Saint John Indiana, NOT gun friendly

[Hotdoger]

I don't want to say too much until after I file a complaint with the chief, but I am
My wife and I were on the wrong end of a "man with a gun" call. The only plus is that neither my wife nor I were proned out, but we were berated for about 15 minutes this evening.
I'll be filing a complaint in a few hours, in the meantime just be aware that Saint John Indiana doesn't like citizens that know their rights.

Phones have video. You should have had your wife videoing him.

 

[Mikeh82]

Phones have video. You should have had your wife videoing him.

Can you please give me the lottery numbers for the Powerball? I mean you have to be psychic to know what kind of phone he has to know it has video..

 

[PatriotPride]

Sounds like she was proned out too???

 

[Hotdoger]

Can you please give me the lottery numbers for the Powerball? I mean you have to be psychic to know what kind of phone he has to know it has video..

What phone doesn't have video now?

 

[Hotdoger]

Sounds like she was proned out too???

OP first post :

The only plus is that neither my wife nor I were proned out

 

[PatriotPride]

Yep. Doing too many things at once at work. I remembered "proned" Thanks.

 

[tv1217]

The cops I've run into here have been nice enough. They love to pull people over for BS though. I gotta agree they're cautious around "brown people", seems like they always have multiple cars come out whenever they pull them over. Also took like a week of f'in around for them to have someone available to do my LTCH application last year. I don't know the whole story, but supposedly some dude walked into the KMart and shot it up many years ago. I heard somewhere that they have M14s or M1As in their cars because of that.

 

[rich8483]

so uh, lets hear the story!

 

[JBusch8899]

Can you please give me the lottery numbers for the Powerball? I mean you have to be psychic to know what kind of phone he has to know it has video..

He knows because he used it at the NoTell Motel, when he met your........uh, never mind.

 

[Whosyer]

Steve Kil

Town Manager



10955 W. 93rd Avenue
St. John, IN 46373-


Phone: 219-365-6465
Fax: 219-558-2078
<H2 align=center>Town Council Office</H2><H2 align=center>219-365-6465</H2>

Town of St. John​

<H2 style="FONT-SIZE: 14px">Police Commission</H2>The St. John Metropolitan Board of Police Commissioners was created by statute and established to oversee St. John Police Department operations, including hiring, firing, promoting or demoting of Police personnel. The Commission holds it's regular meeting on the second Monday of each month at 7:00 P.M. If a Study Session is required it is held at the 7:00 time period and the regular meeting is held at it's conclusion.

 

[Andy219]

I live in Cedar Lake, St. John just being the next town north on 41. I OC in St. John almost daily. I do need to head to Alsip home and Nursery tomorrow for dog food, and will be OC'ing again. Never had a problem anywhere in St. John, just heard all the stories about how they love to give out tickets there. Very interseted on what the chief has to say if you have any luck getting a hold of him. As for an OC event in St. John, ok you twisted my arm, I'm in. I'm pretty easy that way.

 

[subtlesixer03]

The cops I've run into here have been nice enough. They love to pull people over for BS though. I gotta agree they're cautious around "brown people", seems like they always have multiple cars come out whenever they pull them over. Also took like a week of f'in around for them to have someone available to do my LTCH application last year. I don't know the whole story, but supposedly some dude walked into the KMart and shot it up many years ago. I heard somewhere that they have M14s or M1As in their cars because of that.

That was the lansing kmart. st john just paranoid. i live just south in cedar lake and grew up just across the border in obama land. there are quit a few jerk leos from what ive seen and heard. though i know of one nice one who picked up my money clip w 80 bucks in it and made shure i got it back.

 

[jedi]

I live in Cedar Lake, St. John just being the next town north on 41. I OC in St. John almost daily. [[SNIP] Never had a problem anywhere in St. John, just heard all the stories about how they love to give out tickets there.

But... But.. Andy you are...

(Note the color of the "image")
so you blend with the St. John residents and the LEOs tend to look for the

in their ticket happy world. Tickets me thinks are their #1 source of revenue for them.

Also my is getting stale now from all the waiting.

 

[JBusch8899]

Tickets me thinks are their #1 source of revenue for them.

While property taxes and state/federal assistance are the chief sources of revenue for municipalities, you are correct in your assessment that traffic court generate revenues for a number of governmental entities, particularly in small governments with a small tax base. This is even more the case when a municipality's bottom line begin to shrink.

Study: When local revenue falls, traffic citations go up

 

[Bill B]

So, no reply from the Chiefs' office. Here's the letter that is going to the Police Commision and the Chief:
Commissioners;
My son is amicably separated from his wife, he is staying with us and his wife was staying with a cousin in St. John.
At about 11:00 pm on 5/19/2010 my daughter in law (S) showed up on my doorstep, crying, with my two year old grandson in her arms. She told my wife and me that her cousin Y, whom she had been living with, wouldn’t let her in the house this evening and told her she couldn’t live there anymore. She also said that Y wouldn’t let her in to get any clothes or her money or any personal property.
I told S that Y couldn’t keep her stuff, and that if she wanted we could go with her to get some things.
My wife and I are both licensed to carry handguns. We usually carry our firearms unless we are going somewhere where it is prohibited by law. I carry my handgun in an inside the waistband holster in the small of my back. I make no particular attempt to conceal it, although if I am wearing a jacket it is not visible. My wife carries hers in a holster on her right hip, where it is normally covered by her jacket.
As we were arriving at Y’s residence, about 11:50 pm, I told S that she was going to knock on the door and politely ask to get some of her stuff. If Y said no, S was just to say ok and then we would call the police.
I and my wife accompanied S to the door, when Y answered S asked to get some things, Y said ok. I entered with S to help her, Y stepped in front of me and asked who I was, and I responded that I was there to help S get her things. Y said that she didn’t ask me into her house and to leave. I said ok and left. Nothing else was said by me or Y.
As my wife and I were waiting outside I heard Y speaking to someone. I couldn’t hear what she said but whoever it was replied, “call the police.” I told my wife to make sure she had her LTCH in her hand and got mine out of my wallet. We then went to sit on the back bumper of our Trailblazer.
A few minutes later two police cars arrived within seconds of each other. I raised my hands, showing my LTCH and my drivers’ license. The officer exited his vehicle and said “who has the gun” I replied “Officer, my wife and I are both licensed to carry firearms, and we both have firearms.” The office asked where my gun was. I told him it was in a holster in the middle of my back. He then asked my wife where hers was, to which she replied “on my right hip, in a holster.”
The officer, who I could now see was a Corporal, approached, took my driver’s license and LTCH, and took my wife’s’ LTCH. The CPL then asked me why I had a LTCH, to which I replied I don’t need to have a reason. He then asked why I had my firearm with me, to which I replied that I live in Hammond, which isn’t always the safest place and I generally carry it when leaving the house. He then began to berate me saying “I know all about Hammond and I don’t appreciate you people coming in here acting like John Dillenger” He then asked me why I felt the need to carry it “tonight, in this situation.” I realized that the corporal wasn’t interested in anything that I had to say, so I replied that I really didn’t feel the need to explain myself to him. He then became agitated and asked me if I had read the license, to which I replied yes and that I had even taken a class on Indiana handgun law. He then said that the license could be revoked for improper use, and that he was taking our licenses and “What do you think of that?” to which I replied I would need a receipt or a citation or summons or something in writing from him, to which he replied “I’ve revoked lots of these, I don’t have to do anything.” During the course of his tirade he asked me several more times if I had read the license, to which I again replied yes. I asked the corporal how, if he kept my license, I was supposed to legally get home with my firearm, to which he replied “you better not get pulled over” which I took to be a threat that he would be sure that we were pulled over on the way home. He asked me my address, which I gave him, he then asked me how long I had lived at that address, to which I replied since November (of 2009) he asked me yet again if I had read my license. I realized he noticed the address on my LTCH is different than the address on my drivers’ license so I replied “yes, and the Indiana State Police were notified by registered letter and by fax of my new address and that I could, at my discretion, request a duplicate with my correct address for $20, but the ISP said that it wasn’t required as long as they have my new address.”
After several more minutes of questioning and berating us he called our LTCH numbers in to his dispatcher, said that he would be “making a report” and that I “would be hearing from the ISP.” He then gave us our licenses back, spoke to S about how to get help claiming the rest of her belongings, and told us we could go. I again asked the corporal if he a card or something with his name on it, he again said no. I asked him for his name which he gave as “Gardenhire.” At some point near the beginning of the incident, the second officer went inside the residence.
At no point did the officer ask us why we were there, what was going on, or for any information; he spent almost the entire time berating us for daring to have firearms.
I realize that being a police officer is a stressful job, and that a “man with a gun” call even more so, but I am deeply disturbed by the way I was treated and by the officers attitude.
It is commonly recognized that the phrase “you people” is patently offensive and the use of the phrase is intended to upset people, and I have no idea what he meant by comparing me to John Dillenger, other than he was calling me a criminal, which I am not; nor did I realize that I, as a Hammond resident, was required to get permission from the police to enter St. John.
As an educated, responsible gun owner I know my rights, Corporal Gardenhire either does not know the law regarding a License to Carry a Handgun, or he was trying to intimidate us. Either way I believe his conduct did not reach the level of professionalism that most citizens expect from their civil servants.
I have tried to reach the Chief’s office to discuss this, but am unable to speak to anyone, and have not received a return call.
I would like an apology for the attempted intimidation, and would love to see the St. John officers receive additional training regarding the License to Carry a Handgun.

And I'm Scottish, which is kinda red.

 

[SSGSAD]

GREAT Letter, Bill B., I hope something good comes of this...

 

[Jubbie]

Just reinforces the need to carry a voice recorder at all times. I think I'll go shopping tomorrow. Good luck with the letter.

 

[cak387]

Very well explained letter. I can't say that I have ever had trouble with the local LEO's, but it is kind of disturbing that they are here to enforce the law, but are sometimes ignorant of it. I hope the letter gets back to the Corporal and that he may need to review the IC himself.

 

[PatriotPride]

I'm free this weekend. Name the time and place and I'll come in from Valpo for an OC event. Let me know. Awesome letter. You handled it well from what I can tell. Unbelievable how that officer was!

 

[mlang2000]

This begs the question...
Can a gun that has never been unholstered or even mentioned be considered "improper or reckless use" as stated on the LTCH?