The difference between Traffic cops & Local cops

Trojan911

Just thought I'd throw this one in with relation to being stopped by Gardaí whilst being in possession of your firearm without your licence.... What were your experiences?....


A set of headlights approached. I whispered a warning to the buddy so the rifle was put back into the car & we sat back in trying to look like we were doing something innocent at 3am.

Unfortunately the car headlights were of a passing marked up cruiser, which pulled up, stopped & threw on the strobes. Traffic Corp printed across the bonnet of the car.

Both occupants emerged & the driver (male) pulled on his cap as did his female colleague & they swaggered over to us.....

"Oh bugger" I murmured to the buddy "Traffic, we are in for a grilling, just act dumb & co-operate".

"Morning officers" I beamed. "Ye busy" I added weakly.

Male Officer: "What are ye doing lads?

Buddy: Just doing a bit of lamping.

Male Officer: Who owns the rifle?

Buddy: Me.

Male Officer: Can I see your licence?

Buddy: Err..... I don't have it on me.

Male Officer: Why? (He then goes off into a five minute mantra on how firearms licences should be carried at all times when in possession of a firearm. This guy barely took a breath while speaking & he stood to attention. His female colleague stood by occasionally nodding in agreement, arms folded looking very stern & cute).....

I'm desperately trying not to yawn...

I flash a few smiles at his cute female colleague and made lots of eye contact hoping she would engage.... Not a hope...... I run my eye up & down her & think "Ya, I would" but she would have to wear the uniform.....

Buddy: Sorry 'bout dat, I didn't know I was supposed to carry it.

Male Officer: Have you drink taken? (Typical Traffic)

Buddy: Wha? No.

Me thinking I had gotten away with my rifle being spotted moved slightly away & fired up a smoke grinning at the buddies grilling.

Two minutes later, this guy is still bollocking the buddy about firearms licences, when I hear a roar "Who's rifle is this?

"Oh bugger" I say to myself, my turn....

Me: Err, mine officer.

Male Officer: Licence?

Me: Not with me. Didn't think I had to carry it.

Male Officer: (Three minute bollocking on firearms licences).

Female officer still nodding & still looking stern & arms folded. (God, you look cute I thought to myself).

Basically, we took a bollocking that night...... and kept quiet while it was administered apologizing where applicable.

Anyway the difference between Traffic cops & Local cops.

I was stopped about a month prior to the one above where I live by local cops at a Drink Drive checkpoint....

Officer: Drink taken?

Me: Gosh, no officer, I've been night shooting for a local farmer.

Officer shines his torch into the back of my car & he spots a pump action shotgun....

Officer: What were you shooting?

Me: Foxes.

Officer: Any luck?

Me:No Officer, didn't even squeeze the trigger. The buggers were keeping low tonight.

Officer then engages in conversation on how foxes & the likes were destroying lambs & hens etc..... and then lets me drive on, no breath test or mention of firearms licences.

I rest my case........... M'lud......


TJ911...

BryanL

i can only hope she stops me;)

rrpc

Great story TJ and well told, I suppose you carry the licence with you now?

Trojan911

rrpc wrote:

Great story TJ and well told, I suppose you carry the licence with you now?

Ya, I think he might have put me & the buddy on the pulse for a stop.... Went out today with the M2000 & reluctantly stuck the licence in the carry case..... He was such a jobsworth.....

TJ911...

johngalway

Traffic cops are recruited from the ranks of community/litter/traffic wardens. Lowest of the low do their own granny types. Ordinary cops are grand though.

And no, I really don't care who reads this forum incase anyone was gonna chip that in

Trojan911

johngalway wrote:

Lowest of the low do their own granny types. Ordinary cops are grand though.

You are spot on there... Traffic, in my experience would stick their own mothers on, my experience stems from the UK & NY.

TJ911...

ShowAndGo

Traffic cops are recruited from the ranks of community/litter/traffic wardens

I don’t think that’s the case John. They are just “ordinary cops” assigned to a traffic division.

I think you made the right move TJ911, what’s the point of arguing the finer points of the law with two Gardai at 3am.

alan123

Woh! Stall the digger (just before I go to the local clay ground here in south France) me and Showandgo shoot with a traffic cop and he is seriously into his shooting.
A tool is a tool and a sound man is a sound man, whether he works in the deli or stacks the shelves!!

I hope all the cops that are logging on dont take offence! And there are a lot, in fact how many of the registered Users are cops??? Some of the Users know a lot about the law?!! Food for thought.

Anyway... back to the glorious sunshine, topless beaches and that clayground!!

cavan shooter

I have to agree with Alan; Fellas out lamping at night, driving the roads shining a red filtered lamp to find a fox (so as to acertain the direction in which the fox is travelling so that you can proceed ahead, enter the field to a minimum distance of 50 meters in order to take the shot)::D or coming out of a field at 2 am carrying a rifle and lamp...could be construed as acting in a suspicious manner.

The licence issue has been done to death on other threads simple answer carry the licence, Lads any guard can ask you to "account for your movements".

And if like me you drive a commercial Jeep or Van they also look in the back, take one look at the rifle and panic!!! How many actually know what lamping is? if you were to describe lamping to anyone not into shooting, they look at you as if you are cracked.

Trojan911

cavan shooter wrote:

(so as to acertain the direction in which the fox is travelling so that you can proceed ahead, enter the field to a minimum distance of 50 meters in order to take the shot)::D

Absolutely....

cavan shooter wrote:

Lads any guard can ask you to "account for your movements".

Yes they can, however you are not obliged to answer.

cavan shooter wrote:

And if like me you drive a commercial Jeep or Van they also look in the back,

Construe this as a search? On what grounds?

Ya, we could have gone down that road but we didn't. They didn't see us lamping they just saw us pulled up at the side of the road, so they came over. Perfectly normal practice in laymans terms. Technically fishing if the legal term was to be used. We obliged them with answers so there was no problem.

TJ911...

bullets

cavan shooter wrote:

if you were to describe lamping to anyone not into shooting, they look at you as if you are cracked.

Before I started reading here I thought Lamping was something that was
done illegally in Ireland.

~B

bunny shooter

[QUOTE=Yes they can, however you are not obliged to answer.TJ911...[/QUOTE]

Agreed, but is it advisable to refuse to answer?
As with licence issuse, advisable to tell truth.

Around my way a lot of criminals are use lamping as a cover to get into houses & yards through other means than the front gate etc

Leupold

This is an awful thread.The originator and some of his supporters give the Gardai a poor impression of shooters in general. I am glad that the gardai stopped to ask questions of two people sitting in a car in the dark late at night and they should have taken your guns into their custody as you were clearly not complying with the obligations placed upon you. Your attitude to the situation is immature. Moderators, please remove this thread and do the intelligent shooters a favourl

maglite

Shut up,

go learn the law, or have a basic understanding before critising people,

it is not the stopping it is the attitude post stop the tread protrays

Leupold

maglite wrote:

Shut up,

go learn the law, or have a basic understanding before critising people,

it is not the stopping it is the attitude post stop the tread protrays

I see you agree with me Maglite. It is the attitude which the thread displays that is the problem.

cavan shooter

I will not get into a slagging match on this,
However I think the following should be clarified. My response if anything defended the Gardais' duty. However I do find it frustrating sometimes if you meet a guard the way some... deal with any given situation before them (see previous threads).

If your a game shooter you can come accross inconsistencies with approaches from gardai who you meet while out shooting. Guess what, the same can be said of all people in life (planners/traffic wardens HSE/Judges

Every shooter who values their licence and reputation in the local community does well to comply with the law. I cannot see where this thread can be construed in any other light. As reiterated on threads on this forum and previously on the NARGC forum, it is perfectly legal to lamp from a road where it becomes a subject of being illegal is if a firearm is discharged from the road. (public place)

In relation to stop and search or ask questions, All the guard has to do is form an "opinion" and again as the thread pointed out, if you didn't know about Lamping foxes you would think something suspicious is going on.

The comment on intellegence is unfounded and insulting and should be withdrawn

Leupold

Trojan911 wrote:

they swaggered over to us.....

.... I run my eye up & down her & think "Ya, I would" but she would have to wear the uniform.....[/I]

TJ911...

Unfounded?

johngalway

Leupold wrote:

I see you agree with me Maglite. It is the attitude which the thread displays that is the problem.

What's your badge number Leupold

I figure Maglite is talking about the traffic cops attitude being over the top after they went to the car in question.

We have been stopped by ordinary gardai out lamping, they're friendly, ask questions about your success and let ya on yer way.

I have a friend who was stopped by the traffic corps and he said he wouldn't want to get stopped by them again.

THAT is the bad attitude in question, it's not coming from shooters, it's provoked from (some) over zealous traffic cops.

Edited to add this;

One night we shot two foxes in one field, had permission where we were. Squad came over the hill and pulled up at the gate where we had parked up. Note we were shooting well in inside the field and not from the road. Usual questions anyway and then he started telling my mate WHERE the foxes were crossing the road and suggesting other places to try.

My take on local lampers is that they are good for an area, we see what's going on at night and who's where they shouldn't be.

Leupold

johngalway wrote:

THAT is the bad attitude in question, it's not coming from shooters, it's provoked from (some) over zealous traffic cops.

.

You are missing the point I do not have an issue about lamping or about whether one kind of garda is better or worse than any other kind. I do have an issue with people who display a childish attitude to the law and the people responsible for carrying it out, which reflects poorly on shooters in general

maglite

Leupold wrote:

I do have an issue with people who display a childish attitude to the law

yet you condone the gardai breaking the law??

Leupold wrote:

they should have taken your guns

and i wasn;t really agreeing with you

I commend the guards for working, but they overstepped the mark trying to make people comply with rules that do NOT exist

E. Fudd

This forum rarely gets any humour injected into it, I had a great laugh at Trojan's account of events, and didn't think it would cause any damage to shooter's reputations.

Just because we're shooters, doesn't mean we're not allowed to have a light giggle about the gardai.

I'm sure if an encounter with gardai for any other reason, was written in any other forum, with the same satire in the story, there would be plenty of people having a good laugh at it, and no people knocking it.

Are you scared that the gardai will track our I.P addresses and not re-issue our FAC's because we weren't nice??

Lets just take this in the manner it's intended, a good laugh and a good point to boot!

Leupold

pampers wrote:

and didn't think it would cause any damage to shooter's reputations.

The humour was fine but the attitude it revealed was not.

pampers wrote:

Are you scared that the gardai will track our I.P addresses and not re-issue our FAC's because we weren't nice??!

Don't you use a proxy?

Trojan911

Trojan911 wrote:

Ya, we could have gone down that road but we didn't. We obliged them with answers so there was no problem. TJ911...

Leupold,

This post is a comparison of an observation of dealings with different departments within the Gardaí. It is not a slur on the Force or a criticism. It is an observation.

It was also posted as a bit of banter or fun with the question "What were your experiences?" I cannot help it if you have sense of humour failure. Don't read on if you don't like it.

You are, of course, entitled to your opinions, as I am to mine.

This post was not intended to turn into a slagging match; it posed a question from two encounters I experienced, so Mods feel it free to close this thread if you feel it appropriate. I have no wish to upset the Touchy Feely section of the shooting community.

Maglite, I’m not sure whom you were telling to shut up but I have no intention of engaging in a “slagging match” so this my final reply unless a poster wishes to share their experiences and maybe add a bit of amusement.

All the best...

TJ911...

Leupold

Trojan911 wrote:

This post is a comparison of an observation of dealings with different departments within the Gardaí. It is not a slur on the Force or a criticism. It is an observation.

I take it this is an apology to the Gardai and the touchy feely people then.

Trojan911 wrote:

IDon't read on if you don't like it.

I love this argument which often appears on the boards: translated it means :
1 That the writer can say what he/she wants.
2 People who don't like what is being said should not read it,
3 Then, as long as they do not read it, nobody will be offended

Sparks

Well, I personally love how everyone fails to read this bit of the charter:

If you have a problem with a post, use the "Report Bad Post" link (it's marked on the left side of each post with a symbol) to report it to the moderators. Do not take it on yourself to regulate the forum.

So why don't I lock this thread for a while to give ye a chance to go read it?