drive to WallyWorld.
A Mother and her three young children were surrounded by deputies and forced to lie on the ground while Officers pointed guns at them.
While on the way to the local WALLYWORLD a
motorest called 911 to report seeing a GUN being
waved around in a minivan driven by a woman. Local police desended on the vehicle as it was pulling into the Walmart parking lot. With guns drawn the Mother and 2 of her young children were ordered by Police from the minivan and
told to lie face down on the ground. Her youngest son was left strapped in his carseat
while Officers screamed "WHERES THE GUN_WHERES THE GUN!!! Crying she kept telling Police that the gun was just a toy, a replica of a Colt SSA
which had a big orange plastic barrel. The children were crying out that it was just a toy.
The Police ransacked the vehicle and found nothing more that a toy gun. A police supervisor later apologised to the Mother but said the officers had acted properly.
LINK WILL BE PROVIDED LATER

I can't wait

It has to be cop bashing.

i thought they had banned all them evil toy guns!!! how could this be

I've read about people calling the cops after seeing someone having a bright red translucent watergun in their car. People are stupid. (And when I say people, I mean the people calling the cops.)
It's not the cops' fault, they acted on what they no doubt percieved to be dangerous situation.

Why don't they ask the person on the phone about the situation. Was it a man in a mask or a three year old. They should put this much effort into finding the person who made the call and then point real guns at them. You would think that if you pull up on a minivan with a mother and small children you would use some restraint. If I was the husband there would be a muli-million dollar lawsuit against that department by tommorow for mental anguish to the children. You can call it cop bashing if you want but LEOs should be held to a higher standard. When they screw up they should pay. I know if a cop was pointing a gun at me for no reason he better use it. Because I'm not a helpless mom.

[frag]

I wonder if those children will be opinionated against LEOs when they get older?

I've had LEOs point 4 pistols and 3 shotguns at me and ordered to the ground. In a store parking lot! Maybe I didn't have a license to carry the lighter I had in my pocket.

Smalls
Semper Fi

SGB

No wife, no kids, not stupid.

Revenge is best served cold. Enough said about that.

You posted a link to a site about the 10 things that seperate us from LEOs. These cops didn't seem to have very good control over their emotions and their adrenalin. When a car salesman overreacts to a situation its no big deal. But when the armed men that we put our faith in to protect us over react there can be serious problems. I support the police to uphold the law, and protect our rights. But I see toooo many young cops who I wouldn't put in charge of walking my dog. They freak out over nothing. My home town hires alot of young cops straight out of the academy and I have see them overeact very often. I think too often there's alot of balls and a little brains used in these situations. I have never had a need to call the police, but if I did; I personally would rather have someone come that was calm than a 20 yr old on a power trip. Sorry if this sounds like a cop bashing rant, sorry, its just what I see.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - when law enforcement is good, it's REAL good. When it's bad, it's intolerable.

I moved from MD. to Pa. in 1987, and had a real attitude against Md. police in general (but still know some good ones).
I was happy to learn that Pa. police tend to be MUCH more professional and willing and able to utilize common sense where Md LEO's would go over the edge for no good reason (in my experience).
I refuse to be a blanket LEO basher because the guys in my area are great, but I would have to see dramatic evidence of improvement before my attitude towards Md. changes. Bottom line - in Md., the system is broken. Pa. Troopers are similar to Texas Rangers and cover vast areas unassisted compared to Md. which has so many that they are impossible to control (not that their management could control a kindergarten class without violence).

Actually, I believe the city of Akron, OH is doing just that.

Tell you the truth,  when I was young, I was not allowed to play or own any toy guns.  My father started teaching me about firearms and firearm safety when I was about 6 (I still have the old bolt action .22), and one of the lessons were that any gun was not a toy.

Perhaps instead of bashing the LEOs, we should discuss what type of lesson the parent is teaching their children if they allow them to play with toy guns in such a way.

Idiots, could have been a fricken cell-phone.

Uhh?
Where is the link?
cp

good thing they stopped them. They were obviously gun-nuts if they let their children have toy guns. probably on their way to walmart to buy real bullets for a real gun.

I still stand by my earlier comment that the cops acted according to what little information they had.

Also, for all they knew it could have been the adult female pointing the firearms at the children - a possible kidnapping situation. Unless the dispatcher gives them correct information there's no telling what they (the cops) might have perceived the situation to be.

Imagine yourself being in the cops' situation - you're told someone in a vehicle is waving a firearm around, and there's kids involved. How would you react? Would you just dismiss the whole thing by assuming it's a toygun, that there's no threat what so ever to the kids?
Are you being professional making such assumptions?
Hell no.
Until you have everyone on the ground and any potentially dangerous items under control you make no assumptions. There's time for apologies later. "Sorry ma'am, we were told someone was threatening the children using a firearm."
If you want to bitch about anyone it should be the dispatcher or the person making the call in the first place.

I haven't been on this board very long, and am saddened by the fact that most of the posts that envolve LEO's are usually someone crying "BAD COP(s)". We have no way of knowing what information the officers were given regarding this incident. It seems a little assnine to start second guessing the officers actions without having all the FACTS. I am in the position of handling a lot of the complaints that come in to our Dept. In most of the cases the complaints are made by people who only know a small portion of the actual situation they are complaining about. If you feel that a police officer (or anyone else for that matter) has done something wrong, I feel that you should make every effort to obtain all the facts before you start leveling accusations of misconduct. Just my (slightly miffed) .02  

Good question, but an even better question is: Why are all militia posts negative? Seeing that the word militia is used in the constitution, and LEO's are not!

Or a big black DILLDOE, without the orange tip!
Ok, put the gun down, I was just kidding!!!

The officers responded to the information their dispatcher forwarded to them.
What if it were a real gun?
Are they supposed to wait until it is used against a motorist or one of the children in the vehicle?
Should they have sent a single officer to casually talk with the woman and maybe get shot in the face for his careless approach?
What if it were a real gun, painted orange to disguise it as a toy for some reason of subterfuge or concealment?
There are two sides to every story.
Until you have done the job, don't be so quick to judge the response.
I am not defending bad cops...I've known (and been on the same dept.) with some.
But I also know a lot of good citizens who are gun enthusiasts and LEOs.
Think before you judge and don't make stupid threats about what you would do if you were held at gun point by officers.  Those actions could get you legally shot.