Can I see it?" I said, "Sure!" I opened up the trunk and moved my uniform and my flack-jack and my gun belt and everything else out of the way to access my brief case. I opened it up, and the gun was inside. I turned around to let him see it, and he was several paces away from me with his hand covering his gun, and he barked, "Sir, step away from the vehicle!"

At that moment two more county sheriff's cars pulled up from two different directions and four deputies piled out. They treated me like a criminal and handcuffed me and charged me with the 1935 firearms act and took me to jail. I did not have a gun permit, so I was not supposed to have a gun anywhere in my car. I had tried to get a permit before, while I was a reserve, but the chief had turned down my request because he said that my badge was the only permit I needed.

When I was booked into jail, I was taken to Indianapolis lock-up, and I requested to be put in solitair because I was afraid there may be someone in the bull-pen who would recognize me as having been a cop... and I didn't want any trouble. They said okay and put me in with the general population anyway, and I spent the night in the tank. The next morning, the judge kept looking at my paperwork, and then at me, and then at my paperwork again. He looked confused. He asked me, "Are you a police officer?" I said, "I was until day before yesterday." He looked again at the arrest report, and got disgusted, and told me, "Just get out. Get out of here!"

I had to pay a fortune to get my car out of impound, even though it had been legally parked on private property at the mall parking lot. The fact was that the whole thing was just a set-up. My good ol' boy chief had orchestrated the whole thing with some of his buddies in the Sheriff's Deptartment just to make a point. The point was crystal clear... He had all the power, and no one better mess with him. Sad, really.

I could have had a great career in law enforcement, but this whole experience soured me on the idea, and to this day I am still bothered when I remember how the law was abused against me just to settle a score. I have the utmost respect for the law and the good men who represent their departments in a good and positive way. But I must admit that I still get nervous when I see a cop car behind me, even when I am not doing anything wrong.

So much for "Super Cop"

I got your back,

Stephen King

[contender4040]

Hello to all of you.
I am a Sgt. at a small 40 man dept with 16 yrs of experience. I am a member of the special ops team and also command a patrol squad. In such a small dept I wear many hats. We have an "open" carry policy as to our choice of weapons. I currently carry a cz85 on duty but recently acquired an xd40. I was able to modify a safriland 070 ssIII for a s&w sigma to fit the xd. I am still working with the xd and getting more comfortable with it. I am looking forward to sharing info with all of you. My xd is turning a few heads with the constant question---where is the .357 sig version?

[hairman73]

david

How did you modify your ssIII to accept the XD

[contender4040]

Did not take much at all. The xd 40 will go into it and the trigger guard internal lock and the thumb snap work as if it were made for it. The problem was with the finger snap around the trigger guard. Had to have that male portion of the snap re-positioned.
I just knew that some good would come out of the s&W sigma---its holster. lol

[S Caldwell]

You can also take a Safariland Top Gun holster for a Ruger p-89 and heat the trigger gaurd area with a blow dryer then push the gun inside . You may find you need to build up the trigger gaurd area for proper clearance ( I used rolled tinfoil ) . So far my holster looks and works like it was designed for the Gun but I would Imagine I voided any warranty there was . Hopefully someone will begin offering a Duty holster VERY SOON .

[S Caldwell]

Sounds like Cujo needs to make his own movie . Sorry to hear about Your Horror story .

[vondiesel]

Hey Cujo,

That story makes me think of my hometown. I was born and raised in a very small town here in northern Florida. There were often stories of corruption, abuse of authority, and just plain incompetence in the local PD. Some of them were overblown, or were just stupid or false. But some were true...

For example, a few years ago, the guys at the station were a bit bored because it was a slow night. So, someone had the brilliant idea to play "quick-draw" with his pistol. Another officer decides to join in. They face each other, OK Corral style, and start drawing on each other to see who is faster. This is not too bright, but you would at least hope that the guns are unloaded and they are keeping their fingers off the trigger. BUT THEY WEREN'T! There was a negligent discharge and one of them went to the hospital with a bullet in his gut. He lived, and the two officers were promptly fired.

Situations like this have left me with a feeling of unease and mistrust whenever I have to deal with police. It is unfortunate, but it is the truth and I have to be honest about it.

Note to those who read this, especially LEO's: Please do not take what I say as "cop bashing." It is not. It is a statement about those who do not understand the responsibility that goes hand in hand with their authority. I have nothing but respect and admiration for honest, hard-working officers.

[Smokewagon]

We had two genius do the same thing many moons ago before I got on. They were brothers and were playing quick draw with their magnums. One brother was faster and ten ringed the other, luckily in the vest. He still had to have surgery and has a nasty scar. Neither were fired, the one that did the shooting ended up quitting over it, and the other is now a Capt. Imagine that.

[zipgun]

Let me see...there was the time when one of my guys was fiddling with the trigger on the shotgun mounted in the patrol car when it went off blowing a hole in the roof. Then there was the time when a partner of mine reached into his front pocket to get money for a tip at a resturant. He fumbled around for a couple seconds and then boom! The back up gun (a Sterling .25) he carried in his pocket went off barely missing the family jewels but did get him in the opposite inner thigh just barely missing the femoral artery.

Then there was the off duty officer who was in a bar when a guy pulled out a gun. The officer pulled his and promptly shot himself in the leg. Then there was the officer who shot himself in butt as he stuck his cocked and locked Star 9mm into his belt. How about the genius who decided to scare the midnight shift dispatcher. The dispatchers sat in a bullet resistant glass office right off the lobby of the station. Anyone coming in at night would have to approach the window. Our resident genius put on a ski mask and snuck in the front door up to the counter. He then jumped up and shot the window with what he thought was a blank. It was actually a crimped shot cartridge. I could go on and on. Cops are human too.

[ March 11, 2002, 07:19 AM: Message edited by: zipgun ]