phill4paul
03-24-2014, 07:50 AM
A day after Miami’s police chief banned officers from carrying guns into City Hall, the police union fired back, challenging the rule as a violation of federal law and officers’ rights.
The Fraternal Order of Police’s attorney fired off an email to city officials Wednesday challenging the new rule that bans all officers, whether on duty or off, from carrying their guns into city commission or board meetings unless they are responding to a call or assigned to City Hall.
The union is demanding to bargain over the new rule and how it’s carried out.
Union members believe the policy is retaliation for a February protest at City Hall during which officers flooded the commission chambers demanding that cuts to their benefits be restored.
Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado and Police Chief Manuel Orosa said during the unruly protest that people in the audience, including city employees, feared for their safety.
On Wednesday, local FOP President Javier Ortiz called the new policy an embarrassment to Miami. He said city leaders should trust their trained officers to carry guns in any situation.
According to the edict handed down by Orosa on Tuesday, officers must leave their guns in their cars or with a sergeant-at-arms inside City Hall while a meeting is in session.
Eugene Gibbons, the attorney for the FOP local, said the new policy is unclear as to how officers should safely store their guns in their vehicles and who is responsible should someone break into an officer’s car and steal a firearm.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/03/19/4004719/cop-union-challenges-ban-on-guns.html#storylink=cpy
The Fraternal Order of Police’s attorney fired off an email to city officials Wednesday challenging the new rule that bans all officers, whether on duty or off, from carrying their guns into city commission or board meetings unless they are responding to a call or assigned to City Hall.
The union is demanding to bargain over the new rule and how it’s carried out.
Union members believe the policy is retaliation for a February protest at City Hall during which officers flooded the commission chambers demanding that cuts to their benefits be restored.
Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado and Police Chief Manuel Orosa said during the unruly protest that people in the audience, including city employees, feared for their safety.
On Wednesday, local FOP President Javier Ortiz called the new policy an embarrassment to Miami. He said city leaders should trust their trained officers to carry guns in any situation.
According to the edict handed down by Orosa on Tuesday, officers must leave their guns in their cars or with a sergeant-at-arms inside City Hall while a meeting is in session.
Eugene Gibbons, the attorney for the FOP local, said the new policy is unclear as to how officers should safely store their guns in their vehicles and who is responsible should someone break into an officer’s car and steal a firearm.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/03/19/4004719/cop-union-challenges-ban-on-guns.html#storylink=cpy