Wonder if this SWAT guy get's to keep his job?

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/11/oops-member-of.html

I sure hope this idiot loses his job and spends at least 30 days locked up. I have left my rifle behind before, but it was in a location where other rifles were being secured temporarily. AND it WASNT LOADED!!! This dumb *&% needs to get fried HARD.

That, and it's an M4, no M4 ever deserves to be lonely like that. Poor little carbine...

I don't think firing him is going to help anything. The guy screwed up, we have all done it, his was just a big one. It says he is a veteran SWAT guy, so I'm sure the guy is kicking himself for doing this. We don't need another person to be unemployed, he made a mistake. I'm sure this job has been the guys life for a while now.

in the profession of arms, this is inexcusable. Plain and simple.

Yes, he screwed up bad, but he didn't do it on purpose.

If anything, because of this he is probably NEVER going to forget it again so you now have the reassurance that he won't do it again. I don't see how firing him would solve anything, two wrongs don't make a right.

small consolation that would make should someone else had secured the weapon and used it for ill purposes. Explain that to the parents of a slain 6 year old. Or the grandkids of the gramma who just happened to be at the bank at the time. Or...

Fire him. Prohibit this Operator, and I now use the title loosely, from EVER being hired on with ANY armed civilian employer. That would leave the military. If I were to see that on his application, I would kick the guy outta the office in a heartbeat.

Sorry that your many years of honorable service to the people of your jursidiction has come to this, but such a grievous fault should never be taken lightly. Ever.

If he's the upstanding, honest officer, he'll probably resign.

He'll have to bear the shame of this the rest of his life and he knows it. They should give him to ability to quit. It's for the best.

If he's not fired he should be suspended without pay and removed from the teams.

Some things cannot go without reprimand no matter how outstanding of an officer.

Geez I can't believe what I'm reading this. It was honest mistake which I'm sure he doesn't mean it. No reason to get him fired, suspended or go jail. Everyone make mistake. It is not like his 2nd, 3rd, or 4th times mistake.

Palsut some things are just unexcusable. Leaving a loaded automatic weapon behind is one of those. Team members are held to a much higher standard and are afforded less leeway. It's the lack of the "little mistakes" that sets them apart.

He is lucky that a good citizen found it turned it in.

I wonder why he didn't notice. You would think that after leaving without your gun you might notice at some point.

I wondered the same thing. I think the mistake would have been okay since there were no ill consequences, but only if he reported it ASAP. Thats generally what the government gets POed about.

From the tribute:

I'm pretty sure they have standard reprimands in place for this type of incident. He/she will probably be suspended for x days.

The Operators in the Army call it the same thing. It's also called Recovery. Either way, it is baffling as to how the Operator left his weapon behind.

Fry him. It carries a max punishment of jail time in the military, so if he gets fired and has a prohibition from serving law enforcement/military ever again, he's still getting off VERY easy.