Badge Question For LEO Bubbas

MassMark

MassMark

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So, i was thinking of getting a CCW Badge....Just kidding, but my question is regarding carrying off duty.

I am not an LEO but work at Dicks Sporting Goods. The other day, I received a page that there was a "man with a gun" walking toward the Lodge. Now, this could mean many things including a customer coming for a scope mount or bore sight. In this case, it was a normal looking guy beebopping through footwear sporting a Glock 22 on his hip - open carry style - no jacket. He walked around the store as if he owned the place, grabbed some socks and beebopped right through to the cashier. I tailed him right on through to the other side and out the door he went. Turns out he was off-duty LEO. I always thought that if one was an LEO on or off duty that a badge would be present if a gun was being openly carried. Moreover, I would think that if off duty or plain clothes, one would carry their weapon CCW-style. It didn't bother me any, (his beebopping was a bit disturbing), but was unsettling to the sheep....

Are there regs about this?
 
Display of badge while carrying off duty is normally determined by department policy as is whether or not you can open carry while off-duty.

I would agree that an off-duty LEO should conceal carry his weapon as he is not acting as an active LEO at that time.
 
My town isn't organized to the level of writing official policy on off-duty carry, but I'm sure that if a "man with a gun" 911 call turned out to be instigated by one of our chief's officers, he'd be having a chat with them on subjects like concealed carry, wasting our time and not being a dumbass.

If your store had called 911 instead of you, Mark, I picture a similar outcome for your off-duty LEO.
 
abomb60 said:
Display of badge while carrying off duty is normally determined by department policy as is whether or not you can open carry while off-duty.

I would agree that an off-duty LEO should conceal carry his weapon as he is not acting as an active LEO at that time.
Click to expand...

Not only was he openly carrying, but he was open carrying poorly. The gun looked like an accessory, the holster was loose on his belt and it was just flopping around as he walked. He had this smug look as well - seemingly aware that people were abuzz about it. The manager initially wanted to approach him and ask him to conceal and I offered to intervene as well, but the supreme commander recognized him as LEO and said "just let him go"...I think it was in poor taste. He may indeed be a nice guy, but his appearance was that of an asshat....
 
KMM696 said:
My town isn't organized to the level of writing official policy on off-duty carry, but I'm sure that if a "man with a gun" 911 call turned out to be instigated by one of our chief's officers, he'd be having a chat with them on subjects like concealed carry, wasting our time and not being a dumbass.

If your store had called 911 instead of you, Mark, I picture a similar outcome for your off-duty LEO.
Click to expand...

Funny, because that's what I thought as well...Why call me? Sure, I have guns and ammo, but I'm no Wyatt Earp...I did indeed have the drop on him, but geez...The whole thing was "big box bizarre"...
 
It probably wasn't covered in the Big Book of DSG Policies and Procedures, so they looked for the employee least likely to follow the rules for help!!

[rofl]
 
I think I've seen that guy before:

barney_fife.jpg
 
Was this in Mass.? I may be ignorant on this, but I didn't think a license to carry required concealment. Don't get me wrong, I think you are stupid to display your gun. And it is likely that doing so could constitute action that can be deemed a disorderly person, but is is required by law?

If anyone does know for sure please let me know and give me the chapter and section of the law with any case law citations if you have them.

Thanks, Dave
 
Techically no you don't have to conceal the weapon. However in MA you are dumb to open carry unless you are a LEO since your chief may use any reason available to take away your LTC or to add restrictions. Don't know the chapter or section of the MGL but it's in there.

Basically if the sheeple see a gun they better damn see a badge next to it or they're gonna freak out. When they freak out they call the cops and the cops arrest your for their favorite violation, disturbing the peace.

It's just the way people are in this state. Accept it and you'll do fine.
 
terraformer said:
OK, so you weren't just taking his word for it.
Thnaks.
Click to expand...

There never was a word - he just beebopped, (it's the only way I can describe it) around, I tailed him and one of the FEC's said he was long time PD. Funny thing about the Barney photo, is remembering how his holster flopped around - this guys did exactly the same thing....[grin]
 
I think you should have said, "hey, you, jackass with belt slung Tupperware. Showing off your Glock is like pulling up to a stoplight in your moms 6 year old Volvo wagon and jamming the 2 speaker radio at top volume." Cover that sh@t up before someone mistakes it for theirs."

But then I have poor judgment sometimes.
 
I was standing in line at a Hot Dog Stand when an openly carrying, badge on hip, civilian dressed young man got in line behind me. The neighbors were buzzing about the gun. I asked the well dressed young white guy, why he was wearing a gun in public. He told me, "I am a constable", as if that explained it all.

I said, "what difference does it make whether you are a constable or not, why open carry, can't you see it makes people nervous?" He replied... "You don't seem so scared, why is that?"

"You don't know what "I" Have in "MY" pocket, I laughed!

He looked at my hand clenched in the pocket of my denim jacket, then up at my eyes, and he meekly stopped his laughing and went and got his sport jacket. I told him later it was up to all of us as License to Carry holders, that we all have to represent our image in a good way. He was almost an "Only-one" we hear about so much... but I clipped his wings early.
 
While I disagree with open carry for anyone other than a uniformed LEO.....If an LEO were to open carry they should have their badges clearly displayed.
 
Hmm....

Oddly enough, bank managers FREAK OUT when you go into the bank in full uniform to take out some lunch money, I couldn't imagine the sheeple seeing an off-duty LEO open carrying.
 
I just came across this old thread while searching for something.

Years ago there was this kid that was a real idiot. His old man was a town cop and he ended up being a CO for a while. I remember he used to come by the place I worked with his uniform shirt off so he had on a white t-shirt and his striped uniform pants on.

He had would open carry a .38 in this old antique leather holster that also had a "gold shield" in it so everyone thought he was a cop. He would tell all kinds of BS stories about criminals, court, etc. People would tell me all the time how he was a cop cause he would go around everywhere with that rig on so everyone could see it.

The kid was a real wing nut.

On another note, me and my friends got into A LOT of trouble when we were kids. Myself and another friend ended up going into the Marines to straighten up. My buddy became a cop in the town we grew up in. When he first got on this girl we went to school with saw us in a bank parking lot and came over to talk to us. When she saw my friend in his uniform she flipped out and thought it was fake and that we were probably going to rob the bank or something. She kept telling him he better get out that uniform before someone sees him and he gets in trouble.
 
MichaelJ said:
Hmm....

Oddly enough, bank managers FREAK OUT when you go into the bank in full uniform to take out some lunch money, I couldn't imagine the sheeple seeing an off-duty LEO open carrying.
Click to expand...

Not around here they don't, thank goodness, but most of the bank employees know all the cops in a small town.

And wrt Bill's tale . . . that wasn't me! [rofl]

I recall seeing one of our plain-clothes detectives in a small convenience store one day, gun exposed, no cuffs or badge visible. I was thinking "what if some sheep came into the store and saw that?" The store clerk knew him, again small town.

One night (~25 yrs ago) I spotted an older man with a snubbie on an OWB holster approach the money drop at the bank and make a deposit. I thought it was strange so I asked the chief a day or so later. He told me that it was the manager of Shaw's making the daily deposit and he did that every night.

I was in Best Buy in Braintree one day a few years ago when I saw a 30-something guy with an exposed gun. I walked around and then spotted a badge on his belt, I smiled and proceeded to mind my own business.

Policies differ from town to town and awareness of the potential for a problem does too with individual officers.
 

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