LAPD counterterrorism chief detained at airport with handgun

[Kadie]

LAPD counterterrorism chief detained at airport with handgun

The Associated Press


Last Updated: September 23, 2004, 05:00:27 PM PDT


LOS ANGELES (AP) - The head of the Police Department's counterterrorism bureau was detained by federal authorities Thursday after trying to board a flight at Los Angeles International Airport with a handgun in his carryon luggage.
John Miller, commanding officer of the Critical Incident Management Bureau, was off duty and heading to New York with his family when Transportation Security Administration officials discovered the .38-caliber Smith & Wesson in his bag.

Miller is authorized to carry the weapon, but he failed to disclose he was traveling with the gun.

Miller was briefly detained before he and his family were permitted to board their scheduled flight. The gun was confiscated and will be released to the Police Department.

"He knows the airport procedures. ... He didn't realize he had it," said Lt. Horace Frank, an aide to Miller. "It was an oversight."

more...
http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/9186190p-10086144c.html

[clydefrand]

1. And how do we know that he isn't a terra ist?

[Spinzonner]

2. We don't have Terra ist's on our police department

they're too busy beating arrestee's

[AIJ Alom]

3. Cause he doesn't have an Arab sounding name dude.

Nor does he look Arab or practice Islam. Guess he doesn't qualify for Michelle Maulkins Internment Camps.

[matt819]

4. I forgot

Okay, I'm not a cop and don't carry a gun, ever. So maybe if you are a cop and carry a gun all the time, it's routine. Any DU police officers out there, let me know.

But I forgot I had a .38 caliber S&W revolver in my pocket? Give me a break.

I'm not sure I really want that guy in charge of much of anything. He's either irresponsible -- hey, I would have loved to stop that robber, but I forgot I had a gun -- or he has a problem with ethical behavior, e.g., can't seem to tell the truth.

[theshadow]

10. Well, I've been a cop for 27 years...

...and I can tell you that I still don't have a hard time remembering that I'm carrying a weapon, on duty or off. And what kind of goof does that at an airport!!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

13. I am with you. I too have carried a gun, and I NEVER forget

where it is all all times.

Asshole just thought he was above the law.

[Rose Siding]

5. The TEACHER with the BOOKMARK gets arrested

but this guy (who should KNOW better) gets to continue his family trip? One pill makes you larger.....

the teacher's story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30431-2004Sep17.html

Because of a bookmark, Kathryn Harrington, a 52-year-old special education teacher from Laurel, faced the possibility of a criminal trial and a $10,000 fine. Last month, returning from a Disney trip with her teenage sons, she walked through Tampa International Airport's security screening with the 8 1/2-inch-leather strap, which had a lead weight at each end. This apparently caused distress for the Transportation Security Administration workers. They called their supervisor. Their supervisor called the cops. And Harrington was handcuffed, arrested, fingerprinted and popped into a police car. The bookmark was seized. The criminal charges were dropped but the fine is up in the air.

[Rose Siding]

7. AND the special ed teacher had to HIRE a lawyer

On a TEACHER'S salary. This is totally whacked.

[MountainLaurel]

6. I feel safer

Between this guy "forgetting" he had a gun on him and the security chief at Dulles Airport driving drunk ON DUTY on New Year's Eve, these shining examples of good safety practices make me feel better about homeland security.

[MallRat]

8. Folks, this is FORMER ABC REPORTER John Miller we're talkin' about.

...as in, the guy who interviewed Bin Laden back in 1998.



Weird.

-MR

[Columbia]

9. Anybody else and they would have a bag on their head in Gitmo

But since he was a cop, he gets away scot-free.

So much for equal protection under the law. Oh wait, the Patriot Act got rid of the Constitution. Silly me.

[GoldenOldie]

11. This guy is counterterrorism chief???????

And he apparently has been with LAPD for some time and he is that careless with his handgun and doesn't know regulations????

Now don't we all feel safer knowing that this is what has been set-up to save us????????

[Columbia]

12. That's why only law enforcement and military should have guns

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

15. Wow. This is the point... he is NOT a cop, but a political hire

John Miller's role -- and salary -- at LAPD rankles
Michael Gougis in the Daily News reports on the internal backlash at Parker Center over John Miller, the ex-journalist for ABC who police chief William Bratton is paying $157,289 a year to head the department's Counter-Terrorism Bureau. Miller has never been a cop, but when he was a reporter at ABC's program "20-20" he reported on global terrorism and interviewed Osama Bin Laden. Unfortunately, all of the quotes in the story from LAPD critics are anonymous -- but that's not surprising since messing with Miller would not be healthy in Bratton's new LAPD. Miller had been Bratton's chief spokesman and close advisor at the NYPD.

[Columbia]

16. Even worse

[truthisfreedom]

14. this is a non-freaking story.

fuggetabouddit.