cz75luver

I have to completely agree. Civilians are expected to know the laws and as mentioned, ignorance is no excuse. It is not the responsibility of the person being arrested to educate the law enforcement officer. If we break the law, we're expected to pay the price. Likewise, if they violate your civil rights, they should have to pay the price. Want to make education/training and familiarity with the law an item of importance, hit them in the wallet.

For my line of work, if I don't know how to do something, I'm expected to learn it. I'm not expected to go to training and have it spoon fed to me, I'm expected to crack open a book and read. It should be the same for these guys. The book by Jon Gutmacher on Florida gun laws only takes a couple of days to read. They don't have to know every trial case involving the law, but they should know the law. As someone has already mentioned, how can they enforce the law if they don't know the law.

puncho

They had no idea about the book by Jon Gutmacher, they didn't care either, they know Florida gun law as I was told. It's too bad because they're nice guys, just lacking the proper training as it relates to a very important portion of their job. If you think about it, it's no big deal if someone is arrested for a felony gun charge, they have court to fix the situation!

BlueNinjaGo

I might not know every law, but I'm expected to obey them, aren't I? Ignorance of the law is not an excuse. So why can't they be held to the same standard?

I'm somewhat of an IT guy, and you're right, I don't know everything... But I know to find out what I don't know. I'm not going to tell someone to trash a server or computer and buy a new one because I don't know how to fix it. Same for LEO's... I shouldn't be arrested for obeying the laws because the LEO's aren't up to date.

I agree, but to be honest, there's only a few(if any) changes in the gun laws each year. How hard is it for a memo to be sent to each LEO with at least the laws translated to everyday language.

I also agree with the TC about how disturbing the lack of knowledge is... We get punished for their ignorance...

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mlr1m

The problem isn't LEO's not knowing the laws. The problem comes when they try to enforce a law that isn't there. They should not make up laws on the run as they see fit. If they don't know the law on weapons then there is nothing for them to enforce.

Michael

JRI

I don't expect a LEO to recite from memory every law in the book. I do expect a LEO to have a working knowledge of every law in the book.

However, I DEMAND a LEO have detailed and specific knowledge of the violation of any law for which he plans to make an arrest.

The point that I have yet to see brought up is that once an arrest is made you are "in the system" and will have a record. You may be found not guilty and the judge may even admonish the LEO for making the arrest but the fact remains that you will have an arrest record.

SIXTO

I think that this thread would have been squashed in the first page or so if everybody understood the laws of arrest and typical police proceedure. But, only a few do so we have 5 pages of material that really amounts to nothing. And I just added to it.

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JRI

The laws of arrest? I can't say I've ever heard of that one. Perhaps you might offer a little more information on that.

TapRackBang

I really have a hard time not ranting on these type of threads(aka cops are idiots & I'm smarter than them)...But I understand the negative feeling civilains have towards LEOs.

I'm I cop & I don't even like cops, mostly cuz they are idiots and I am smarter than them.

I know how much I enjoy giving up some quite time to let a civilain I do not know lecture me on gun laws and DUI laws and speeding laws and lets legalize marijuana.

Appreciate your input. 20 minutes of down I'll never get back.

I can't imagine how this thread has lived so long..

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SIXTO

I might, but google is better at it.

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Deanimator

You can be as sarcastic as you like, but that doesn't change the fact that there are a LOT of cops out there who don't know or worse, don't CARE to know the law.

You don't need to know every law.
You need to know EVERY law you're ENFORCING, RIGHT NOW.

If you're too lazy to do that, then you need to find another line of work.

If you falsely arrest me for something that's not a crime, I'm going to make life VERY unpleasant for you, both professionally and financially. Now you can think that's a joke, but the laughing stops when you have to explain to the kids why the family's moving into grandma's basement.

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