My Police Story

R

rugbymatt

Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Messages
370
Today while I was on my way home I got stopped by the police.

I was walking through Penn Station in NYC getting ready to catch my train to Long Island when two police officers stop me and say " excuse me sir can we talk to you". At the same time they are flashing their badges. Knowing I have done nothing wrong and thinking this may be a random backpack search I say "sure". The first question out of there mouths seems a little strange however. They say " can I ask what you do for a living" to which I tell them I am an Elevator Constructor and ask why they want to know. They tell me they stopped me because they noticed the clip of my knife on my right front pocket and that in NYC it is illegal to carry a knife clipped on your pocket in plain site. Even if the knife is legal length and size and being carried in the pocket with only the clip and top of the knife exposed. They also explain that I can be arrested for this act. I tell them that I did not know this and that I will put the knife in my pocket. They both said that this is fine and that they had no intention of arresting me because the knife is used for work and that they just wanted to explain the law to me and to let me know I was in violation of it. Well it all worked out fine, they let me go with just a warning to keep the knife completely hidden while in the City. I had never heard this law, and it seemed strange. But hell I guess I can carry it in my pocket while in Manhattan. Even though I will probably never enconter this problem again, I will carry my knife in my pocket, at least while in Penn Station.

So if you are in NYC keep this story in mind.

PS. The knife was a Hinderer XM-18. Thanks for almost getting me arrested Rick.
 
rugbymatt, you can thanks Mayor Koch for that law back in the 1980s. It is in the NYC Admin Code and it states you can not carry a knife exposed in any way and the blade must be under 4 ". Consider yourself very lucky, because if the officers attempted to flick the knife open and were successful ( even holding the blade and flicking the handle open!!) you could have been charged with the more serious charge of a gravity knife.....keep it in your pocket, under 4" and the blade very tight........You ran into a couple of good cops this time....also "what a difference a day makes" was in your favor, because yesterday was the LAST day of the month and today is the FIRST day of a new month, so they did not have to meet their "productivity requirement" for another 29 days.....
 
That's interesting to know, I had no clue you couldn't leave the clip exposed. I've always wondered how about policies on Long Island and upstate though. Is it any different?
 
NYC is the only one that requires it not to be exposed. The NYC admin Code is only valid in NYC limits.
 
Good cops, doing the lords work right there...no Krispy Kremes in NYC, eh. Glad they didn't steal your knife from you and then let you "off" with a verbal.
 
after reading your post plus others talking about legal/iilegal blade length in various states, i checked the criminal code of canada. chapter c-46 states "prohibited: knife that has a blade that opens automatically by gravity or centrifugal force or by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in or attached to the handle of the knife"
i checked with my local royal canadian mounted police and was told it is legal to carry any other knife, other than "no knives may be taken into a bar".
seems pretty sensible. i am NOT a lawyer so perhaps this is not the whole story. any canadian lawyers out there ?
 
wow, that blows. my buddies were just down there for the knife show and i bet they had exposed clips.

yes, upstate is different. i openly wear fixed blades all the time (central NY) with no hassle. worst i ever got was in a bar after the local PD responded to a fight. one officer looked at my Spydie Moran and said "you really shouldn't wear that in a bar", and walked away.
 
rprocter said:
after reading your post plus others talking about legal/iilegal blade length in various states, i checked the criminal code of canada. chapter c-46 states "prohibited: knife that has a blade that opens automatically by gravity or centrifugal force or by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in or attached to the handle of the knife"
i checked with my local royal canadian mounted police and was told it is legal to carry any other knife, other than "no knives may be taken into a bar".
seems pretty sensible. i am NOT a lawyer so perhaps this is not the whole story. any canadian lawyers out there ?
Click to expand...

Sounds similar to PA law. I just read this:

"Pennsylvania case law: Where opening knife required lock to be released, and once lock was released blade could be exposed by flip of wrist, knife did not have blade which could be "exposed in an automatic way"... by "otherwise" legislature referred to knives that were opened by some sort of mechanism which is not a "switch," "push-button," or "spring" mechanism but still a mechanism... (1979)"
Click to expand...

That kind of sounds like the Axis lock, or am I wrong?
 
Metis said:
wow, that blows. my buddies were just down there for the knife show and i bet they had exposed clips.

yes, upstate is different. i openly wear fixed blades all the time (central NY) with no hassle. worst i ever got was in a bar after the local PD responded to a fight. one officer looked at my Spydie Moran and said "you really shouldn't wear that in a bar", and walked away.
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Had no idea upstate was so lax about knives :eek:

College campus is a whole different story, though it doesn't keep me from carrying a knife. A friend told me he saw an article in the school newspaper about lots of confiscated knives and (jokingly) asked if I was the culprit.
 
now im really confused lol. i always thought that you WERENT supposed to keep it in your pocket, as its now 'concealed'. isnt that why MILLIONS of bikers NEVER EVER get messed with, cuz their little black leather pocket knife pouches, that hang on their belts, are VISIBLE?? Isnt the ONLY way to carry ANY knife legally, is visually? Like guns. same thing. you can TECHNICALLY carry your rifle down the street, to a neighbors house, to say, show him what you just got, as long as its not hidden. (the only thing they can ticket you on, is brandishing a firearm, or disturbing the peace, but they cannot get you for carrying a concealed weapon)
Soooo now what. is this a city thing, or a federal thing. I always thought it was federal, cuz the laws that govern it start with usc. which i thought was united states code.. what did i miss here. how do bikers nation wide carry their buck 110's in their pouches then?
 
I was up there, in Penn Station a couple of years ago, and I got the same thing. I had a Spyderco on me at the time. But I really got it when they heard my Southern accent, telling me that they could tell I was along ways from home and I didn't want to go to jail up there, etc.... But in the end they let me go telling me that I needed to put it in my pocket...I haven't left Ol' 'Dixieland since then!;)
 
moving-van.jpg
 
now im really confused lol. i always thought that you WERENT supposed to keep it in your pocket, as its now 'concealed'. isnt that why MILLIONS of bikers NEVER EVER get messed with, cuz their little black leather pocket knife pouches, that hang on their belts, are VISIBLE?? Isnt the ONLY way to carry ANY knife legally, is visually? Like guns. same thing. you can TECHNICALLY carry your rifle down the street, to a neighbors house, to say, show him what you just got, as long as its not hidden. (the only thing they can ticket you on, is brandishing a firearm, or disturbing the peace, but they cannot get you for carrying a concealed weapon)
Soooo now what. is this a city thing, or a federal thing. I always thought it was federal, cuz the laws that govern it start with usc. which i thought was united states code.. what did i miss here. how do bikers nation wide carry their buck 110's in their pouches then?
Click to expand...

Every jurisdiction is unique. NYC notoriously requires concealed carry and actively prosecutes individuals for open carrying knives. As you made clear, some areas require individuals to open carry certain weapons. Luckily, I live in CT and we don't have to put up with that crap- one of the few times I can be thankful for living here.

When I go into or through NYC, I only carry SAK's or slipjoints, and keep 'em pocketed, for that reason.
 
Ahh i see. So are these cities adding to the usc? or do they have total leeway to make up their own unique laws. I always understood it to be like in the army, which is, "you can add to, but never take away" type deal. I thought that every city had to at least follow what was in the united states code in the minimum, then if they wanted to add something else they could. Interesting. I guess they all have their reasons. So then if in a state that required you to have it out of sight, are they jerks then when you pull it out to actually use it? like for example, if i had went to the post office, grabbed my package, then hopped on the a train (i have no clue what an a train is, i just hear about it in new york) and wanted to open my package after i sat down. does the law freak out if i pulled out my knife and opened the box?
 
Buddiiee, if you sat down on the train and pulled out a knife to cut open a package, I would freak out on you! :) Those trains bounce around a lot ...

BTW, the A train is the subway line designated with an A. There are lines with numbers and lines with letters. It just tells you where that train is going.

I don't know where you see the USC involved in this. Knife laws are overwhelmingly the province of states and cities. Some states will preempt their cities, others will allow cities to make stricter laws than the state does. Federal law only comes into effect with the transportation of "switchblades" across state lines.
 
ehhh said:
Had no idea upstate was so lax about knives :eek:

College campus is a whole different story, though it doesn't keep me from carrying a knife. A friend told me he saw an article in the school newspaper about lots of confiscated knives and (jokingly) asked if I was the culprit.
Click to expand...

i'm surprised myself. i keep expecting it to change. only thing i see is during hunting season (deer season), the hospitals and some local businesses put up signs "no guns or knives please" in the window.


yes, college is different. i carried SAK's in college.
 
I see. I seen that in the switchblade laws, and figured (its a boring read, i quit early lol) there was a whole host of other knife laws in there as well. i guess theres just the switchblade laws and thats it huh. i always thought there were federal laws as well.
 
What kind of backwards mentality requires a "weapon" as they would define it, to be concealed? Yeah, you avoid scaring the sheeple, but other states legally require a knife big enough to be a "weapon" to be in plain view! I will never understand what flawed logic is at work when rights- restricting laws are made!
 
Jamesh Bond said:
What kind of backwards mentality requires a "weapon" as they would define it, to be concealed?
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First of all, they don't define it as a weapon. What they do define as a weapon, they define as illegal for you to carry openly or concealed.

Secondly, therefore, they require you to conceal those tools that could appear to be weapons, to avoid anyone feeling threatened by them.

In other words, carry a knife if you need one, but don't wave it around or display it as if meaning to intimidate.
 
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