Freddy Gibbons walks her dogs, Bonsai and Lola, along Monument Creek behind her apartment complex every day.
Recently, she found a small handgun in the sand in the creek. Here is a view of the complex and the creek from www.FlashEarth.com:
Hearing children playing nearby, Gibbons took the gun home and called Colorado Springs Police. She expected they’d be glad to get a gun off the streets — or in this case out of the creek. She said it was a small, black, Spanish-made .25-caliber gun similar to this one:
To Gibbon’s suprise, police wanted her to deliver the gun to the police station. She was reluctant to show up at the police station, packing heat. Especially if the weapon had been used in a crime.
Eventually she drove the weapon to the station but insisted an officer take it from her trunk.
Police blame budget cuts for their refusal on budget cuts and the mandate that patrol officers spend their time on high-priority requests for service, not making house calls to retrieve handguns.
But the day after the story ran, police officials changed their minds and revised the policy on guns and drugs found by ordinary citizens. Now, residents of Colorado Springs can expect to receive a visit from police who will gladly retrieve any weapons or drugs discovered by folks.
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GUNS, kids and cops is a post from: Side Streets
