www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/local_news/epaper/2006/03/28/s1b_BRgun_0328.htmlCop leaves gun in restroom at Cheney fund-raiser


BOCA RATON — A Boca Raton police sergeant left her loaded service handgun in a public bathroom at the Boca Raton Resort & Club shortly before Vice President Dick Cheney was set to arrive for a GOP fund-raiser.

Police found the gun during a security sweep of the building in preparation for Cheney's arrival at the March 6 event and quickly realized it belonged to Sgt. Nicole Girardi.

She was reprimanded a day after the incident by her supervisor, Capt. Matthew Duggan, who placed a letter about the incident in her personnel file.

In that letter, Duggan said he opted not to recommend additional discipline because Girardi acknowledged her mistake.

"Upon return of the sidearm, you assumed full responsibility for the event and in doing so recognizing the gravity of the issue," Duggan wrote. He added that another such mistake could cost her her badge.

The Secret Service had asked Boca Raton police for help in ensuring that security remained tight for the event.

Attendees paid $250 to $1,000 to get into the lunchtime affair to raise money for U.S. Rep. E. Clay Shaw's reelection campaign and hear a speech by Cheney.

Secret Service spokesman Steve Caruso said Monday that the agency was aware of the incident. Caruso declined to comment on specifics, saying that it was resolved before Cheney stepped into the building, making it a Boca Raton police issue.

Members of Cheney's press office said Monday that they had nothing to add.

Duggan and Girardi could not be reached for comment.

That's bullshit.  She should go to prison.  

Quoted: That's bullshit.  She should go to prison.

For??

Quoted: Quoted: That's bullshit.  She should go to prison.   For??

Being stupid!    


I think stupidity should be made a class A felony.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: That's bullshit.  She should go to prison.   For?? Being stupid!     I think stupidity should be made a class A felony.

They don't have enough prisons in the world to hold all of us!

Seems like a 1 week suspension should be mandatory.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: That's bullshit.  She should go to prison.   For?? Being stupid!     I think stupidity should be made a class A felony. They don't have enough prisons in the world to hold all of us!

And who would be the presiding judge?

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: That's bullshit.  She should go to prison.   For?? Being stupid!     I think stupidity should be made a class A felony.

When they start doing the same for CHL holders I'll agree with you.  The problem is,  we'd need to build more prisons to implement it.

....and they let her have a gun??

The stupidity of the officer in question lies with the fact that her handgun should NEVER have been unholstered. Bad enough she goes to take a dump, piss, or swap tampons and unnecessarily handles her pistol and forgets it.

As a CCW license holder and daily carrier of a handgun, how do you not notice the newly found lightness of your duty belt?

The evidence suggests the officer in question is complete tard who obviously miraculously got past the ditsy dumbass portion of the screening process before being hired.

It is BRPD we are talking about, so this is about par for the course.

HS1

Quoted: As a CCW license holder and daily carrier of a handgun, how do you not notice the newly found lightness of your duty belt?

No mention of whether she was plainclothes or not. I would imagine so. That would be equivalent to your CCW level of "awareness" of soemthing not being right. If in full uniform with duty belt, the sidearm is a pound or so out of 20 + pounds of gear. I've left a portable or a flashlight sitting on the table when I've gotten up because as a per centage of the total, you don't  immediately notice the weight of that one item missing. Of course, if in full uniform with full gear, that doesn't explain why the weapon was unholstered and seperated from the remainder of her duty gear.

Yeah, you'd get time off around here.

Bicycle & parking meter duty in her future.

Quoted: Quoted: As a CCW license holder and daily carrier of a handgun, how do you not notice the newly found lightness of your duty belt? No mention of whether she was plainclothes or not. I would imagine so. That would be equivalent to your CCW level of "awareness" of soemthing not being right. If in full uniform with duty belt, the sidearm is a pound or so out of 20 + pounds of gear. I've left a portable or a flashlight sitting on the table when I've gotten up because as a per centage of the total, you don't  immediately notice the weight of that one item missing. Of course, if in full uniform with full gear, that doesn't explain why the weapon was unholstered and seperated from the remainder of her duty gear. Yeah, you'd get time off around here.

You may be right about the weight issue on a duty belt, but come on.

Why de-holster to use the stall? How could anyone who carries a handgun on a daily basis not notice it missing? It wreaks of stupidity which she obviously isn't immune to.

Every day I leave the house with an assortment of personal carry items.
How is it that I can quickly notice that I left my pen in the house before I walk out the door, but she doesn't notice she left her duty pistol in the head in sufficent time to retrive it before it's found by the SS?

HS1 (disgusted)

Quoted: Why de-holster to use the stall?

So it doesn't fall out.


My holster will retain the gun, but the weight would pull the belt out of the loops and drop to the ground, so I remove it.

But you can usually set it on t he TP holder just fine.......

Quoted: Quoted: Why de-holster to use the stall? So it doesn't fall out. My holster will retain the gun, but the weight would pull the belt out of the loops and drop to the ground, so I remove it. But you can usually set it on t he TP holder just fine.......

I thought everybody hung their's up by the trigger guard on the coat hook.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Why de-holster to use the stall? So it doesn't fall out. My holster will retain the gun, but the weight would pull the belt out of the loops and drop to the ground, so I remove it. But you can usually set it on t he TP holder just fine....... I thought everybody hung their's up by the trigger guard on the coat hook.

Naturally!

HS1

Quoted: Quoted: That's bullshit.  She should go to prison.   For??

If I were the type to wear a tinfoil hat, I would think that this was the beginning stages of a conspiracy to assasinate the VP.  She left her weapon out in the bathroom for someone else to pick up and do the deed.  But then again there are so many things wrong with what I just said, it could be just sheer stupidity.

Quoted: If I were the type to wear a tinfoil hat, I would think that this was the beginning stages of a conspiracy to assasinate the VP.  She left her weapon out in the bathroom for someone else to pick up and do the deed.  But then again there are so many things wrong with what I just said, it could be just sheer stupidity.

Funny, I thought the same

Quoted: www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/local_news/epaper/2006/03/28/s1b_BRgun_0328.htmlCop leaves gun in restroom at Cheney fund-raiser BOCA RATON — A Boca Raton police sergeant left her loaded service handgun in a public bathroom at the Boca Raton Resort & Club shortly before Vice President Dick Cheney was set to arrive for a GOP fund-raiser. Police found the gun during a security sweep of the building in preparation for Cheney's arrival at the March 6 event and quickly realized it belonged to Sgt. Nicole Girardi. She was reprimanded a day after the incident by her supervisor, Capt. Matthew Duggan, who placed a letter about the incident in her personnel file. In that letter, Duggan said he opted not to recommend additional discipline because Girardi acknowledged her mistake. "Upon return of the sidearm, you assumed full responsibility for the event and in doing so recognizing the gravity of the issue," Duggan wrote. He added that another such mistake could cost her her badge. The Secret Service had asked Boca Raton police for help in ensuring that security remained tight for the event. Attendees paid $250 to $1,000 to get into the lunchtime affair to raise money for U.S. Rep. E. Clay Shaw's reelection campaign and hear a speech by Cheney. Secret Service spokesman Steve Caruso said Monday that the agency was aware of the incident. Caruso declined to comment on specifics, saying that it was resolved before Cheney stepped into the building, making it a Boca Raton police issue. Members of Cheney's press office said Monday that they had nothing to add. Duggan and Girardi could not be reached for comment.

Wasn't Clay Shaw a suspect in the JFK assassination conspiracy?

shit happens... in this case - nevermind.

You mean to tell me she didn't realize that 1 pound of steel was missing from her hip?

I find it hard to believe that she would just "forget" she was missing a weight on her hip. Either she is really stupid or setting something up. I can see forgetting your purse as it doesn't ride on your hip, but to not notice that extra weight difference there means something.

I'd say, suspension for a couple of weeks and then sit her down behind a desk answering phones.

Quoted: Quoted: Why de-holster to use the stall? So it doesn't fall out. My holster will retain the gun, but the weight would pull the belt out of the loops and drop to the ground, so I remove it. But you can usually set it on t he TP holder just fine.......

I got to spend a moment looking at the business end of mine once because I tried to leave it in the holster while I was on the pot.  The weight of the grip and magazine caused it to flip over and there I was staring down the bore of a loaded gun.  It also would have been very easy to snatch at that moment.  It was trying to pull the belt out too. I now unholster and place it on the back of the toliet or the top of the TP holder.  If those aren't avaible it goes into the pants.

Oddly I notice the presense or absence of the HOLSTER more than the gun when I CCW.  The weight is simply not something I notice one way or the other.  That's good and bad at the same time I guess.  I just triple check comming out of a bathroom that it's there to aviod that situation.