BehindPrisonBars001Is there a more gun-free Gun Free Zone than inside a freakin’ cell? 

Apparently, yeah.

The Baltimore Police Department confirmed Thursday that a handgun had been found in a holding cell in the Eastern District station house.

Department spokeswoman Lt. Sarah Connolly said the incident is “very concerning and unacceptable,” and that the department has launched an investigation.

“Concerning”? “Unacceptable”? The subtext here seems to be, “beats us with a stick.”

Connolly did not say whether anyone was in the cell when the gun was found.

Three possibilities here:

  1. Connolly didn’t know and was too simple to ask the people who did. This is possible; PR officers are often selected from visually-pleasant people who can’t do the actual job, and she may be one of those;
  2. She knew and is lying to the press. SOP for most government flacks. The reporters know this too. It’s all kabuki;
  3. The guys running the investigation don’t know this simple fact. If that’s the case, it bodes ill for the prospects of investigational success.

But hey, we should probably cut the Baltimore PD some slack. It’s the first time this has ever happened, right?

We’re just dealing with one isolated incident! Nothing too see here.

Er, wrong.

Last month, a gun was found in a holding cell in the same district’s station house.

Well, that’s not very encouraging (we’re sure Connolly said at the time it was “unacceptable” and “concerning,” but here it is again 20 days later and they’re just accepting it. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence. Nothing too see here.

We’re just dealing with one two isolated incidents! Nothing too see here.

And in August 2014, 38-year-old Tyree Woodson smuggled a gun into a police station and fatally shot himself in the head in a bathroom stall.

via Baltimore police find handgun in holding cell – WTOP.

Three isolated incidents in a year of something that most departments never see could just be statistical clustering. Or it could be a sign of really lousy leadership.

Which way to bet?

This entry was posted in When Guns Are Outlawed… on by Hognose.

About Hognose

Former Special Forces 11B2S, later 18B, weapons man. (Also served in intelligence and operations jobs in SF).

8 thoughts on “When Guns are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Get Locked Up With Guns”

Hognose Post author

That definitely rates a rim shot and cymbal strike.

Hognose Post author

Note to all: that is a fairly graphic suicide video. To me the best part of that is after the dude caps himself, the reaction of the cops: “Holy ####, where’d he get it?” “Holy ####!” “Son of a bitch” “Nobody shook him.”

I have always seen this as a guy who capped himself with the 1911 because he got busted for DUI and was afraid he’d be deported. The LiveLeak blurb suggests that he had shot a cop — twice.

Just one more hard-working immigrant here shooting the cops that we won’t shoot ourselves. (About 1/3 of the violent criminals on the FBI most wanted lists are criminaliens like this bum).

Gray

I figure that you will screen it before posting it.

Cap’n Mike

I worked in my departments lockup for a while.

This is how the system should work.

Person is placed under arrest.

Arresting officer searches arrested person.

Any Weapons, firearms, or large contraband should be found at this point.

The arrested person is than brought to the station and handed over to the booking officers, who have locked their guns away. The booking officers than do a more thorough search, including removing the arrestee’s shoes, belt, jacket and anything that can be used to harm themselves and any possessions.

People are generally not strip searched unless it requested by the arresting officer, or something makes the booking guy suspicious.

The cell was most likely empty when the gun was found, because we would search all the empty cells at the start of our shift.

A lot of cops are reluctant to pat down another persons crotch. The bad guys know this, so that’s were they hide stuff.

Sounds like the cops aren’t doing a thorough job searching these scumbags as they are picked up.

Not Surprising, as Baltimore PD moral is lower then whale excrement.

gbob

As Auric Goldfinger (or Ian Fleming) would say, “Once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, but three times? Three times? Mr Bond, three times is enemy action.”