Posted on 11/20/2005 6:01:15 AM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
QUINCY - A Quincy police officer lost his department-issued gun apparently after driving away without realizing he had placed the weapon on the roof of his car, officials said.
The officer, Declan Breslin, was reprimanded and placed on desk duty for several days as punishment for losing his weapon, which was picked up by other Quincy police officers who were investigating a car crash last month in the same area the gun was dropped, Police Chief Robert Crowley said.
The incident marks the second time in a month that a local public safety official has lost his handgun, but with drastically different results. Last week, a part-time Plymouth County sheriff’s deputy was fired for a similar mishap after leaving his gun in the restroom of a Pembroke Dunkin’ Donuts.
The deputy, Robert Greek, returned to the doughnut shop less than 45 minutes later, but the weapon was gone. When the gun was recovered, Scituate police revoked Greek’s license to carry a firearm, which prompted the sheriff’s department to fire him.
Not keeping a gun secure is a state crime and is grounds for local police to revoke a gun license.
After speaking to Breslin’s supervisors, Crowley decided to issue him a formal reprimand and place him on restricted duty for a short time.
‘‘We took into account his performance on the job, which has been superb,’’ Crowley said.
Crowley has been sharply criticized by gun owners for a tough policy on issuing gun permits to residents, and one advocate suggested that the punishment given to the Quincy officer shows a ‘‘great double-standard.’’ James Wallace, the executive director of the Gun Owners’ Action League, said the punishment given to Breslin isn’t the problem, saying he’d hate to see a police officer’s career harmed for what was clearly an accident.
‘‘But I’m certain in my heart that if this was one our members, not only would they have lost their license, but they would have been brought up on criminal charges by the chief,’’ Wallace said.
The gun was found less than 30 minutes after it fell from Breslin’s car near the intersection of Franklin and Water streets in Quincy Center, Crowley said.
At first, investigators thought a drunken-driving suspect who fled the scene of the crash may have thrown the gun out the window of the van he was driving. The handgun was found by the alleged victim of the crash, who saw the weapon in the street and kicked it to the side of the curb.
A check of the gun’s serial number showed that it was not reported lost and stolen, and it was quickly traced to Breslin, who was appointed a police officer in 2003. Crowley said Breslin was in the area caring for an ill family member while off-duty and packing his belongings into his car when he left the gun on his car’s roof.
Christopher Walker may be reached at cwalker@ledger.com.
Let him who has not done something careless while worried or preoccupied cast the first stone.
I hate when this happens. I lose more firearms this way than any other.
I am no cop, but I can't imagine a situation where you would put a gun on the top of your car, even for a moment.
Why would you not put it in your holster?
Well, at least this officer didn't leave his piece in the john.
I consider myself lucky that I've only done this with a cup of coffee and a college paper. Luckily, I had a copy of the paper on my computer hard disk and was able to print up another one before class.
"Why would you not put it in your holster?" Great question, I would either have it in my hand or in my holster. Seems like a no brainer.
Crowley said Breslin was in the area caring for an ill family member while off-duty and packing his belongings into his car when he left the gun on his car’s roof.Let him who has not done something careless while worried or preoccupied cast the first stone.
With all due respect, we're not talking about a box of socks here or a briefcase left on the rooftop. It was the guy's weapon for Pete's sake. If a civilian did this and was caught he'd be facing jail time & fines up the kazoo.
In fact him being a LEO makes this 'lapse' more serious (higher standard and all that). And if caring for an ill family member is going to affect him so much, what and how would he react under REAL pressure, like an armed felon.
So no, sorry he should be fired.
(And yes I've misplaced my pen a time or two, but never one of my firearms)
Oh come on!
We aren't talking about forgetting to put the gas cap back on here but a trained public servant leaving a potential deadly weapon that anyone EVEN a kid could find with deadly consequences!
How many times have we seen a policeman on COPS yell at somebody who dumped a gun while on the run, "What if a kid found that gun?!" Same applies here and this cop should get hammered.
Was it Car 54?????
Even a Democrat could find it. That'd be worse. Most kids are rather smart.
Ooh, ooh, I did it again, Muldoon!
HK 93 where are you?
Cops leave home "carelessly' without their pants on?? If not why not?
Or worst yet a metrosexual liberal who would probably shoot himself in the foot or something worst!
Does that ever matter to the cops, when civilians do something wrong with guns? Nope. One set of rules for them, another for us.
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