Insulted by Pendleton, IN Chief of Police...

[Dracconix]

Marc C. Farrer




Myself, wife and my 4 year old daughter chose to go out tonight to enjoy ourselves at the June Jamboree (a small fair in town). As always I was carrying my Glock at my side, open carry at this time. We had been walking around the fair for at least 2 hours passing several officers (ISP, Madison Cty, and Pendleton) in the process, none of which said a word to me. We had just taken my daughter off of a ride when Mr. Farrer approached me and proceeded to tell me that I was carrying illegal and needed to untuck my shirt and cover my weapon. I informed him that Indiana is in fact an Open Carry / Conceal Carry permit and reached to pull mine out. At this time he asked to see it. To avoid a conflict I obliged and untucked my shirt. I then immediately called a friend of mine to confirm and checked with one of the Madison Cty Deputies, both of which confirmed the open carry law.

At this time I was pretty lit. We began walking around and I decided to find the "Officer" who I felt stepped on my rights. When I found him I approached him and told him that he was in fact incorrect about the law (which I already knew) and that if he kindly asked me to cover my weapon instead of feeding me a line of **** (yeah I said it) that I would have been more than happy to comply.

He got "pompous" and told me that I was on "his property" and that I needed to follow his rules. He then spoke about me wearing my "dick" on my hip. At this time I told him that if the world wasn't in the shape it was in I probably wouldn't even bother carrying.

Argh... am I in the wrong??? ... should I have just pulled my shirt down and shut up??? This is eating away at me like crazy... I am writing a letter to the town council, as well as the local State Rep...

[Boilers]

His shirt looks 2 sizes too small. I wouldn't waste my time on him.

Or, I'd plot to seek revenge at least two years in the future. (JUST KIDDING!!)

[Soundslikejosh]

If you know you are not breaking the law, do not comply with his requests. He will continue to throw his weight around as long as people submit. He cannot rightfully arrest you for not breaking the law. I suppose if he had a dead bug up his butt he could make your evening turn out poorly, but in all likelihood he would back down once he saw that you knew the law, knew the citation for the law, and weren't going to jump through his fiery circus hoops just because you were on "his property." I might be inclined to ask him what the name on the deed is.

Any improper behavior on the behalf of the chief is news worthy and should not be swept under the rug. Talking to someone up the ladder may help. A local newspaper may not be a bad idea, unless this guy is big on retribution.

Good luck. Educate yourself so that next time you are accosted you are SURE you know what you are saying, and where the IC says that you are right. And don't back down.

[cklein6576]

Tell that dude to lay off the spinach.

[chasekerion4]

Man it only takes a few to ruin the image of so many.

This just drives me absolutely nuts. I can not stand LEO's who erroneously THINK they know it all; and I can not stand even more the ones who KNOW better but choose to massage their "badge balls" hiding behind a piece of tin and a fancy button down shirt.

You can't enforce laws that you do not know. Officer "do-good" needs a few things.

• A new shirt, appropriately sized (speaking of wearing your "dick" as clothing - let's see those guns, chief douchebag!)
• A "refresher" in dealing with the public
• A new career; say standing behind the counter asking me if I'd like to "upsize that for .39 cents more"

Of course I'm responding ONLY to the one-sided story; and every story has 2 sides.

But if what happened is exactly as described, I'd have not handled it better than you. It would have went south immediately after hearing a comment about wearing my dick on my hip.

So kudos to you for not writing this tomorrow after posting bond.

And why do I keep thinking CHiPS when I see his picture?

[Richard]

Seems to be alot of "purposely misinterpreting the law" by public officials these days.

[VUPDblue]

Originally Posted by Richard

Seems to be alot of "purposely misinterpreting the law" by public officials these days.

I was thinking the same thing...

[hotfarmboy1]

I'm the friend he called to check up on this. I was waiting on him to post his story and looking forward to getting all your reactions. I thought he handled it pretty good, prob even better than i would of, lol. Maybe we'll have to get together sometime and both open carry around Pendleton and see what happens.

[ChalupaCabras]

well thats not right... lodge a formal complaint.

[jeremy]

Originally Posted by Richard

Seems to be alot of "purposely misinterpreting the law" by public officials these days.

Makes me want to move further out into the country...