Police forget high powered, fully automatic, tactical rifle on trunk of car while driving! oops

We all know the police hate it when citizens start snapping photos, we here is one reason why.

Ever have one of those days where everything is just off a bit, you drop your toothbrush into the toilet,  you forget your thermos of coffee on the table by the door, you drive down the street with your machine gun sitting on the trunk of your squad car… god I hate days like that!  Seriously, I have left coffee on the roof of my car, I know it sucks but no where near as much as this:
(click photos to enlarge)

What is wrong with this picture?  Can you tell what the officer did incorrectly?  If you guessed “he parked more than 12 inches away from the curb” you would be correct. . . Oh, and he also left his semi automatic and fully loaded AR15  on the trunk of his car.  How do I know it is loaded? in the photo you can clearly see the magazine is inserted into the weapon.

This photograph was taken by “Nick Gonzales” who discovered this Seattle, WA. police car, left completely unattended (and improperly parked, lol) In front of the Roosevelt Hotel just after 9pm on June 27th 2011 with a large gun on the back!  Nick hung around for a bit but when no police officers showed up he went and flagged down two bike officers who were surprised about what they were hearing.  By that time the squad car at left the scene, WITH THE GUN STILL ON THE TRUNK!  A Seattle woman followed the car around town trying to stop them but they were oblivious to them.

Seattle Police Department Sergeant Sean Whitcomb stated he was not going to release the names of the officers in charge or make any comment other than “We’re incredibly grateful to the person that flagged down the bike officers and the woman who followed the patrol car driver around to let them know there was a rifle on the back of the car.  An internal investigation has been started”  Whitcomb also said “the gun may not have been loaded but even if it was, the officers didn’t break any laws..”

UPDATE: The department’s Office of Professional Accountability is investigating the incident as well. OPA director Kathryn Olson said “It is unacceptable that a rifle was left unattended on a patrol car and people should expect more from their police department. I will monitor the investigation to ensure that all relevant facts are uncovered and that any lapse in procedure is appropriately addressed.”

SECOND UPDATE: Officials for the Seattle PD now released a statement that said “We are very embarrassed over the incident and we are not sure if the gun was loaded or not”

My thoughts on this? hmmm, if a police officer drives around with a weapon on his car, that’s embarrassing. If I walk around with a knife in my pocket, that’s illegal.

The SPD states that “no law was broken”, my opinion differs.  Take a look at this:

RCW 9A.08.010, ” (d) CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE. A person is criminally negligent or acts with criminal negligence when he or she fails to be aware of a substantial risk that a wrongful act may occur and his or her failure to be aware of such substantial risk constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would exercise in the same situation.”

This statute states that a “wrongful act MAY occur” It does not have to actually occur to violate the law.  It seems to me that with this ineptitude and negligence, it was amazing that something “
wrongful” did NOT occur.  Seattle streets are not the smoothest streets in America, one bump and that weapon could have been in the hands of anyone, a gang member who wants revenge on another gang, a dope fiend who wants to rob a store, a child who is curious.  in the private sector someone as incompetent as this would get fired immediately but in police departments all over America they get investigated, they get put on paid leave at worst, they get released from duty or fired for things you or I would end up in prison for.  This incompetent police officer should be demoted, fired, convicted… something. The police regularly enforce (on citizens) that gun owners are always legally responsible to have their guns stored safely, unloaded, with trigger locks and in an unaccessible area when in transport. In the military, even under secure situations like a military post if someone were to leave an unsecured weapon laying around and it were found by an officer, they would risk losing rank and pay and that’s even with unloaded weapons.

The police make more every two months, including overtime which they get plenty of,  than what the average soldier makes in a year.  The police act like they are in the military, they get military grade weapons, they should be held at least as accountable as the military is and punished like the military.  On second thought, it might be difficult to find many police officers who could or would do push-ups for 20 minutes while being reprimanded.

FYI: Here is a little about the Colt AR15 A3 Tactical Carbine which is used by U.S. Police Departments and military:

The AR 15, which stands for ArmaLite Model 15, is a very popular derivative of the US army M16 Machine gun rifle.  It is much lighter than the M16 weighing only about 6lbs without ammunition. Semi-automatic AR-15s are available to be purchase by civilians but they differ significantly to the types which are available to law enforcement and military, the biggest difference being the internal trigger mechanism on the civilian is single shot, where as the model law enforcement and military uses, can be fully automatic and may contain clips of up to 30 rounds.  The automatic variants of the AR 15 have a three-position rotating selective fire switch, allowing the operator to select between safe, semi-automatic, and either automatic or three round burst, depending on model whereas the Civilian AR-15 models do not include the 3 shot burst or fully automatic settings on the fire selector.  The fully automatic versions and the full capacity magazines should be stamped with “Restricted Military/Government/Law Enforcement/Export Only”

~Brad.