LEO survey on gun control

[Armybrat]

Kinda shoots down those political LEO chiefs when they serve as Bloomberg's background at the gun-grabber rallies.

http://ddq74coujkv1i.cloudfront.net/p1_gunsurveysummary_2013.pdf

I'll bet if those street cops surveyed spoke in favor of gun owners at a pro-gun rally in uniform like the big city police chiefs do against them for anti-gun rallies, they would be fired.

[Longitude Zero]

I saw and read the study off PoliceOne.com yesterday morning. It is very interesting and enlightening. What I find as I go to FOP, NRA, IACP meetings is that there is a much greater void between rural vs urban officers. You would be surprised at the number of big city cops are fervently FOR gun control measures.

Most would be fired if the spoke publicly about this in uniform. Virtually every department has a policy that only the Chief or Sheriff may make any public political statements in uniform.

Sad but true.

[mr surveyor]

Even though there is definitely a big difference between metro police and smallsville police, I think there's more difference in the thinking between police of all stripes and sheriffs/deputies in the same communities. I still believe that in most cases that Police Chiefs, being employees that are hired by municipal politicians tend to be influenced by those same politicians. Sheriffs, at least in the states where the position is an elected position, are generally more influenced by the voters. And, since the sheriff is generally the chief leo "out in the county", his voter base may tend to be the more conservative, rural/semi-rural type. Obviously, the larger the city, the more possibility of corruption and influence peddling at the top levels in the city government.

I wonder if the "poll" were categorized by PD and SO how the numbers would break down.

[Bawanna]

It's also no doubt effected by rank. Gold badge wearing command staff probably leans more for gun control. They are out of touch with the street and the realities of life and absorbed with things like fund raising, how to make more money for themselves, liability issues, how to mess with civilian employees, how to take credit for other peoples ideas.

Even in our little dept it varies with the line troops. Most I think are pro gun but a few go the other way.

[ltxi]

If I were a new, big metro street cop these days I'd be for all the gun containment I could get.

[Bawanna]

If I were a new, big metro street cop these days I'd be for all the gun containment I could get.

I agree.

We chatted about this last night around the dinner table. In our small dept we get a chance to interact with normal people on occasion, special events, parades, National Night Out, that sort of thing.

The very large city departments and county guys I don't think get so see that so much. So they deal almost exclusively with the dregs of society and become hardened and many reach a point of cop=good guy anything else is bad guy and who can really blame them sometimes.

[Longitude Zero]

Working for a dept in a city of over 1 million you find most of the dregs in the ghettos. However there ae a notable few in the middle class and upper class neighborhoods also.

Dregs with Money so to speak.

Generally the sheriff who is elected every 4 years is more gun friendly. I have met some who are lukewarm or even anti-gunners to boot.