Another police officer's gun stolen from car

It was little more than a week ago that the Dayton SWAT team announced several firearms had been stolen from an officer's vehicle.

And now this:

Thief steals undercover officer’s gun
November 17, 2004, Columbus Dispatch

A veteran Columbus police detective will be investigated after losing his service pistol to a thief on the East Side yesterday.

The thief was at large and likely armed with the Smith & Wesson 9 mm stainless handgun, authorities said last night.

Clyde Schulze, a plainclothes detective with the pawnshop squad, had left his gun in an unmarked city car while going into Luigi’s Pawn Shop at Livingston Avenue and Courtright Road about 10:15 a.m., police said.

Schulze, 57, hid the gun in a blue gym bag inside the car while working a case. As he walked away from the car, he turned to see a man smash the passenger-side window, grab the bag and run off, police division spokesman Sgt. Brent Mull said.

"We believe this guy had been following him from pawnshop to pawnshop," he said.

Schulze followed the man but couldn’t catch him before he got into a car and took off, Mull said.

Schulze could be disciplined after an internal investigation for losing the weapon, Mull said.

"We’re responsible for our property from our hat to our shoes," he said.

But Schulze might have had good reason to leave the gun if he was working undercover.

"The pawnshop may have had a metal detector," Mull said.

Schulze, a 36-year veteran, referred all calls to Mull.

When a CHL-holder needs to enter a "no-guns" victim zone, Ohio law currently requires to leave their firearm in a locked case in "plain sight" in their motor vehicle, or in a locked glove box.

In testimony supporting House Bill 12, which was under consideration by the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice in May 2003, Gahanna Police Chief Dennis Murphy voiced opposition to the creation of "victim" zones, where people would be required to leave their firearm in their car. He explained that thieves watch people in parking lots, and would quickly notice persons who were removing firearms for storage in their car. Murphy testified that such a law would lead to more gun thefts.

It is obvious that Chief Murphy was right when he testified before Senators that the safest place for a CHL-holder's firearm is on the hip of it's owner.

Police say criminals are known to "case" their targets, watching for citizens who they see storing their firearm or other valuables before leaving their vehicles. As we have documented on this website recently, the Ohio State Highway Patrol's dangerous 'plain sight' car carry language has already helped put a stolen gun on the street. We warned Senators about this, and on something like this, we don't like being right.

We hope legislators remove the 'plain sight' requirements before we are proven right on our prediction that
that this ridiculous language, which was inserted to avoid a Taft veto, will also result in accidental discharges, since fulfilling the law's demands requires too much firearms handling.

Related Stories:
Has ridiculous ''plain sight'' provision claimed first victim?

Business' CCW bans contribute to increased potential for firearms theft