Originally Posted by
Gadfly
On duty or off, if the Deputy is in a uniform, he will (and should ) be armed. Period.
Just because he goes "off duty" for a lunch break, coffee, or bathroom trip, he does not disarm. If he has left work in uniform, and is on the way home, stops at the IRS to pick up a form, he may be "off duty", but he is still a highly visible target. If he walked in on a robbery, but he is "off duty", would he just stand there in uniform? Or would he be expected to respond? Do you think the crook would see an empty holster and give the cop a pass? So yes, even on a personal errand, if wearing a uniform, you don't leave the gun in the car.
Policy for most every agency I have heard of is "if you are marked as LEO, you are armed".
I wear plain clothes. If I am off duty and have to disarm to enter a place, I don't maintain that target of wearing a uniform. I still try and carry every where I can (as mentioned in the Disney thread from yesterday), but there are still a few places even the badge does not get you into.
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Side Note:
As others have mentioned, there are some screwy internal policies that trip you up. Pre 9/11, the immigration inspectors at Houston Bush Airport could not wear their gun ON DUTY while stamping pass ports. They had to take off the whole gun belt, because it was a "rude way to welcome folks into the US" by having a gun. When they left primary inspection to do other things, they HAD to be armed to roam the airport or work baggage, etc. Stupid policy that 9/11 ended.
Second side rant:
HSi/ICE has to work closely with our sister service CIS (Citizenship and immigration services). CIS gives out the benefits (green cards and citizenship), and ICE / HSI enforce the laws surrounding those. Well, CIS has decided its a 'safe space' for aliens, and won't allow HSI or ICE into the building. This came to a head during the San Bernadino terror incident a few years back (December 2, 2015, 14 people were killed and 22 others were seriously injured). The guy who bought the rifles used by the suspect in the attack was scheduled for an appointment at CIS. HSI showed up before hand to grab the guy. CIS refused to let them in the building to arrest a TERROR CONSPIRATOR. Think about how fucked up that policy is. Were the HSI guys supposed to draw down on the contract security guards at CIS to get inside?? Anyway, ICE / HSI is still not allowed in the CIS building. Even to pick up and drop off paperwork, we have to go to the loading docks and get met outside the building. Its ridiculous. Just had to vent about that.