Well the person in charge made a phone call to a security supervisor and then came back to confirm what she initially told him. So although you say it’s not policy, this interaction would prove otherwise. Again, we are not talking about a plain clothed officer, we are talking about full uniform, gun belt, badge etc etc being told he needed to be disarmed in order for his son to get medical attention but was ultimately turned away.
Not every hospital is the same. They all have varying levels of shielding and different whiz-bang equipment. Someone not familiar with the inner workings of that facility and its capabilities, could create an unintentional safety hazard.
Working tradition in my department is that a seriously injured officer is escorted by another officer no matter what. I flew to Shock Trauma many years ago when my partner was seriously injured in a car crash. I maintained his gun belt and mine until I was relieved by our Lieutenant, who took possession.
Your making excuses. It was an Outpatient urgent care. and if I’m reading what you wrote correctly then it sounds as if it is policy which should be exposed.
That isn't correct. I am only required to have my firearm when I am on-duty or driving a police vehicle.
Really?
Fair enough, I wasn’t clear after reading my original post. But yes it was an urgent care
That is completely reasonable and the smart thing to do, using the buddy system.
That still does not make sense(to me). Even if some special units are trained about the hospital to be able to respond, a regular uniformed officer doesn’t come in all willy nilly messing with his firearm unsafely on routine visits. Just seems an overly Karen policy to me.
So it was the security who said it, it was their decision. My wife works for them, we have had talks about their firearms policies. Some Medstar facilities also have outside security companies.
No, it was the site manager at first, then they called a supervisor (who, I don’t know) that verified the policy.
I think a better policy should be in place than to turn away a uniformed officer at the door. Maybe the Radiology wing?? Or compressed gas storage? Even then an information campaign might be better.
Most hospitals I've been in have oxygen bottles stored and in use all over the place, in addition to lines with gas running through the ceiling/walls etc where you might not know/expect them to be, so the compressed gas storage angle basically includes the entire building.
Seems like an issue for someone responding to an emergency. But pressure vessels, certainly a good thing to be aware of. So what happens when one needs to use a bullet?
That
If they are there for an emergency issue (responding as an officer) then the rules are different, as they should be, because the risk/reward calculation changes. The assumption here was that this officer was off-duty, but still in uniform for some unknown reason. While I respect police/military etc, I don't believe that being in uniform while not working/off duty should convey the same special privileges as actively on duty should/does. In fact, I think that police officers shouldn't want to/be able to perform non-job-related duties while in uniform, but that's a different thread that will ruffle different feathers. This guy went to the hospital as a dad, not as a cop, so he should be treated like any other dad. That's the key thing here that my opinion is based on.
