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Grex > Agora47 > #116: The next chapter in the life of a Customs Officer. | |
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| Author |
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| 25 new of 196 responses total. |
bru
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response 91 of 196:
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Oct 28 18:40 UTC 2003 |
The difference is in the way they did it.
I asked politely. I expected a polite request not to, which I would have
obeyed. I did not expect an order telling me to stay out.
Perhaps I am just a little thin skinned when people I know don't feel they
can trust me. So I got my hackles up. big deal. I did not force the issue.
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cross
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response 92 of 196:
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Oct 28 18:44 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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glenda
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response 93 of 196:
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Oct 28 18:46 UTC 2003 |
If you were carrying a gun as part of the uniform, then you wouldn't get past
the porch, no matter how good a friend you were. While I fully believe in
the right to bear arms, I also believe in my right to refuse having them in
my private space. A friend wouldn't even ask that question (a friend would be
made aware of my feelings as soon as he/she as I knew there was a possiblity
of them "carrying").
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gull
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response 94 of 196:
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Oct 28 18:47 UTC 2003 |
Re #82: That's another interesting thing. It seems weapons of that
small a calibre are not approved as off-duty weapons for Detroit Police
officers.
Re #91: I think the impression some people are getting, that bothers
them a bit, is that this is a case of a "contempt of cop" attitude. You
know, "How *dare* they tell me what to do while I'm wearing my uniform
and carrying my gun! They owe me respect because of my position of
power!" It's unfortunately common for law enforcement people to feel
this way and it leads to a lot of abuse.
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rcurl
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response 95 of 196:
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Oct 28 19:09 UTC 2003 |
It seems to me that bru's "feelings" toward those people, as friends or
acquaintances or strangers, is irrelevant, and their actions should not be
taken as offensive. It was simply their right, and the rights of anyone,
friend or stranger, should be respected without question. It is not too
much different from the situation of people that will not allow smoking in
their homes, no matter how good a friend a smoker may be. Perhaps some
people would feel they cannot refuse admitting a friend that insists on
smoking, out of some concept of politeness, but if they don't, does the
smoker really have any grounds for complaint? I don't think so.
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anderyn
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response 96 of 196:
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Oct 28 19:34 UTC 2003 |
I think that it was in fact that whole "they know me" that got my back up.
Bruce is Bruce no matter what he happens to be wearing or carrying, right?
To me, that was what was important, not that fact that his uniform included
a gun. I suspect that this is because I was viewing it as my "home away from
home" and not as "this place of business", because *most* of the time, that
is how people act in it (I mean, we do our jobs, and do them well, but we
don't have to dress up and we don't usually have formal office-y things
happening here) -- I mean, yesterday, Mark from downstairs was carrying a huge
cleaver (real, from the kitchen) through the halls. No one blinked. I've been
known to carry my paring knife (that I keep in my desk for peeling apples or
cutting paper or whatever) to the kitchen and back.
I'd probably feel the same about it if I was told I couldn't come to work with
my pocket knife. I carry it as a tool. Not as a weapon. I don't even think
about it as a possible weapon.
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tod
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response 97 of 196:
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Oct 28 19:43 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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happyboy
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response 98 of 196:
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Oct 28 19:54 UTC 2003 |
/can't seem to get the image of the cop from REPO MAN out of my
noggin
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slynne
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response 99 of 196:
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Oct 28 21:10 UTC 2003 |
resp:90 - Yes, if you had a gun, I would refuse you entry. I dont allow
guns in my home. I like to think I would be polite but firm about it. I
dont let people smoke tobacco in my house either.
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gull
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response 100 of 196:
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Oct 28 21:29 UTC 2003 |
For me, I think it would depend on whether my friend was on duty or not. If
he was off duty, I'd probably let him into my house. But if a good friend
of mine who was a cop showed up, on duty, and asked me to let him search my
house, I wouldn't treat him any differently than any other cop. He'd have
to have a warrant.
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tod
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response 101 of 196:
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Oct 28 21:40 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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cross
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response 102 of 196:
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Oct 28 23:09 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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anderyn
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response 103 of 196:
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Oct 28 23:43 UTC 2003 |
But I think that he's still Bruce. :) After all, I am married to him, which
trumps seeing him as anything except himself. For goodness sakes, he had the
gun in the house every day and night for over a year, and I was never worried
about it. I *know* that there would never be a reason to worry. Of course,
not everyone knows that, not the way I do. So I understand how other people
could be nervous, but it's still very ridiculous to me, because I know how
off-base that is.
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tod
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response 104 of 196:
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Oct 28 23:49 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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happyboy
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response 105 of 196:
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Oct 29 01:15 UTC 2003 |
LOL
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bru
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response 106 of 196:
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Oct 29 02:27 UTC 2003 |
An officer is an officer whether he is in uniform or not. The uniform only
shows that authority when I am on duty. (I never thought of it that way
before) You are expected to act as an officer whether in uniform or out.
If a see a federal felony while walking down the street out of uniform that
does not change my duty.
I still haven't resolved the conflict that I could use my gun to defend myself
or another officer, but not to defend my wife. Or why I could use my own
handcuffs to detain the boyfriend without threat to my job, but not the ones
issued by the government.
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other
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response 107 of 196:
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Oct 29 03:18 UTC 2003 |
re #106, para 2:
The reasons are quite simple. The gun and the handcuffs are more
than tools. They are the literal means by which authority is conveyed to
the officer who carries them. That distinguishes that particular gun and
those particular handcuffs from any others. Because of the authority the
tools themselves represent, their use has to be tightly constrained to
instances in which the particular authority they represent is applicable
and appropriate.
Put differently, the guy is the officer, and the gun and cuffs are the
office. Your actions are your own business, but any actions involving
the gun and cuffs are automatically vested with the authority of the
office, and you don't have the right to vest your actions with that
authority unless those actions specifically part of your job.
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pvn
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response 108 of 196:
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Oct 29 08:29 UTC 2003 |
Good luck in your new job.
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tod
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response 109 of 196:
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Oct 29 16:52 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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richard
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response 110 of 196:
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Oct 30 06:42 UTC 2003 |
when I was little, my dad not only didn't allow real guns into the
house, he didn't allow toy guns. it was what guns represented. you
shouldn't even "play" shooting other people, because it becomes easier
to imagine "really" shooting other people
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gull
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response 111 of 196:
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Oct 30 13:53 UTC 2003 |
My parents didn't outright prohibit guns and "war toys", but they didn't
buy them for me either.
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slynne
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response 112 of 196:
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Oct 30 15:08 UTC 2003 |
Yeah, we werent allowed to have guns either except for those really
fake looking neon plastic squirt guns. We used to get gun lectures
*all* the time. Never touch a gun. If you go to someone's house and
they have a gun, leave their house. etc etc.
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keesan
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response 113 of 196:
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Oct 30 15:34 UTC 2003 |
Jim has a potato gun.
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klg
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response 114 of 196:
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Oct 30 17:17 UTC 2003 |
(This would explain a lot.)
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anderyn
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response 115 of 196:
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Oct 30 17:52 UTC 2003 |
Different times when I was growing up, I can recall people having toy guns
to play cowboys with. I was not usually the cowboy. I found out mych later
that my Dad had guns in the house the whole time I was growing up, although
I never knew it. (And a good thing, too, 'cause my Dad was a rage addict, so
I wonder sometimes why we never got shot in a murder suicide thing...) I don't
particularly *like* guns, but I never forbade my kids to have toy ones. (Don't
think they had any, though. Except the G.I. Joe minature ones.)
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