Use of AR-15's in the city by police officers

[Sozo]

I know I'm not the only one when I say that I find it mind boggling that certain police officer go out on patrol with their AR's strapped to their back like they are military serving in a active war. 

In my mind when I see a police officer holding or carrying an AR 15 either in their hand on on their backs I think "woah, some insane stuff must have gone down". I find it to be less and less shocking to see a officer brandishing an AR in in called for situations. 

This has a vast amount of effects in the city. I personally feel as if its mostly used as an intimation factor making people who only carry around a hand gun for self defense think that maybe they should spring for the upgrade in a rifle because law enforcement don't even defend themselves with a handgun. It also makes it nearly impossible for trival crime much more difficult for the average crook that do things such as robbing an individual, gas station, digital den, etc. 

I would like to see policy where officers can only pull out their AR from their vehicle in defined situations such as Bank Robbery, large scale hostage situations, Terrorist Attacks and in cases where SWAT needs to be deployed. 

The fact that rules and regulations around open carry have recently changed via the hunting rifle It seems only right to take a look at the individuals who hold the most firepower and look at regulations and policy as to when they can use it so common crooks, theives, and criminals don't feel powerless. 

I honestly recommend replacing the AR with a shotgun in the case of police and only allowing specially trained SWAT members to carry around that kind of firepower when it is absolutely necessary. 

[Lurch]

In my opinion, having an AR/SMG is necessary for the sole fact of range. A Machine Pistol or Draco can shoot a much greater distance than any shotgun and therefor would leave Officers/Deputies forced to be very close to people before they are able to effectively defend themselves. I know that I am not providing a good "fix" for overuse of any rifle or smg, but switching these weapons does not seem to be a proper solution imo. 

There are SOPs in place to prevent the over use of any Class 3 Weapon and Officers/Deputies should be following these Procedures. That being said, LSPD/BCSO command is unable to be around 24/7 to make sure people are following these rules. If any particular situation arises and you feel that Law Enforcement is abusing their ability and access to these weapons, then I encourage you to place an IA on the Officer(s)/Deputy(ies) involved. 

While it may not always seem like it, Command Staff from the both Departments does pay attention to these complaints. There may not be action taken on a particular incident, but repeated incidents of the same nature is taken into account. 

[ShesElectrick]

BSCO currently does not have an SOP that allows officers to carry an AR-15 or any class 3 weapon freely, thankfully. I do not speak on behalf of anyone but myself, however.

I agree that it appears militaristic to have them on their persons regardless of the situation. Seeing Class 3 weaponry used to feel like a "oh shit they fucked up" thing or a really serious scene, whereas now it is common and honestly takes away from the "seriousness" of the weapon.

Your opinion is definitely valid.

[Timr]

I agree with your post other than restricting non-SWAT to shotguns. Shotguns are useless at distance and in open spaces, not to mention that every criminal and their mother typically carries a class 3 AR.

[Matttheman]

Just to be clear. This has nothing to do with LSPD looking like the military or cool. This has to do with officers saying they're being ambushed with no time or way to get to their class 3's. We're reacting too what criminals are doing. Along with this, we will not punish the PD as a whole for 1 or 2 people misusing or mistreating the SOP. We will deal with those 1 or 2 people accordingly and let the rest of the officers that this SOP is helping continue to to use the tools they have at their disposal.
 

[Leeroy Denkins]

2 hours ago, Sozo said:

I know I'm not the only one when I say that I find it mind boggling that certain police officer go out on patrol with their AR's strapped to their back like they are military serving in a active war. 

In my mind when I see a police officer holding or carrying an AR 15 either in their hand on on their backs I think "woah, some insane stuff must have gone down". I find it to be less and less shocking to see a officer brandishing an AR in in called for situations. 

This has a vast amount of effects in the city. I personally feel as if its mostly used as an intimation factor making people who only carry around a hand gun for self defense think that maybe they should spring for the upgrade in a rifle because law enforcement don't even defend themselves with a handgun. It also makes it nearly impossible for trival crime much more difficult for the average crook that do things such as robbing an individual, gas station, digital den, etc. 

I would like to see policy where officers can only pull out their AR from their vehicle in defined situations such as Bank Robbery, large scale hostage situations, Terrorist Attacks and in cases where SWAT needs to be deployed. 

The fact that rules and regulations around open carry have recently changed via the hunting rifle It seems only right to take a look at the individuals who hold the most firepower and look at regulations and policy as to when they can use it so common crooks, theives, and criminals don't feel powerless. 

I honestly recommend replacing the AR with a shotgun in the case of police and only allowing specially trained SWAT members to carry around that kind of firepower when it is absolutely necessary. 

I know my take is probably not valid due to the fact that I mainly play legal civ. With how many players we have in the server and most of them are crims. Those police officers that are carrying around AR on their backs probably have a good reason. Big reason for it probably getting ambush and out number for the most part. Only logical thing to do is to protect themselves by having it ready at all times. I guess you can throw the same argument with crims carrying AK on their backs. Are the reason for those just to look cool? if the answer is no then its the same with PD. 

[Sozo]

3 hours ago, Timr said:

I agree with your post other than restricting non-SWAT to shotguns. Shotguns are useless at distance and in open spaces, not to mention that every criminal and their mother typically carries a class 3 AR.

I agree, I just don't like to pose problems without throwing some ideas around for potential solutions.

[Samantha Hatfield]

Agreeing with Matt on this, just want to add in my own opinion. I found in the past, when I've worked PD that criminals don't fear the PD, drastic steps have been taken to improve this with rule updates done by staff but with the decline in police population; I'm assuming the criminals are returning to that aspect (so this is why this was added)(this is not directed to all criminals, and I'm not pointing fingers), just people need to realize the RP that the LSPD/BCSO go through daily.

[r3v0Lt55]

What if we go back to 1.0 where there was no class 3 weapons for civilians or law enforcement? Would solve this really fast!

[Denver]

12 hours ago, Sozo said:

The fact that rules and regulations around open carry have recently changed via the hunting rifle It seems only right to take a look at the individuals who hold the most firepower and look at regulations and policy as to when they can use it so common crooks, theives, and criminals don't feel powerless.

Let me just clarify, we don't use ARs for people using handguns. We still carry handguns for criminals that don't find it necessary to rob a 24/7 or anything using military grade firepower, for those people we have the ARs. And as stated above, if you witness an officer shooting someone with a AR, that is holding a handgun. File an IA so that the department leadership can adress the issue and take care of it. 

I don't think open carry rules should be changed, as we get ambushed quite often and won't be able to pull it out quickly enough. 

[Mia]

There were class 3 weapons in 1.0. Only cops had them though.

[Sozo]

I see alot of law enforcement input to my opinion, which I appreciate more than you know. Based on what I have seen I do still have questions. The biggest issue that seems to come up is that they started implementing carrying AR's when criminal activity is high and they are likely to be ambushed but you are supposed to play your life at the highest importance so if the criminals get the upper hand they get the upper hand, police should call for back up notifying radio that "suspects are heavily armed". Or if you notice that it is a group you could call on radio "multiple suspects" then I could see the need for AR's. Just my view on it. 

[Razec]

Whilst I understand the main reason of this post, it's important to remember that we're trying our best to improve our police force, on both sides, by looking at these specific issues and tackling them one by one, when needed. The reason most officers walk around with AR's strapped on their backs is directly tied to the opposition that we face whilst on duty on a almost 24/7 basis. As mentioned before, officers might be ambushed with multiple criminals carrying Class 3 Firearms. Reaching into our vehicles and grabbing a AR whilst we're actively being shot at by multiple angles, turns impossible since we have to access a menu in order to get to our gun rack. I feel like we're heavily limited by game mechanics and the LSPD/BCSO are the only factions in the city that have to comply to strict rules when it comes to usage of Class 3's. 

Edited March 12, 2022 by Razec

[Alex Ripley]

I feel as if most officers are using the SOP of carrying a rife properly. As mentioned in the posts above we carry the rife in case of situations that we face almost every night of being ambushed, held hostage, shot for no reason, ETC. And as Lion_Luke said "we don't use ARs for people using handguns." We match force so if people are using hand guns we use hand guns. If they use long guns we use long guns. Personally I don't have my rife on my back all the time, if you see me pull some one over I will never have my rife on my back. On a bank robbery yeah i may have it out it all depends but for basic policing I don't have it.

[Blake]

Recently the LSPD has made an amendment to our SOP so that it is better defined when officers should be using their Long guns and having them out on their person. If anyone feels that an officer is using or possessing their Long gun in an inappropriate way please take just a few moments to file an IA so that we can better monitor this situation and continue to make changes if needed. 

[Diesel]

On 3/11/2022 at 4:12 PM, Timr said:

I agree with your post other than restricting non-SWAT to shotguns. Shotguns are useless at distance and in open spaces, not to mention that every criminal and their mother typically carries a class 3 AR.

+1

[Niller]

One of the things that got me to stop playing was Cops running around with ARs to everything, maybe finally we can have somewhat of a nice balance.