Canton PD threatens to kill innocent man

Drewsifer wrote: More videos of Officer Harless have been found. Par for the course. Threatening to kill people every few seconds and overly aggressive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPq--Nu0eC4

Holy flipping crap!

keethrax wrote:

aussiesmg wrote: Like I said earlier someone is leaking these videos, this guy is out of control and at least one of his co workers knows it.

And yet because the rest of his coworkers likely know it and allow it, that demonstrates the problem. There may not be a majority of cops that are *actively* bad cops. But the vast majority of cops know someone who is and are *passively* bad cops by not acting. Closing ranks to protect the bad ones may not be as bad as being one. But it's not much better in the end.

VERY well said. This particular cop being a 14 year veteran is a good example of your words.

keethrax wrote:

aussiesmg wrote: Like I said earlier someone is leaking these videos, this guy is out of control and at least one of his co workers knows it.

And yet because the rest of his coworkers likely know it and allow it, that demonstrates the problem. There may not be a majority of cops that are *actively* bad cops. But the vast majority of cops know someone who is and are *passively* bad cops by not acting. Closing ranks to protect the bad ones may not be as bad as being one. But it's not much better in the end.

The officer is trained to take control of the situation immediately, and the citizen is required to make an announcement right off the bat. Two people in a tense situation trying to do different things simultaneously. Recipe for confusion.

I, for one, would not want to be the first to mention "gun" in an encounter with a police officer. I would certainly not yell it.

Texas concealed carry law requires a licensee to present his CHL when asked for identification, along with a driver's license if appropriate. That removes some of the competing priorites between the officer and the person stopped. The punishment for failure to notify has been removed, but the requirement is still there. The officer may or may not disarm the licensee, at his discretion.
The CHL will show up when they run a Texas driver's license.

Just one more way to do it.

still think the best way is to sit quietly with both hands out the window ... sooner or latter the officer ( even one as dumb as this one appears to be ) will either wonder what's up with this, or will actually figure out that there might be a gun somewhere

^ wITH This guy (and his history) it would have not made a single bit of difference. Hell, he threatens to kill people WITHOUT a gun.

This was a dumb situation. The driver was dumb, and the cop was dumb. Even in that kind of situation where the driver was wrong in not telling the officer about the gun, the officer should not act that way. For those of you who think all cops are like this, most the cops I know would have him out of the car, but would remain calm. Its a dangerous job and even more dangerous if you lose your cool. This could have been a situation that none of us knew about if the cop kept his cool. There is something wrong with him and if he wants to keep his job, he should see a shrink. That's my opinion. Police like him get themselves and their partners killed. I'm not a cop, but I protect a building in a dangerous neighborhood. If I couldn't keep my cool, I wouldn't be safe and that means the hundreds of people I protect would not be safe. In any law enforcement profession, it is a downward spiral.

Regardless, I'm happy with MO gun laws. No license to have a gun in a car and no need to tell anyone. (not that its not a bad idea.) CCW? No need to tell any cop unless they ask.

wbjones wrote: still think the best way is to sit quietly with both hands out the window ... sooner or latter the officer ( even one as dumb as this one appears to be ) will either wonder what's up with this, or will actually figure out that there might be a gun somewhere

I agree.. and the cop can tell you are not going to reach when you tell him