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Schuyler (Nebraska) Police Out of Fake Robbery Business
Omaha World-Herald ^ | 12/11/2003 | DAVID HENDEE

Posted on 12/11/2003 1:01:08 PM PST by Hat-Trick

By David Hendee | World-Herald Staff Writer

Gas 'N Shop's letter of thanks aside, Schuyler Mayor David Reinecke said the Police Department probably won't participate in future fake robberies involving unknowing victims.

Reinecke said Gas 'N Shop officials asked Schuyler Police Chief Leonard Hiltner to help stage a bogus armed robbery as a reality-training exercise for a group of its convenience store managers.

"We probably wouldn't do it again," Reinecke said Wednesday.

The Nov. 14 episode at the Gas 'N Shop in Schuyler involved two out-of-uniform police officers who burst into the convenience store with guns. One carried a handgun, the other a modified shotgun. Both were unloaded, it was learned later.

The bogus bandits ordered everyone to lie on the floor and to hand over purses and wallets. Among the "victims" were 11 company managers and supervisors from eastern Nebraska and western Iowa who were at the store for a meeting.

The incident unnerved manager Kristine Johnson of South Sioux City, Neb., to the point that she could not return to work and quit her job.

Johnson said she feared that the gunmen, who were not masked, would panic at the sight of so many potential witnesses and kill everyone in a massacre reminiscent of last year's slayings at a Norfolk, Neb., bank. Norfolk is 45 miles northwest of Schuyler.

The incident, first reported in Tuesday editions of The World-Herald, raised concerns about someone inside the store or an armed passer-by defending the "victims" by shooting the "robbers" or attacking them with other weapons.

Gas 'N Shop's lawyer declined to comment, saying it was an internal training matter.

Reinecke said the danger-to-police issue surfaced among city officials after the incident.

"It was staged pretty good," he said. "I'm sure it looked like a robbery."

Reinecke said he didn't know whether the Police Department's role in the episode will require an administrative directive governing any future proposals for similar performances.

Hiltner said Wednesday that he had no comment on the issue of officer safety in the incident or whether the department would do it again.

Shortly after the training episode, Schuyler officials received a letter of thanks from Gas 'N Shop's corporate headquarters in Lincoln.

Reinecke said the letter indicated that the robbery incident was excellent training and that the store managers learned a lot.

The incident is receiving international attention. A British cell phone news service lists the story under "quirkies at a glance." It also was posted on an Internet forum for Smith & Wesson firearm collectors under the heading, "Good Thing I Wasn't There."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; US: Nebraska
KEYWORDS: 2ndamendment; banglist; cops; crime; guncontrol; guns; idiotic; keystonecops; nebraska; police; robbery
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I'm ashamed to say these idiots are from Nebraska. These cops should turn in their badges, Chief included. If I was a criminal, I'd move directly to this community, given the stupidity demonstrated here by the local law enforcers. They are lucky their flags aren't at half-mast, and they aren't being embalmed. Idiots.

They'll just add more fuel to the gun-grabbers and anti-CCW fire that we'll be trying to overcome during our upcoming legislative session.

1 posted on 12/11/2003 1:01:13 PM PST by Hat-Trick
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To: Hat-Trick
"The incident, first reported in Tuesday editions of The World-Herald, raised concerns about someone inside the store or an armed passer-by defending the "victims" by shooting the "robbers" or attacking them with other weapons."

Indeed. I would have pulled and shot one or both of these dopes had I been there.

Are sure this is true?


2 posted on 12/11/2003 1:07:15 PM PST by Ribeye (Protective head wear courtesy of Reynolds Aluminum Products)
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To: Hat-Trick
"The incident, first reported in Tuesday editions of The World-Herald, raised concerns about someone inside the store or an armed passer-by defending the "victims" by shooting the "robbers" or attacking them with other weapons."

Indeed. I would have pulled and shot one or both of these dopes had I been there.



3 posted on 12/11/2003 1:07:38 PM PST by Ribeye (Protective head wear courtesy of Reynolds Aluminum Products)
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To: Hat-Trick
These cops are lucky nobody in the store was armed. What would the Police Chief have said had a customer or one of the other employees had popped the bogus robbers?

This was a stupid, stupid stunt.
4 posted on 12/11/2003 1:08:54 PM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: Ribeye
Unfortunately, this is true. I promise this is not from "The Onion".
5 posted on 12/11/2003 1:09:21 PM PST by Hat-Trick (Do you trust a government that does not trust you with guns?)
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To: Joe Brower; Eaker
ping!
6 posted on 12/11/2003 1:12:38 PM PST by Hat-Trick (Do you trust a government that does not trust you with guns?)
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To: MineralMan
Or if the clerk had suffered a heart attack? Idiots abound.
7 posted on 12/11/2003 1:15:43 PM PST by tang-soo
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To: Hat-Trick
The incident unnerved manager Kristine Johnson of South Sioux City, Neb., to the point that she could not return to work and quit her job.

This woman has excellent grounds for a civil suit against both the company and police dept.

8 posted on 12/11/2003 1:17:46 PM PST by ibbryn (this tag intentionally left blank)
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To: Hat-Trick
Among the "victims" were 11 company managers and supervisors from eastern Nebraska and western Iowa who were at the store for a meeting.

Not good. I wonder where the store manager who staged this event is working now?
9 posted on 12/11/2003 1:18:29 PM PST by Welsh Rabbit
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To: Hat-Trick
Nobody this stupid and irresponsible has any business having a badge or managing a corporation

They should all be fired and I hope anyone who was a victim of this outrage sues until they own the town and the QuickiMart.

10 posted on 12/11/2003 1:22:19 PM PST by WackyKat
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To: Ribeye
Indeed. I would have pulled and shot one or both of these dopes had I been there.

That was one of my first thoughts. I often travel through Schuyler on my way to visit customers. I've stopped in this store often. Even a store clerk who decided to pack heat that day - and we've got 2 dead stupid cops.

11 posted on 12/11/2003 1:29:15 PM PST by Hat-Trick (Do you trust a government that does not trust you with guns?)
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To: Hat-Trick; *bang_list
You just can't make this stuff up.

Click the Gadsden flag for pro-gun resources!

12 posted on 12/11/2003 1:57:22 PM PST by Joe Brower ("If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever." - G. Orwell)
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To: Hat-Trick
If they had tried this idiot move and gotten shot by a CCW pistol holder, they'd have deserved it.
13 posted on 12/11/2003 2:00:40 PM PST by Lazamataz ("With an Iron Fist, We Will Lead Humanity to Happiness." - Translation of sign at Solovki Gulag)
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To: Hat-Trick
The bogus bandits ordered everyone to lie on the floor and to hand over purses and wallets. Among the "victims" were 11 company managers and supervisors from eastern Nebraska and western Iowa who were at the store for a meeting.

I think y'all are missing the point here. These policemen committed assault and battery and armed robbery. Being a policeman gives one no license to commit such acts.

Criminal charges, as well as civil suits, should be filed against those responsible.

14 posted on 12/11/2003 3:12:42 PM PST by Restorer
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To: Hat-Trick
I used to live outside of Schuyler in a town called Richland when I worked in the Schuyler packing house. With hunting season going on now, it's a wonder someone with a shotgun in their pickup didn't pop someone.
15 posted on 12/11/2003 4:06:48 PM PST by Mean Daddy
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To: Ribeye
Yes, it is true. And it is the first thing I thought of when I read the original article several days ago. I really don't know how anyone can make decisions as stupid as this and think that it is smart.
16 posted on 12/11/2003 4:27:34 PM PST by jim_trent
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To: MineralMan
These cops are lucky nobody in the store was armed.

Why, that would be illegal in Nebraska, regardless of what the state Constitution says. Armed with a handgun that is. OTOH, it's still pheasant season in Nebraska, and Schyuler is in what is some years, pretty good pheasant country. They are really luckly some guy didn't drive up, see what was going down, and blow the officers to all to hades as they exited the "Stop and Rob". Most likely weapon would be a 12ga pump loaded with birdshot, 5s or 6s, but with a full choke barrel and from a few yards, that would hardly matter at all. Of course the guy might have grabbed the buckshot shells he kept handy "just in case" and then he could have done the job from a mite farther away. If they'd waited a couple of weeks for me to get up that way (my in-laws live in Norfolk) that guy could have been me... but I'd have had a handgun in the vehicle, because I always go shooting at my father-in-law's farm, which is about 20 miles closer to Schyler, near Pilger, when I go up there. I'd have to load it first of course... :) ).. In fact, I'll probably be through there on Christmas day enroute from my parents in Lincoln.

17 posted on 12/11/2003 10:10:31 PM PST by El Gato (Federal Judges can twist the Constitution into anything.. Or so they think.)
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To: Lazamataz
If they had tried this idiot move and gotten shot by a CCW pistol holder, they'd have deserved it.

No such thing in Nebraska, not Shall issue nor even May issue. I'm really embarassed and angry that my home state is one of the 4 states (I think 4 and it's too late to go verify it) that completely prohibit carrying a handgun for self protection. Along with Kansas, Illinois and I think Ohio. Although in Missouri, it's still in legal limbo, due to a restraining order from a state court.

18 posted on 12/11/2003 10:15:42 PM PST by El Gato (Federal Judges can twist the Constitution into anything.. Or so they think.)
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To: Hat-Trick
"two out-of-uniform police officers who burst into the convenience store with guns. One carried a handgun, the other a modified shotgun. Both were unloaded, it was learned later."

It was learned later that this was an absurd LIE.

This article may or may not be true, but this last tidbit is the greatest, silliest lie since we were reading lips. If any ready clerk had attempted to defend himself, he would have met Mr. Glock, and Mr Buck, coming at him from body-armored "robbers", then he would have met his maker.

Let's please not kid ourselves.

19 posted on 12/11/2003 10:29:03 PM PST by KO5A ("No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms" Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Joe Brower; Travis McGee; Squantos
Why is it whenever I read a story about somebody doing something totally stupid and firearms are involved it reminds me of a story from when I was in the Navy?

Just this one time I'm showing self restraint and not sharing the story.

I'm going to bed.
20 posted on 12/11/2003 10:31:52 PM PST by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig (A weapon should be hardy rather than decorative)
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