Two questions for LEOs

[CalCop]

Spirit of the law must prevail

Those of you advocating strict enforcement of the letter of all gun laws......you don't know the law at all.

Refer to CA Penal Code Section 4:

"The rule of the common law, that penal statutes are to be strictly construed, has no appplication to this Code. All its provisions are to be construed according to the fair import of their terms, with a view to effect its objects and to promote justice."

There it is! The Penal Code itself says that strict enforcement of the letter of the law has NO place in the CA Penal Code!

CA Penal Code Section 4 explains how we are to interpret all the rest of the code. It says...use the Penal code to promote justice...not the letter of the law.

[Samuelx]

No one knows the details of the incident/arrest - the officer could have been ENTIRELY JUSTIFIED to make that arrest.

With respect to military folks, well, some of my best partners have been and are still currently military personnel. That being said, an alarming number of military personnel I've stopped or encountered on duty have been legitimate gang members (not just associates) too and that is a growing trend.

[CalCop]

I think the fact the charges were dropped gives credence to the OP's version of events. And, if it went down as the OP indicated...the spirit of the law and justice demand that the OP's friend should never have been arrested.

[pismopal]

Sometimes it is simply a matter of how busy a jurisdiction is..or is not,as the case may be. Sounds like the matter occurred where officers have a lot of discretionary time on their hands. I personally think that the letter of the law can violate the spirit of the law which is even more important...and I am not the originator of that concept. Some people will never get that idea...ever.

[tackdriver]

You sir are awesome!!!!! I vote for calcop as most down to earth, for the people leo on this forum.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

Ditto!..... Except for the sent from my Desire part.....

[PsychGuy274]

This thread is going MUCH better than I expected

Seriously though, everything, and I mean everything that CalCop has said has been spot on. Bravo Sir!