Sanford police backtrack on neighborhood watch gun restriction
Police in the Florida city where George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin have backed off a plan to explicitly ban neighborhood watch volunteers from carrying guns while on duty.
Earlier this month, police in Sanford, Florida, announced new rules on how civilian patrols can operate in an attempt to revive the program's reputation, and was expected to announce Tuesday that neighborhood watch volunteers shouldn’t carry guns or follow suspects.
But now the police department has backtracked on those rules, saying that while it recommends that neighborhood watch volunteers not carry weapons, it won't formally prevent volunteers from doing so.
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In a phone interview on Wednesday, Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith refused repeated requests to explain the reversal.
"That was the choice of the chief. That was my decision," Smith said. "What my thought is unimportant."
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/11/7/sanford-police-reverseneighborhoodwatchgunban.html
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