Houston/Katy geologist arrested for having gun in car.

[GrillKing]

A few officers are of the opinion that the guy should have just gotten a CHL and he would have avoided the whole issue. .....


In fact, there are some officers that are of the opinion that no one should have guns except LEOs.......

He decides that he is going to arrest the unlucky citizen and I totally disagree. All I can do is call a supervisor to the location to "break the tie". It then comes down to what the supervisor’s beliefs are regarding the situation.

I didn't know it was about opinions, when it comes to enforcement, or 'breaking the tie'. I thought it was about enforcing the law, as written.

I realize there is judgement to be exercised in many situations by the LEO, and that they have an incredibly tough job, and the overwhelming majority do it right and do it fair. But imposing an opinion of who should or should not have firearms is just that, an opinion of what the law (really the Constitution) should be, not a judgement as to interpretation of the law. Some agencies (I believe NOT the overwhelming majority of both officers and agencies) CHOOSE to ignore the law and 'enforce' their view of what the law should be. Now that is wrong and is not a life is unfair get over it moment.... IMHO....

[CHL/LEO]

I didn't know it was about opinions, when it comes to enforcement, or 'breaking the tie'. I thought it was about enforcing the law, as written.

That sounds great in theory but I'm just trying to tell you that LEOs are no different than any other person - they all have opinions that will impact their decisions. No different than judges do, or even a jury which is really just a big group of opinions.

In a perfect world every LEO, every DA, every jury member, and every judge would have the same interpretation of the Constitution but it sure doesn't work that way.

We could go to any law school in the state of Texas and select out the top five members of their graduating class. Chances are that those five students probably attended the same classes instructed by the same professors. Let's fast-forward 25 years and let's say by happenstance that all five of those students got elected to the Court of Criminal Appeals at the same time. Do you think that they would each rule the same on every case that came before them? Of course not, their opinions would be heavily influenced by the totality of all their experiences.

It's no different with LEOs or even posters on this forum. Just read all the different opinions on here.

Also, enforcement of the Texas Penal Code is not all "black & white". Out of all the hundreds and hundreds of laws and codes that are on the books, there are only a couple where it dictates to a LEO that they "shall arrest" a suspect for that particular crime. 99% of them say that a LEO "may" arrest the suspect. A tremendous amount of leeway is provided to LEOs in Texas regarding this issue. That's why different officers within the same agency will take totaly different enforcement actions. And when you compare various departments to each other, there are probably even greater differences.

[Will938]

Also, enforcement of the Texas Penal Code is not all "black & white". Out of all the hundreds and hundreds of laws and codes that are on the books, there are only a couple where it dictates to a LEO that they "shall arrest" a suspect for that particular crime. 99% of them say that a LEO "may" arrest the suspect. A tremendous amount of leeway is provided to LEOs in Texas regarding this issue. That's why different officers within the same agency will take totaly different enforcement actions. And when you compare various departments to each other, there are probably even greater differences.

The idea of someone being arrested for a class C traffic violation makes me a sad panda :(

[flintknapper]

The property room will take any property that an officer places in there. What you probably meant is that would an officer do what you asks? Some would. some wouldn't and that's one of the things that I hope everyone will understand. Different officers will see things from their perspective and take completely different actions than another officer might. Try to keep the gray area to a minimum but don't be surprised when these type of things actually do happen.

You understand my question exactly. Thanks for the reply.

I question the legality of such an action, and I wonder if a "We'll let the courts decide" sort of attitude might sometimes be at play. I certainly understand and appreciate an "officers discretion" ...and I realize that everything is not black and white out there. But, surely when it comes to accepting property (at best community property, and maybe not) then the officer would want to have good (and legal) reason to do so.

It seems rather "preemptive" on their part to accept the firearm (or any property) when no crime has been commited...and no other measure (that we know of) has been taken to resolve the concern.

Just my view on it.

Thanks for the post...and your candor, it is very informative.

[GrillKing]

I didn't know it was about opinions, when it comes to enforcement, or 'breaking the tie'. I thought it was about enforcing the law, as written.

That sounds great in theory but I'm just trying to tell you that LEOs are no different than any other person - they all have opinions that will impact their decisions. No different than judges do, or even a jury which is really just a big group of opinions.

I agree, and as I said, I belive the overwhelming majority are fair, try to do it right, and try to enforce the law as written. Given that, even those have to make judgement calls, and I understand and accept that is the way it is, the complexity of our laws not making it easy for them!

However, my point, it may not have been clear, is that a very few feel they are above the law and try to enforce what they think the law should be, the Harris County DA being the one that comes to mind. Unfortunately, I believe he is circumventing the letter of the law and is certainly circumventing the legislative intent. That is what I consider to be wrong, not the individual officer who is trying his or her best to enforce the law as written and is making a good faith best judgement call in the field. I respect that.

I'm with you on this...

[Liberty]

I have just one question:

How can they keep HIS gun??

I know some of you will be able to explain this to me.

In the end, they can't. But they're putting him in the position of making them give it back, which is going to cost him a lot of money.

Call it sour grapes, vengefulness, or just plain pig-headedness; it's the same attitude that caused them to arrest and charge him in the first place, even though he was within the law.

Kevin

The shame is that these cops and prosecutors are almost imune from any punishment. The only one that loses is the inocent victim he is the one that has to pay his lawyers. he is the one who spends time in jail. Its really a shame that the real criminals can't spen a few night in a 6x8 with a new best friend called bubba.