The bureaucratic mentality

greener · Post by **greener** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 9:58 pm

You can carry in the Virginia General Assembly building if you have a CHP. Today was "lobby day" at the GA, when citizens can lobby their legislators, if their elected servants aren't hiding out. I attended with the Virginia Citizens Defense League. I carried an M&P9 -1 in the chamber and 17 in the mag. CHP holders usually go through the side door and avoid the metal detectors. Today's line was long and in the order of not moving in 45 minutes slow. They started taking a few of us through the front doors and metal detectors. I went that way. I emptied my pockets of my knife, cell phone, change and car keys and went through the metal detector. Which went off because of the pistol on my hip. I got wanded, then picked up my pocket stuff.

They were wanding people coming through the CHP door.

No one blinks at hand guns, but want to check you for 3" knives. Go figure.

Post by **Bullseye** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 6:28 am

Everybody wants to claim they are doing something security-wise, even if the overall process is ineffective. Make government access more difficult for the citizens and they won't line up so eagerly on lobby day.

R,
Bullseye

greener · Post by **greener** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 7:24 am

Bullseye wrote:Everybody wants to claim they are doing something security-wise, even if the overall process is ineffective. Make government access more difficult for the citizens and they won't line up so eagerly on lobby day.

R,
Bullseye

And it's one way to slow down the flood of several hundred citizens to the delegates' offices, I suppose.

ruger22 · Post by **ruger22** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 10:32 am

I suppose that knives over three inches are still illegal there, on the books. I wonder if any of the security was thinking how stupid it was to check CHPs for other items.

Comes down to the legislation that made CHP legal in the Assembly probably wasn't thought out to make logical sense. There are too many laws like that.

In my area there is a campaign on stopping drivers for any excuse, to write more seatbelt tickets.

greener · Post by **greener** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 11:16 am

ruger22 wrote:I suppose that knives over three inches are still illegal there, on the books. I wonder if any of the security was thinking how stupid it was to check CHPs for other items.

Comes down to the legislation that made CHP legal in the Assembly probably wasn't thought out to make logical sense. There are too many laws like that.

In my area there is a campaign on stopping drivers for any excuse, to write more seatbelt tickets.

I wear a seat belt always, so that wouldn't be a problem.

The Virginia GA just had the honor of having a 56 year old delegate plea bargain his relationship with his 17-year-old receptionist down to 6 months in jail for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, resign from the GA and win reelection in a special runoff election, from jail. He can show up to the GA on work release. His first bill had to do with sexual assault. So, maybe the extra checks was to make sure the Delegates were thoroughly checked.

charlesb · Post by **charlesb** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 10:14 pm

I wear a seat-belt by habit - but I do not appreciate being stopped, and delayed in my travels for no good reason.

There is no excuse for harassing law-abiding citizens in order to conduct a fishing expedition. If the officers do not have anything better than that to do, maybe their hours or their ranks should be reduced.

The fact that I am footing the bill for that kind of obnoxious behavior makes it even more unattractive.

Law enforcement officers are there to serve the public. When they are perceived as a PITA, then that is not serving the public. - This is bad for law enforcement officers, and for the public they serve.

We never see any of this where I live, but bad behavior that is not addressed has a tendency to spread. It's not good for it to be going on anywhere.

greener · Post by **greener** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 8:06 am

I'm sure getting stopped like that happens.

The only times I've been stopped in 42 years of driving have had to do with speeding. I've been through two "license checks." That's where they set up on a road and stop everyone and look at their driver's license and anything else in the car. The first one was shortly after a state trooper had been killed stopping a car and when the trooper saw the rifles and the back seat of my car, he let me see how clean the barrel of his revolver was. I learned not to make any sudden moves when stopped. The second was coming back from the range with my range bag behind the seat of my Ranger. I decided it was time to get a CHP.

charlesb · Post by **charlesb** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:02 pm

Once I was stopped by a highway patrol trooper because they were looking for a criminal who drove the same kind of vehicle as I had.

He explained what was up before he told us to be careful, etc.. I kept an eye out after that, but didn't see any other cars like mine.

greener · Post by **greener** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:17 pm

I just read a crime report that said the police were looking for a white pickup. That narrows it down to about every 15th vehicle in my area.

bgreenea3 · Post by **bgreenea3** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:54 am

Around here we do seat belt enforcement zones. where we put up big signs, sit in plain sight, and stop people for not wearing their seat belt. Now, you would think we would stop zero people for no seat belt wouldn't you?

When running radar or watching an intersection, I sit a spot where everyone can easily see my car. If every one slows down, stops for the stop sign, etc. I say that's better than writing a bunch of tickets...

greener · Post by **greener** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 8:31 am

bgreenea3 wrote:Around here we do seat belt enforcement zones. where we put up big signs, sit in plain sight, and stop people for not wearing their seat belt. Now, you would think we would stop zero people for no seat belt wouldn't you?

When running radar or watching an intersection, I sit a spot where everyone can easily see my car. If every one slows down, stops for the stop sign, etc. I say that's better than writing a bunch of tickets...

Then there are those who decide to do 35 in a 25 zone that every Thursday for years had a KPSD car in an obvious place. Something about getting a ticket for being stupid.

Post by **Bullseye** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 6:26 am

I've been through a several towns that just randomly park an empty cruiser at various places out on the highway to get drivers to mind their speeds thinking its a Radar trap.

R,
Bullseye

charlesb · Post by **charlesb** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 9:12 am

A little town here in Texas has a dead, retired police cruiser that they keep parked by the side of the road, visible as you approach the town.

They get a pretty good return on a small investment with that.

bgreenea3 · Post by **bgreenea3** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 9:56 am

I used to park an old cruiser at one end of town and sit at the other. ... since we only had 1 cop working at a time it was actually fairly effective. .