This will likely sound like a rant, but it's not meant to be, promise.steveincowtown wrote:...Yet another reason we should NOT have to display a CHL during a traffic stop. A real cop will figure out you have a CHL anyhow.
I'm not sure the "what if someone impersonanting a PO stops me" is a good arguement for not needing to show your CHL permit, imo. Granted, I've got two frames of thought on this. The first as a private citizen and keeping my business my own. The second is that of a career long dispatcher. And the second thought trumps my first, heh.
A PO will not know that you are a CHL holder just by conducting a traffic stop on you (one of the most dangerous things for them to do other than domestic disturbances), since it's not linked to your plate. A PO will not know you are a CHL holder when he runs you if TCIC is down, (as it frequently is for maint, albeit in short intervals only most times. A PO will not know If you are an out-of-state CHL holder with a state that has a reciprocity with Texas, because CHLs are not listed in NCIC, only their local state database.
That's a lot of 'will not know' for a cop standing on the side of the road at 3am.
A CHLers argument a lot of times is that they are the law abiding ones and are doing the right thing, and as such cops shouldn't worry about them. I agree whole-heartily with the first part of that. however, a cop should always be wary of anyone he encounters, CHLers are no exceptions. Just because there is no sanction anymore for failing to display your CHL license to a PO doesn't mean I have any intentions of not doing so.
/Rant that wasn't meant to be a rant officially off.
