TexasCHLforum.com

"The most difficult thing about freedom is having the good sense to allow the other fellow his"
------ my Dad -----

Ol Zeke wrote:"The most difficult thing about freedom is having the good sense to allow the other fellow his"
------ my Dad -----

Good point. NYPD has a long history of not allowing the other fellow his right to keep and bear arms.

Jumping Frog wrote:

srothstein wrote:The LEOSA was originally introduced a long time ago (like 1997 IIRC) and took until 2004 to get passed. It allows peace officers and correctional officers to carry firearms in any state if they meet some conditions.

Kind of makes me miss the old days, when a nice campaign contribution to a county sheriff (in some states) could get you a badge.

Nowadays, if an ordinary citizen could get LEO status that easily, it would be a great way to acquire a 50-state super CHL. Jeez, I would love to be able carry in states like NY, MD, CA, IL, NJ just to thumb my nose at them.

It is not quite that easy anymore, but almost. Chuck Norris and Aaron Norris were just officially made honorary Texas Rangers. If you really want to get sticky about it, the law says rangers are peace officers and doesn't say "that have a license" like it does on some other peace officer lines. Not that it makes a difference to Chuck, who was actually a real peace officer for years as a reserve in one of the Dallas suburbs.

And, along those lines, it is still fairly easy in a lot of places. There are a lot of small towns that still use reserves. You go to a part-time police academy for about 9 months, pass one little (250 question) test, pass a background check, and you are in.

And the old rules about how much work you must donate are gone. I know of one city where they only ask you to work their annual festival to keep your commission active year round.

srothstein wrote:It is not quite that easy anymore, but almost. Chuck Norris and Aaron Norris were just officially made honorary Texas Rangers. If you really want to get sticky about it, the law says rangers are peace officers and doesn't say "that have a license" like it does on some other peace officer lines. Not that it makes a difference to Chuck, who was actually a real peace officer for years as a reserve in one of the Dallas suburbs.

This is off topic, but does honorary Texas Ranger status give them any legal status? I remember that Elvis Presley used to collect honorary police badges from various departments. He even got a badge and credentials from the "Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs" from President Nixon. I think this was the predecessor of the DEA.

srothstein wrote:

Jumping Frog wrote:

srothstein wrote:The LEOSA was originally introduced a long time ago (like 1997 IIRC) and took until 2004 to get passed. It allows peace officers and correctional officers to carry firearms in any state if they meet some conditions.

Kind of makes me miss the old days, when a nice campaign contribution to a county sheriff (in some states) could get you a badge.

Nowadays, if an ordinary citizen could get LEO status that easily, it would be a great way to acquire a 50-state super CHL. Jeez, I would love to be able carry in states like NY, MD, CA, IL, NJ just to thumb my nose at them.

It is not quite that easy anymore, but almost. Chuck Norris and Aaron Norris were just officially made honorary Texas Rangers. If you really want to get sticky about it, the law says rangers are peace officers and doesn't say "that have a license" like it does on some other peace officer lines. Not that it makes a difference to Chuck, who was actually a real peace officer for years as a reserve in one of the Dallas suburbs.

And, along those lines, it is still fairly easy in a lot of places. There are a lot of small towns that still use reserves. You go to a part-time police academy for about 9 months, pass one little (250 question) test, pass a background check, and you are in.

And the old rules about how much work you must donate are gone. I know of one city where they only ask you to work their annual festival to keep your commission active year round.

I'm not sure I'd consider 9 months (even part time) almost easy. I was initially surprised when I found out that Texas had a fairly strict statewide standard in the TCLEOSE. If understand correctly, even the smallest county precinct constable position has to be certified to the TCLEOSE standard in order to be a "peace officer" under Texas law. Most departments I've heard of also require a polygraph and extensive background check. I also understand that even a Class B misdemeanor deferred adjudication is permanently disqualifying under TCLEOSE. That's stricter than the Feds' "three letter agencies". SO you can have a sworn FBI agent who is not qualified to serve as a Kenedy County (TX) precinct constable.

Tamie wrote:It's obviously unconstitutional if you read the constitution, but that doesn't seem to matter anymore.

So are all the bans on carrying a gun unless you have permission from the goverment.

ScottDLS wrote:I'm not sure I'd consider 9 months (even part time) almost easy. I was initially surprised when I found out that Texas had a fairly strict statewide standard in the TCLEOSE. If understand correctly, even the smallest county precinct constable position has to be certified to the TCLEOSE standard in order to be a "peace officer" under Texas law. Most departments I've heard of also require a polygraph and extensive background check. I also understand that even a Class B misdemeanor deferred adjudication is permanently disqualifying under TCLEOSE. That's stricter than the Feds' "three letter agencies". SO you can have a sworn FBI agent who is not qualified to serve as a Kenedy County (TX) precinct constable.

Well, maybe not almost easy, but definitely not really as hard as some police officers make it sound. It is much harder when you go full time with one of the major departments. Some of the academies are not seven and eight months of full time study, with the military basic training atmosphere for stress.

You are correct about the TCLEOSE requirements and background check, except for the polygraph exam. Most of the larger departments do require it, but most of the smaller departments do not, because of the price. But then, my post was done a little bit tongue in cheek.

To be honest, if you are looking for a police position just to be able to carry, you are really looking for the wrong reason and probably would not get hired. But if you want to help out also, and believe in what cops do (help people in an emergency is how I always saw the job), then there are lots of places that really could use the help. I don't think you will find very many reserve slots in most of the larger city areas, but the suburbs might be. If you get out to the almost rural areas, they are usually crying for people. This is where you can get hired in return for donating two shifts per month on average. And the work is not too hard most of the time.

The scary part will come about a year after you finish your training, when they start trusting you as the only officer on duty (not every department will do that for reserves). I was surprised when i first left San Antonio and started as a reserve for Luling. The call load was very light comparatively. But when I was on duty, quite often I was also the only cop on in the city, and the nearest other cop was a good fifteen minutes away. Getting a fight call or domestic disturbance and knowing there is no backup close is really different from being in the city where I could push one button on the radio and know that a couple dozen cops would be there in five minutes or less.

My agency will put one thorugh a $4k academy, fully outfit you w duty gear, and issue you a gun.

8hrs/month reserve commitment.