SUMMARY of The Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA) of 2004

On July 22, 2004, the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA) of 2004, also commonly called “HR 218,” became law. (18 U.S.C. §§, 926B, 926C.) This federal law allows “a qualified law enforcement officer” or “a qualified retired law enforcement officer” with identification that meets specified criteria to carry a concealed firearm anywhere in the nation, notwithstanding most other state and local laws which restrict the possession of concealed weapons.
In order to be “a qualified law enforcement officer” under the LEOSA, a person must meet the following requirements:
1.
Be an employee of a governmental agency who is authorized by law to engage in or supervise the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of, or the incarceration of any person for any violation of law;
2.
Have the statutory powers of arrest;
3.
Be authorized by the agency to carry a firearm;
4.
Not be the subject of any disciplinary action by the agency;
5.
Meet the standards, if any, established by the agency that require employees to regularly qualify in the use of a firearm;
6.
Not be under the influence of alcohol or any intoxicating or hallucinatory drug;
7.
Not be prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms;
8.
Be carrying photographic identification issued by the governmental agency identifying the individual as a law enforcement officer.
Regarding the requirement that the individual have the statutory power of arrest to be a “qualified law enforcement officer,” California law allows “a peace officer” to make an arrest. (Pen. Code, § 834.) Penal Code sections 830.1 through 832.6 specify the persons who are peace officers and when and where they may use their authority. No one else is considered a peace officer under California law. (Pen. Code, § 830.)
In order to be “a qualified retired law enforcement officer” under the LEOSA, a person must meet the following criteria:
1.
Be retired in good standing from service with a public agency as a law enforcement officer for reasons other than mental instability;
2.
Prior to retirement, was authorized by law to engage in or supervise the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of, or the incarceration of any person for any violation of law;
3.
Prior to retirement, had the statutory powers of arrest;
4.
Prior to retirement, was either
(1)
regularly employed as a law enforcement officer for an aggregate of 15 years or more; or
(2)
retired from service after completing any applicable probationary period of such service, due to a service-connected disability, as determined by the agency;
5.
Has a nonforfeitable right to benefits under the retirement plan of the agency;
6.
Has met, within the past 12 months, the state’s standards for training and qualification for active law enforcement officers to carry firearms;
7.
Not be prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms;
8.
Be carrying identification that meets specified criteria (see below).
In order to qualify as “identification” under the LEOSA, a credential that is carried by a retired law enforcement officer must meet one of the following criteria:
1.
A photographic identification issued by the agency from which the law enforcement officer retired that indicates the retired law enforcement officer has, not less recently than one year prior, been tested or otherwise found by the agency to meet the standards established by the agency for training and qualification for active law enforcement officers to carry a firearm;
OR
2.
A photographic identification issued by the agency from which the law enforcement officer retired;
AND
A “certification issued by the State in which the individual resides that indicates that the individual has, not less than one year [prior] . . . been tested or otherwise found by the State to meet the standards established by the State for training and qualification for active law enforcement officers to carry a firearm of the same type as the concealed firearm.”
Both “qualified law enforcement officers” and “qualified retired law enforcement officers” are required to meet the state’s standards for the “training and qualification for active law enforcement officers to carry firearms” under the LEOSA. Penal Code Section 832.3 sets forth the initial and continuing training and testing requirements for peace officers in California. The specific curriculum for the training of peace officers is established by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.). However, current California law does not set a statewide standard for the training and qualification of active law enforcement officers after graduation from the academy. Standards are established by individual law enforcement agencies for both active and retired officers in those agencies.
The LEOSA has limits and exceptions. It does not apply to all firearms and weapons. For example, it does not authorize either qualified law enforcement officers, or qualified retired law enforcement officers, to carry any of the following: machineguns, silencers, or destructive
devices. Likewise, the LEOSA does not supercede all state laws regarding the possession of concealed firearms. The LEOSA states that it “shall not be construed to supercede or limit the laws of any State that (1) allow private persons . . . to prohibit or restrict the possession of concealed firearms on their property; or (2) prohibit or restrict the possession of firearms on any State or local government property, installation, building, base or park.”
An individual who would like to know whether he or she qualifies as either a “qualified law enforcement officer,” or a “qualified retired law enforcement officer,” should consult with his or her employing agency and its legal counsel and may wish to obtain legal advice from an attorney licensed to practice law in the state of California.
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State police sgt. kept hope, sense of humor until the end

By Jill King Greenwood, TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Right up until the end, Pennsylvania State Police Sgt. Tom O’Connor stayed positive.

Although he was dying from an aggressive cancer, he welcomed visitors, eager to hear about goings-on in the Greensburg barracks.

O’Connor, 42, of Monroeville died Wednesday at Magee-Womens Hospital in Oakland with his family by his side.

“He was in terrible pain the last few days, and now the pain is gone,” said state police Cpl. Ronald Zona, his friend for more than 15 years.

“Tom was one of the nicest, kindest people you’d ever want to meet. Even in the worst times, he was making jokes. Family was number one to Tom, but friends were a close second.”

O’Connor, nicknamed “Oak,” is survived by his wife, Jennifer; son, Ryan, 8; daughter, Delaney, 6; and his parents, John and Barbara O’Connor, who live in Brookline. He was preceded in death by his brother, Patrick O’Connor.

O’Connor, stationed at Troop A in Greensburg for 17 years, was conductor and trustee of the state police Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 62 in Greensburg. He retired on medical disability last year.

Doctors in early 2007 discovered several tumors at the base of his spine and diagnosed a rare bone cancer. Complications from surgery that April left O’Connor blind. Several rounds of radiation later, doctors declared his cancer was in remission.

In June 2008, the cancer returned and began to spread. Friends, relatives and law enforcement officers from across the state held fundraisers to help the family.

Jennifer O’Connor works part-time as a nurse in the labor and delivery unit of Magee-Womens Hospital but couldn’t fit in additional shifts while caring for her husband and children.

State police Sgt. Joe Ruggery, a friend of O’Connor’s for more than 13 years, spent 24 hours on a mountain bike in the Subaru 24-Hour Champion Challenge to raise money in August 2008. He called his mission “Twenty-Four Hours for Tom.”

“Tom impressed everyone around him with his strength and the dignity with which he carried himself in the midst of such an intense burden,” Ruggery said. “I don’t know that I would have stood as tall as he did under the same circumstances.”

In an interview last year, O’Connor said he struggled most with losing his sight.

“The blindness is awful,” he said. “It’s so much more than losing your vision. It transcends so much deeper. It’s the worst thing that could happen to someone. To not be able to see the faces of my wife and children anymore. … I can’t explain it. It’s terrible.”

Yet, O’Connor’s ability to stay positive remained until the end, Ruggery said, mostly because he was more concerned about his family’s peace than his suffering.

“I have bad days,” O’Connor said last year. “But we try to laugh every day, and we try to have fun. We can’t change the situation; we just have to try to find a way to fight through it.”

Thomas J. O’Connor – State Police Sergeant Worked Tirelessly at Flight 93 Crash Site

Nov. 27, 1966 – Sept. 16, 2009
By Jerome L. Sherman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, state police Sgt. Thomas J. O’Connor was one of the first troopers to arrive in Shanksville, Somerset County, after United Airlines Flight 93 slammed into a field.

For nine consecutive days, he worked 12-hour shifts there, securing the site for federal investigators. Many state troopers chose to sleep in nearby hotels, but Sgt. O’Connor drove home to Monroeville each day to be with his wife, Jennifer, and their infant son.

“He was the all-American dad,” said Plum police Chief Frank Monaco, a retired state police major who was Sgt. O’Connor’s commander in Greensburg on Sept. 11.

At the same time, the chief said, “you cut Tom, and he would bleed state police gray.”

Sgt. O’Connor died early Wednesday at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC after a two-year battle with chondrosarcoma, an aggressive form of bone cancer. He was 42.

Sgt. O’Connor came from a family of police officers.

His grandmother, Eileen O’Connor, joined Pittsburgh police in 1944 and eventually became a detective in the missing persons unit. During her time with the city, she was one of just 26 female officers. Her brother, Gerald Mahoney, was a patrolman in the Hill District.

Sgt. O’Connor’s father, John, also became a city officer, reaching the rank of sergeant.

Born on Nov. 27, 1966, Sgt. O’Connor grew up in Brookline.

After a stint as a University of Pittsburgh police officer, Sgt. O’Connor graduated from the state police academy in March 1992.

Over the next decade and a half, he worked as a patrolman and a criminal investigator in the Greensburg station, and, after being promoted to corporal, he was a supervisor in Chambersburg. He also worked in Harrisburg, conducting financial investigations.

“He just absolutely loved to do what he did,” said his wife, Jennifer O’Connor. “I don’t think he ever saw himself doing anything other than that.”

The pair met in 1993, when Mrs. O’Connor was a nurse at Westmoreland Hospital and Sgt. O’Connor was a young patrolman bringing in suspected drunk drivers for blood tests.

In July 2001, Sgt. O’Connor won attention in the media after he helped rescue Trooper Isaac Lanham with a portable defibrillator. At the time, Sgt. O’Connor had just learned how to use the device, and he grabbed it within moments of Trooper Lanham suffering a heart attack and collapsing in the Greensburg station.

“It was pretty tense. I know I died there a couple of times,” Trooper Lanham later told the Post-Gazette from the hospital. “There’s no doubt in my mind that those men and that equipment saved my life.”

Two months later, Sgt. O’Connor was at the Flight 93 crash site. For the first several hours, he and Cpl. Ronald Zona kept souvenir hunters from coming near the downed plane. They made several arrests.

Sgt. O’Connor would always make time for his children, Ryan, 8, and Delaney, 6.

He decided to leave the Harrisburg post to be closer to home. An avid hockey fan, he regularly took Ryan to Penguins games and helped his son learn to play the sport.

In 2007, he reached the rank of sergeant. Several days after the promotion ceremony, he was diagnosed with cancer. Sgt. O’Connor then underwent extensive surgery to remove a tumor from his tailbone. But a complication left him blind.

His perseverance amazed fellow troopers.

“He never complained. He was so brave,” Chief Monaco said. “It was never, ‘Woe is me.’ “

Still, the illness took its toll. Mrs. O’Connor quit her job to care for her husband, and he ran out of sick time and had to take leave from the state police without pay.

Dozens of friends and colleagues tried to help, hosting at least five fundraisers, including the “24 Hours for Tom” mountain bike race at Seven Springs last year.

“The state police is a big family,” said Sgt. Joe Ruggery, who rode alone for 24 hours to raise money for Sgt. O’Connor. “Everyone looked at him as one of their brothers.”

In addition to his wife and children, Sgt. O’Connor is survived by his parents, John and Barbara O’Connor, of Brookline.

Visitation is tomorrow and Sunday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at Jobe Funeral Home in Monroeville. A Mass will be celebrated 10 a.m. Monday at the North American Martyrs Parish. Interment will follow at Good Shepherd Cemetery.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09261/998922-122.stm#ixzz0T7jTt6Lk

Trooper Joshua Miller Tribute

     

Schoch’s Harley Davidson to Sponsor Motorcycle Raffle

For tickets go to Schoch’s Harley Davidson 4300 Manor Drive, Snydersville, PA or email TriStateTPRS@verizon.net

Friends of the Bridge Fourth Annual Golf Outing Set for Aug. 6th

 

  

Friends of the Bridge

Fourth Annual Memorial Golf Outing

Delaware Water Gap Country Club

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Registration Begins at 10:30 AM

Pre-Golf Cookout 11:00 until 11:45 AM

Shotgun Start 12 Noon

4 Man Scramble

$125. Includes Golfing, Fees, Pre-Golf Cookout, Buffet Style Dinner

Prizes, Raffle Entries

Ambrose/Schultz Motorcycle Run & BBQ

Hosted By

 The Tri-State Troopers Fund, Inc.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Registration Begins at 8:30AM

Pocono Township Police Dept.

Tannersville, PA

$20.00 Per Person

Run Starts at 10:00 AM

100 Mile Run through PA

Police Escort

Finish At Mountainview Park

Tannersville, PA

BBQ at 12:30 PM

(BBQ open to Non-Riders)

 

For more information or to register

email TriStateTPRS@verizon.net

Tpr. Jeffrey Schultz PSP

E.O.W. September 16, 2008

Tpr. Robert Ambrose NYSP

E.O.W. December 19, 2002

 

 

 

Bike Night Fund-Raiser at Jad’s

Bike Night at Jad’s (formerly Victoria Inn)

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Route 315, Pittston, PA

Doors Open at 6:00 PM

Music Begins at 7:30 PM

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

For more information please call

Joanna at 570- 760 -9947

 

Tpr. Josh D. Miller Memorial Decals

Tpr. Josh D. Miller Memorial decals are now available. The decal, which measures 4 1/4 inches wide by 4 1/2 inches tall will adhere to the exterior of the window and was designed by Tpr. Miller’s cousin, Billy Kresge.

The cost of the decal  is $5.oo and proceeds will support the “Josh Miller Memorial Fund”. 

If anyone has any questions or is interested in purchasing a decal, please email Kresge at BKresge1@verizon.net.

Only $5.00 Order through BKresge1@verizon.net