BELLEVILLE, IL (KTVI) – The Belleville, Illinois Chief of Police has banned his officers from eating at the local Denny’s restaurant while on duty after an incident at the establishment New Year’s Day. A manager at the Denny’s Tuesday told a group of officers they could not eat at the restaurant if they were armed. Belleville Police Captain Don sax said, “It’s absolutely a slap in the face I totally agree it’s completely disrespectful. How can anyone think to tell a police officer you can’t be in here with your gun its absurd to me.”

Five on-duty but out of uniform detectives were in the middle of their meal at the Denny’s. The restaurant chain said a customer spotted one of the officers carrying a gun and alerted the manager. The manager told the detective she would have to leave or secure the gun in her car, that guns are not allowed in Denny’s. Even after the officers explained they were cops they were still told they could not carry their weapons in the business. Captain Sax said, “I’ve never known anybody that didn’t want a police officer present in an establishment in a business it’s added security it’s absolutely what they want.”

Sax said the police had their badges in full view, either by their handguns or they were wearing them around their necks. Plus, portable police radios were on the table. A second manager showed up and told the officers they could stay with their weapons. But, the detectives left anyway. Captain Sax added, “They had been harassed enough they have been embarrassed more than enough.”

Local citizens like Jennifer Veri support the police, Veri said, “You want them to be with their guns that makes them cops so they can protect the public.”
Denny released a statement that said in part “Denny’s policy permits law enforcement officials to carry their firearms in the restaurant and we regret any misunderstanding.”

Some people plan to stay away from Denny’s just like the police. Eric Veri said, “I won’t go to Denny’s until they resolve it with the Belleville Police Dept. they are working out here hard for us definitely support them.” The police chief wants to sit down with Denny’s officials and resolve the matter. He planned to handle the matter discreetly but it became public on the internet and spread quickly. Officers will go to Denny’s if they receive a service call.

Makes sense.

A legally armed citizen can protect the public as well as and sometimes better that law enforcement.

If a citizen is banned from entering with a weapon, it's only right cops are under the same ban.

I have seen may cops who believe they are above the law.

That's ridiculous about the cops and I agree its a slap in the face. If these cops were off duty; I could see the concern but they were on duty and they are there to protect the public whereas the average citizen is only protecting himself.I trust a cop with a weapon as like us military people; he spends a lot of hours training with weapons which is more than I can say for the average citizen.

I am ex military and qualified to protect lives other than my own.

I would imagine, many other vets would say the same.

Not everyone carrying a weapon is a vet.

I agree that ANYONE carrying a weapon has the responsibility of a peace officer, and, sadly, you are right that too many people are not sufficiently trained or practiced in the use of their weapons.

The problem is, I'm also against gun registration/permits/licences of any kind, so this creates a bit of a problem...but I have an idea...

Every country SHOULD have a civil militia that is "well-regulated" (trained & ready), so why not simply announce to the covernment in a unilateral contract (a declaration) tha you consider that you are part of the civi militia and promise to abide by some training maintenance regimen? record of things like military training drills, range time & score, etc could be kept & maintained as proof that you are qualified for whatever weaponry you might possess (without needing to show proof that you even have such weaponry).

This could ensure that everyone with weapons is trained and competent in their use, while negating the need to be on a government "list". Rather than keeping a massive database of who has what, the individual needs only show something like a driver's licence (diploma really) that he is considered qualified and trained in the use of whatever weapons are listed on the "diploma" and could produce it if ever his competence , or reason for carrying a weapon is questioned.

Let's just hope the manager isn't harassed by the law after this.

They'll probably extort him for donuts.

...or they might start going to a place with this sign:

http://xrepublic.tv/node/1619

I am a gun owner and never been in the military! I have friends who are active and inactive military. Still those of us who go target shooting and hunting practice weapons safety as stringent if not more stringent than Military! One rule of ours is NO ALCOHOL AT ALL WHILE GUNS ARE OUT! We have actually had to bring guns to bear on people firing while we had men downrange setting targets! Having a 7mm Rem mag take a target right out of your hands will scare the Bejesus out of you! the clowns that got disarmed had to face off with three high power hunching rifles, two shotguns and four pistols. And better yet was they were held for Sheriffs so they could explain why they took it upon themselves to decide to target shoot right at me. The whole thing is gun safety is not openly taught here. Ignorance is worst than stupidity! NOW WITH THAT SAID!

I have come across my share of power tripping cops. And I will tell you what, if I was a super hero I would have creamed them becasue I hate bullies! unarmed though all you can do is take it and shut up or risk getting killed and for what? Some fat Pig's ego trip? There are enough bad cops to make a bad name for the rest. the whole thing is if the police integrated with WE THE PEOPLE crime would get cut down a lot more. But instead we have to depend on them to protect us from the bad guys with the assumption all of us are incompetent.

I think what is happening is people are getting sick and tired of the double standard! You know American Arms, the people who make a .50 caliber sniper rifle for the military will not service any weapon owned by a police force? They see absolutely NO justification for them to own Military grade hardware capable of firing a bullet as large as my thumb in the hands of police! But in the hands of a private owner, they will service that weapon! So not all gun makers are police friendly!

At least here most power tripping cops in the wrong neighborhoods don't live too long. There are a lot more cop's being shot at here than the news reports! Smart cops here lay low! they do their job and not be ***** about it! But still, when seconds count your friendly police officer is minuets away!

Wasn't there an incident in New York recently where cops got into a shoot out with someone and ended up shooting several innocent bystanders?

Well; I am glad that there is no alcohol while shooting as we certainly don't do that in the military. If there is even the smell of alcohol on your breath; its time in jail. In our military; you even point a weapon at anyone one loaded or not; its instant jail time. We only point a gun when we are going to kill; never just to scare someone. I am just saying the average person does not practice on a range. In the military we do hours and hours of safety training even before we go on the range and we have to qualify every year. I don't know if the American military is that strict but this is how we operate in the Canadian military.

As for the cops; yes there is good and bad cops out there just as there are good and bad people on this dating site. I have been fortunate that the cops here have been exceptional and I have the greatest respect for them. We had a cop shoot a guy and he was raked accross the coals via the press; however the press forgot to mention that the guy stabbed the cop. Funny how that works, eh? I can only imagine the morons that the cops have to deal with on a daily basis and I feel for them. No they aren't perfect but there are some good cops out there that truly are out there to help people.

I shoot my hand gun roughly 1-2 times a year and challenge anyone here to a shooting match. Just because you wear a badge or are military doesn't mean your proficient with a weapon, some are born with a natural proficiency.

Actually yes; in the Canadian military we have to be proficient and if you fail; you keep coming back until you are proficient. I don't know about the cops but a failure in the military is not acceptable. I am only speaking for what I was taught in 30 years of using weapons here in Canada. We spend hours just on safety procedures; maintenance, and perfecting our skills. We are trained to kill; not scare or make noise with these weapons; so we need to have our skills honed. However this is just my experience in Canada and I can't comment on what you do in the States so I will leave it at that.

seems like simple misunderstanding

if there is a no gun policy in the establishment the employee was following regulations as they understood them apparently and the cops not being in uniform made it a little less straightforward to recognize them as 'on duty' officers

badges can be purchased in any costume store, and I would have to understand the employee acting on the side of caution,, especially with recent shootings being reported as they are,,,,

They were probably showing their guns and badges to get a free meal.

It is no less a slap in the face of any responsible law abiding citizen.

Cops are citizens, not special, just humans with authority.

I hope you realize that police are under no legal obligation to protect anyone . . .

Business have every right to post such signs and enforce them, if anything the attitude that police are somehow special, or above the rules and laws of normal citizens is a very big problem.

IMHO a far bigger problem than any related to guns lately . . .

I totally agree with that, but at the same time I think that if a citizen has a carry permit then any public place shouldn't be able to stop them from entering while carrying in the first place.

Well . . . check your state. Some states give no legal support to such gun buster signs. Other states would consider ignoring one the same as trespassing. If your weapon is concealed . . . it would make it challenging to enforce such a sign.

Whether or not a state allows a public place to decide if people can or can't carry on their property wasn't my point. I was just stating that I don't think any public establishment should be given the option to not allow legal carriers from carrying. The whole point of having a CCW permit in the first place is to be allowed to carry in public. Restaurants/etc are considered public places, so why should they be allowed to say that they don't apply to public laws?