Stopped by Police With EDC?

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Knifenutty said:
I see this question come up a lot through the years and I have to ask.
What are you doing that would make any LEO question you about it?
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In my case a jerk who didn't like me decided to lie to the police.
I hadn't done anything, which is why nothing ended up happening...and the fact that he was criminal scum known to police helped my credibility.

The moral of the story is that you don't have to do anything at all.
 
I disclose when asked. One time a police officer, in response to me saying "i have a couple folding Knives, a fixed blade, and an axe", literally said "as long as you don't have a loaded gun between your seats or a bazooka or something you're fine." Then again, I don't have illegal tools.

I've told police officers that I had a knife every time they ask if I have any weapons. You may not consider your mini commander a weapon but I'd make a safe bet that if you didn't disclose it and the officer saw it they would consider it a weapon. I find that as long as you have a good attitude and operate within the law police will be fine with carrying. They just dont want to be killed, just like us. I had an axe on my belt while talking to an officer one time. Granted, this officer had been a kind of assistant coach when I wrestled.
 
I've been stopped multiple times a while ago when I was doin stupid stuff. I've never once been in trouble over a knife, and they've seen illegal sized blades. My neck of the woods, no one cares if you have a knife on your belt or pocket. As far as talking to the cops, I ALWAYS tell them I have a knife. They need to know for their safety, you can argue its a tool and that's what YOU use it for, but to the cop who has possibly seen stab wounds does not. Unless he's talking to you about an assault or something, it should never be a problem.
 
The simplest way to handle it is to tell them that you have nothing illegal on you (assuming the knife you are carrying is legal in your state/county). If the pig persists just keep repeating that you have nothing illegal on you. The pig will probably try to search your vehicle but be firm and say NO!. It is your right.
 
Metal Made Fox said:
The simplest way to handle it is to tell them that you have nothing illegal on you (assuming the knife you are carrying is legal in your state/county). If the pig persists just keep repeating that you have nothing illegal on you and always refuse to have them search your vehicle. It is your right.
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See, that sort of thing is just disrespectful. Giving them a hard time will in turn give you a hard time. I have no desire to abandon my rights, but a person would have to be pretty thick between the ears prolonging a situation that can be wrapped up quickly. No all LEOs are the same, some are much nicer than others, sometimes they have a chip on their shoulder. In the end, I have no desire to be detained and go through the whole mess of getting removed from my vehicle forcefully, potentially thrown onto the pavement, tazed, cuffed, and taken to the station for resisting arrest. Rmember, it is their word against yours and they will usually win.
 
My BIL is a retired 30 year veteran LEO, he gave me my family engraved brass PBA card, I've never used it, week maybe once but that's another story. Anyway the best advice he ever have me was to make the LEO feel as you're the least threat to him at that moment.

Pull over in a safe spot, (safe for you and him, I can't count the amount of times I've seen someone stop on a bridge with no shoulder or around a blind curve with no shoulder), put on your flashers, turn off your vehicle, (radio too), keep your hands on the wheel in plain view, don't make any unusual or abrupt movements, wait for the officer to tell you what to do and don't do anything without telling him first, (because my insurance card and registration papers are in the glove box I always let the officer know that when he asks for my papers). Don't be a smart a**, remember most cops are just doing their jobs and want to go home at the end of their shift and finally if they ask, answer truthfully.

My BIL used to tell me if he pulled you over you were getting a ticket or arrested, meaning he didn't do stupid pull overs, if you saw his lights in your mirror, it was gonna be a bad day for you.

Most times if you make the stop non threatening and non confrontational the officer will likely give you a warning, (unless you've been an a**, in which case he'll likely lock you up and get overtime when he has to show up at your arraignment hearing.
 
Bigfattyt said:
This. Know your own laws.

I happen to be a criminal defense attorney who sees this a lot. Officers often don't even know their own laws, literally. They will make a criminal citation where none is warranted, believing they know the law.

I happen to be in WA where the knife laws are vague. There is no set length that allows you to know you are safe. I see constant reports where pocket knives are not charged.

They do like to charge for "spring knife" when the knife is actually an assisted knife. I have the prosecutors trained now, on what that means. Used to be I had to show them the federal import statutes, and convince them to dismiss. Now, the WA statute mirrors the federal statute and specifically exempts assisted knives from being considered spring knives or switch blades. However, the rule actually will protect anyone carrying a knife that has a "bias toward closure" meaning that knives that an officer might be able to flip open with a hard flip and wrist action will not be a gravity knife any more as long as it has a force keeping it closed that has to be overcome.

There is a catch all in the statute, concealing any object apparently capable of producing serious bodily harm. There is argument that this is unconstitutionally vague, but I have seen it charged, prosecuted, and a finding of guilty imposed enough to advise against it. (for people who think that carrying a hammer under their coat in a sheath, or a large screw driver, etc concealed.

Where I am at, there is also a way for officers to charge you if it is not concealed, if it is a weapon carried in a manner that would cause a reasonable person to be alarmed (IE, it is legal to carry firearms openly, but you may be stopped and charged if some one freaks out. Same for a knife on your belt).

Typically you are ok, if you are not up to no good. A gentleman was walking around Walmart here locally with his pistol on his belt, and no one paid him any mind. If he had been acting strange, or shifty, it might not have been the same story.
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I'm planning to move up to WA soon you mind if I PM you and ask you a few questions?
 
I can tell the ages of the posters in this thread without looking at anything other than the comments.

Youthful reckless abandonment. I wish I knew then what I know now.
 
Sonnydaze said:
... I will lower my window and then put both hands on top of the steering wheel.
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This. I will also turn off my engine, and if it is after dark I will turn on my dome light.

Anything that makes the officer more comfortable is good.
 
I would answer honestly and would mention the firearm. I don't consider my EDC's weapons and I doubt if it would occur to me to mention them. However, if I was standing up against the side of my vehicle, I would mention the knife or knives.
 
" Don't be a smart a**, remember most cops are just doing their jobs and want to go home at the end of their shift and finally if they ask, answer truthfully."

First off, I give respect where respect is due. You respect me, I respect you. That's not too hard to understand.

Second. This "get home at the end of the shift" thing is getting kinda old. I want to get "home at the end of my shift" too. Has anybody figured out that if most anyone but Osama bin Laden(yes, I know he is dead) is pulled over by the police then they are out gunned and out armed?

Third. Being a Policeman is not near the most dangerous job you or anyone else can have. So give it a break.
 
gadunz said:
I'm glad NZ cops aren't like many USA cops; badged bullies & killers, with arrest quotas to facilitate mass imprisonment policies, (to please rightwing hatemongers & their paranoid followers), even if it means targetting otherwise peaceful citizens.
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I don't think many cops in the USA are like that. Sure, there are always a few bad seeds everywhere, but I agree with addylo that the impression you (and many others) have about American cops is based upon a lot of misinformation and outright bs. Again, like addylo, I can see where you'd get that impression, but I just don't agree with it. I'm 43 years old and have had many contacts with police over the course of my life, from shooting bb guns where I shouldn't have been as a young teen, to getting pulled over for speeding, burnt out taillights, etc. as an adult. I've never had a bad experience in all my life, other than one or two guys being a little rude (which is understandable given the work they have to do). I've never been arrested and have even been given warnings rather than tickets on several occasions. The lion's share of officers I've dealt with have have been very courteous and professional. Of course, I was raised to treat them with respect and courtesy, too, so that probably has a lot to do with it. :thumbup:
 
I had this happen when I was 19. I immediately told him I had a knife in my pocket. He pulled it out, questioned me, and gave me the knife back as I went on my way.

I'm not a criminal I was just in a bad situation at the wrong time.
 
Honestly, it's never occurred to me to be a particularly good idea to piss off anyone with a gun and handcuffs. I'm not sure where people are getting the idea that this would have positive results. Good cop or bad cop, guns still shoot and handcuffs are hard to get out of. Arguments are best left for when someone you didn't piss off has a say in it (and is watching).
 
SPXTrader said:
I can tell the ages of the posters in this thread without looking at anything other than the comments.

Youthful reckless abandonment. I wish I knew then what I know now.
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We're not all dumb! I recognize that becoming a convicted criminal will seriously hinder my life. I don't want that.
 
I have never been questioned or asked if I had any weapons any time I have ever been pulled over. I would imagine that is because every officer in town knows that I carry a knife wine they have seen me use them at work, even inside their station. Most know I also make knives, and I have had discussions with them about legal liability of selling and things. I do however live in a small town where we only have about 7 officers. I have even been asked before to look at a few knives confiscated from kids so the police would know if they were valuable or trash ( mostly because if a bum kid was carrying a high value custom they may want to look at where it came from). All that being said, if I was ever pulled over and asked if I had any weapons on me, I would simply say, I have a folding pocket knife in my right front pocket. Or I have a fixed blade fillet knife in the door, etc. honesty seems like the best option and I have no desire to stand in front of my car and debate the practical classification of weapon over tool for a simple knife.
 
sirupatespecial said:
"I happen to be a criminal defense attorney who sees this a lot. Officers often don't even know their own laws, literally. They will make a criminal citation where none is warranted, believing they know the law."

And go ahead and tell'em Sir.

If you get a citation for a supposed "law" that you didn't break and you pay the fine or say you don't and you do the time. Then it's not the cops responsibility. YOU are supposed to know the law and if you get screwed because you didn't then it's on you. Let's say, you get a citation for carrying a concealed weapon. A knife in this case. Plead guilty, pay the fine. But it's not illegal. Tough doo-doo.
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Not sure what the comment was intended to convey? I frequently have clients charged with crimes, that are not, in fact, illegal.

Had one client (a fire fighter moving all his belongings), get stopped. He had a .22 caliber pistol in a holster on the seat in the vehicle. It was not loaded, and was in plain sight. The officer charged him with "having a gun in plain sight".

The statute he cited to was one for leaving a gun in your vehicle (it has to be unloaded and out of sight, and you have to lock your doors).

Can you guess what the prosecutor said about that case when I told her the officer did not know the law?

"Officers would not be charging people for stuff that is not illegal". I told her to read the law........I even handed her a print out (since I could not force her to look at it on her computer in court). Her response was "you can't make me read the statute..........If you want to make me read it, write a motion, or set it for trial."

My response to that was that if she refused to even read the law she had a duty to up hold, I would set it for a jury trial, and make a huge sceene and demand costs from her office, and then file a bar complaint.

She read the statute, and dismissed the case. She, the prosecutor, did not know the law, and was snide about being informed, or forced to read it.

It has been a common occurrence in my experience.



Unless you are saying you are fine with the people that our government pays to enforce the laws, to be ignorant of said laws?


If an officer decides to give you a criminal citation, even if your actions were not illegal, you have just lost money (unless you are unemployed, and happen to live walking distance from the court house, and have nothing better to do).

The county I practice in is a huge county. Many people who are criminally cited are only passing through (visiting for a concert from Canada, or driving from one side of the state to to the other). If you have to come back to my county from Canada, or from Seattle, or Montana, or California, you have just lost hundreds or thousands of dollars. You will not have an opportunity to argue with the judge or the prosecutor about the merits of your case at your first appearance (arraignment). They will only want to know if you are pleading guilty or not guilty, and if you qualify for a public defender or intend to hire private counsel.

You will then have your court date reset to another date a few weeks to a month out. You will then come back again, and possibly a third time, to even have a trial date set (if that is your demand). You can loose thousands in lost work and travel expenses to deal with a case in which you did nothing against the law. Do you believe that the officer, or the prosecutor is going to smile, and hand you a check to cover your losses and say "oops, my bad"? I can guarantee you they won't. If you can get a case dismissed, even where you were not in the wrong, they will act like you are getting a huge favor, and were likely doing something wrong, but they just can't prove it.

If you don't show to the first court date, you will get a warrant. You can pay to have it quashed, and if you miss another date the warrant won't be quashed where I am at. You can either sit in jail if they find you, or pay the bail.

If you live in another state, the warrant may suspend your license in WA, and eventually suspend your license in your home state. At which point every time you have contact with law enforcement while driving, you will be criminally cited. Until you come back to WA, and deal with your case.

I have had clients from other states, or Canada finally decide they wanted to deal with a case 20 years later, because it was causing them trouble, even though they said they were never coming back to WA.
 
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I always find it interesting when people give the advice- "Always be respectful and extra polite when dealing with law enforcement, otherwise they will find a reason to mess with you". What I hear when people give that advice is- "Cops are predisposed to abuse their authority and will violate your constitutional rights for no other reason but because they don't like your attitude". That doesn't really speak well of law enforcement in this country, does it?

It really is a sad state of affairs in this country when a law abiding citizen has to be extra nice to a cop, even one who is being a jerk or violating their rights, in order to avoid being falsely charged with a crime and taken to jail. Sounds more like the sort of thing that would happen in the old Soviet Union, on the streets of Mexico, or in some third world country.

I don't know what's worse, the idea that LEO's might violate a law abiding citizens constitutional rights and arrest and imprison them on false charges simply because they don't like that citizens attitude, or the idea that the citizens of this country consider such actions to be a normal way of life.

I think a lot of people who give the advice "Always be respectful", are so pro-cop that they don't recognize that the problem isn't people having a disrespectful attitude, the problem is cops abusing their power and violating peoples constitutional rights. I think it's sad that instead of people speaking out against such corrupt behavior on the part of law enforcement, that people feel compelled to give advice on how important it is to be extra nice to cops so they won't arrest and imprison you for no lawful reason.

You know what I do when someone treats me in a disrespectful manner, I ignore their disrespect. In my opinion that's how a mature adult responds to such things. It's really sad that there are people with guns and badges who can't find it within themselves to respond in a similar fashion, and instead feel it necessary to violate their oath and victimize the very people they are charged with protecting.

And for the record, I know several cops personally who have my highest respect, because I know that they are good cops. And I have met several other LEO's in my life, both on the street and behind bars, who I know to be some very cool people.
 
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