NFL Bans Off-Duty cops from stadiums

Earlier this year, the National Football League instituted their obnoxious “clear bag” policy, which in the wake of the Boston terrorist attacks banned all backpacks from the stadiums and forced fans to bring all their goodies into the stadium in a clear plastic bag. Now, according to an internal memo from the Cleveland Police Department, there is a new NFL policy which bans off-duty police officers from carrying guns into the stadiums. According to the memo, “[o]ff-duty officers who attempt to bring firearms into an NFL facility will be denied entry. An armed officer will only be allowed inside a league facility if they are working an NFL game or event in an official capacity.”

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Jeff Follmer, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, said the policy is “disappointing.”

“We are police officers 24/7,” Follmer said. “I don’t know why anyone would want to disarm a police officer.”

While this does make the NFL’s policy against guns in the stadium consistent across the board, one has to wonder why the NFL wants to disarm law-enforcement officers? While you could make the case that NFL fans in some areas are just knuckle-dragging animals (Philly and Oakland come to mind immediately), but the idea that disarming off-duty LEOs is going to make anyone at the games safer is just foolish. I don’t believe that a LEO has special super-powers that make them better at carrying a gun than a dedicated citizen, but I do believe that a cop certainly has legal powers and training that the average citizen doesn’t have.

For the NFL to ban off-duty cops from carrying one of the essential tools of their trade into football stadiums displays the league’s increasing tone-deafness when dealing with the fans and supporters of the league. Sorry off-duty cops, but if you were trained to be a cop 24/7 and carry a weapon at all times, you’re not welcome in NFL stadiums.

14 Comments

  1. The on-duty officers are busy with security, off-duty officers might actually arrest some of their players for various warrants and such. 😉

  2. I wonder what would happen if police unions quit supplying officers to work at NFL games?

  3. Honestly, I have no problem with this policy. Its time cops understand they are not better than us, and its time they live under the same rules as we do. If I can’t carry, they shouldn’t be able to- ESPECIALLY if they are off duty.

    1. Comments like this are the main reason i know there are some really stupid people in the world today.

      1. Yea Rickie you must ether be a cop-er man or wantabe ?They put there panties on like any other Women. They have started shooting unarmed women to death with babys in the car Real Heros Rickie.

        1. I normally wouldn’t have approved this comment, but I felt like it today. Shooting that woman was absolutely a justified use of lethal force, she had already rammed the White House barricade and injured an officer with her vehicle. A vehicle is a very deadly weapon, much more than a handgun.

      2. Excuse me for not shedding any tears on account of one group of people being treated like every other group of people.

        Is the policy stupid? Yeah. Has their policy always been stupid? Yeah.

      3. Well thank you for your thoughtful refutation of my point! You’ve totally convinced me with your logic that its stupid to think all people should be treated equally.

  4. In my state off duty officers are required by law to intervene in any felony committed in their presence on or off duty which is the main reason they carry off duty. Whether or not a police officer might be as proficient with firearms as a “civilian” has nothing to do with it.

    1. In a perfect world, any citizen of fine upstanding quality would step in and attempt to prevent a criminal from completing their dastardly deeds. Sadly the world has changed and it ain’t all good.

  5. Cops don’t carry off duty so the can save the world, they carry to save themselves. Cops have a unique job, they start the chain of events that often results in people losing their personal freedom for many years in some cases. They carry as a means of defense against people who want to harm then based on past negative contact. This is something that most people don’t understand. You can say that cops are just like anyone else but the realty is they are not. There is a difference between a career cop who’s job requirements are to make felony cases and a guy who sells insurance. Who wants to go to a stadium packed with people, they are a huge target.

    1. Except the reality is that they are just like everybody else. I’ve seen this excuse used elsewhere with no data to back it up. Tons of people who are not cops also deal with people who want to harm them based on past negative contact.

      And its even less so at a stadium, where everybody is searched.

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