Local police with gun registration???

[Iceman]

In a casual conversation with a friend, he brought up that he had been pulled over (for what I would assume was a traffic violation) and when the officer approached his vehicle he was asked if he had any weapons.

When he stated that he did not, the officer asked him again stating that he knew he was a gun owner.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I know this is secondhand information, but I had stated the conversation about gun control laws, etc... and he then told me this story.

[Displaced]

This is a perfect example where having an audio recording device would be worth its weight in gold. I have long suspected they access gun owner records, but of course they deny it, since (I believe) this is illegal. IANAL.

[streaker69]

Does he have any firearm related stickers on his car?

[jtwalker]

Should we assume this was in PA ? The reasons will vary state-by-state.

Perhaps it came back that he had an LTCF. I've heard others on here say that this information will sometimes come back over the radio at a traffic stop.

[streaker69]

Should we assume this was in PA ? The reasons will vary state-by-state.

Perhaps it came back that he had an LTCF. I've heard others on here say that this information will sometimes come back over the radio at a traffic stop.

Of the thousands of traffic stops I've listened to over the years in Lancaster, I've never heard of that information automatically coming back. I've only ever heard information come back when police officer requests it because they've encountered someone carrying a firearm.

I've only heard one instance where dispatch has gotten that information on their own and given it to responding police and that was when they were on their way to a MWAG call where the guy had threatened people with it.

That isn't to say it doesn't happen in other counties, but I would think that most counties follow similar procedures. That being said, if their MDT's have access to that information, it's possible the officer looked it up on his own, and that may have violated policy to do so.

[Qtrborecrazy]

As you stated the cop walked up to your friends car and asked about weapons. How did the cop know WHO WAS DRIVING? My wife drives my pickup and I driver her car, how did he know it was your friend behind the wheel?

[The Unknown 1087]

Of the thousands of traffic stops I've listened to over the years in Lancaster, I've never heard of that information automatically coming back. I've only ever heard information come back when police officer requests it because they've encountered someone carrying a firearm.

I've only heard one instance where dispatch has gotten that information on their own and given it to responding police and that was when they were on their way to a MWAG call where the guy had threatened people with it.

That isn't to say it doesn't happen in other counties, but I would think that most counties follow similar procedures. That being said, if their MDT's have access to that information, it's possible the officer looked it up on his own, and that may have violated policy to do so.

They do have access on their MDT. I've witnessed it.

[streaker69]

They do have access on their MDT. I've witnessed it.

I know a few years ago that they did, but I haven't been involved with it for a while. I knew there were all kinds of issues with the amount of data they were trying to get to the terminals all those years ago, don't know if those issues were resolved or not.

[jw34]

They do have access on their MDT. I've witnessed it.

Maybe some systems, but definitely not ALL.
Our county system in Berks does not have that info. LTCF status & ROS data info has to be specifically requested by the officer via dispatch. Dispatch gets that info from a terminal that cops cannot access. From our in-car terminals, we can run vehicles for ownership/registration info, people for drivers license status and warrants, and any item for stolen.
I have seen software programs in other departments (Reading City PD) where officers or dispatchers can link "important" data to names, addresses or vehicles.
So if person A was involved in an incident years ago involving a gun, a "flag" can be assigned to pop up when that name, address or plate is queried in the system.
County depts here have two seperate software systems, one for dispatching calls, linked with the dispatch center, and another system for internal use (report writing, etc). If I plug your name into the first system, I'll get your driver license and a warrant query. Internal system will tell me every incident you're linked to, etc.
Reading's might be done all thru one software system.
There are many more software programs, and every county or dispatch center chooses their own. We've been thru three different dispatch systems in the last 12 years in Berks. 10 years ago, our program would automatically run the vehicle owners drivers license when a license plate was entered. Our most recent program doesn't do that now, but has GPS mapping which I find ironic. (First part of the job is to learn every street, block, and alley). Guess the youngsters need to rely on computers for everything.

[BenP]

In a casual conversation with a friend, he brought up that he had been pulled over (for what I would assume was a traffic violation) and when the officer approached his vehicle he was asked if he had any weapons.

When he stated that he did not, the officer asked him again stating that he knew he was a gun owner.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I know this is secondhand information, but I had stated the conversation about gun control laws, etc... and he then told me this story.

It's possible since the ROS can be searched by name and date of birth. He could of ran his name through the ros after running his plate.