Quote:
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Originally Posted by rjrivero
The unfortunate truth is that the Police are caught between a rock and a hard place in Wisconsin. They must investigate the complaints of "man with a gun." But at the same time, it's not ILLEGAL to be a man walking with a gun.
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This keeps coming up.
WHY "must" the police investigate all reports of a man with a gun, if being a man with a gun is not
prima facie illegal?
Driving a car without a license, or driving under the influence, is/are illegal. Does that mean that MADD members can report every car they see on Main Street, and the police have to investigate every car reported? What's the report? "I saw a man driving on Main Street." And the dispatcher is going to say, "And so what? Call back if you see him driving in a way that's illegal."
So why is the same approach not taken for "man with a gun" calls? If open carry is legal (which it is in Wisconsin), then the mere fact of walking in public with a gun in a holster on your belt is NOT illegal, and provides NO probable cause or even reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. So a woman calls in a "man with gun" report. Why does the dispatcher not ask, "What is he doing with the gun?"?
And when the answer comes back, "He's ... he's ... he's WALKING ... on the STREET ... with a
GUN in a holster thingie on his belt!" the dispatcher
should end the call right there: "M'am, that's legal in this state. Call us back if he does something illegal. Have a nice day."
Why are "man with a gun" calls so different from "man in a car" or "kid on a tricycle" or "woman on sidewalk" calls?