*** LISTEN *** BARNSTABLE POLICE INVESTIGATE REPORTS OF ACTIVE...

WEST BARNSTABLE, MASSACHUSETTS – [HN AUDIO NOTES & MULLINGS ON THE MATTER] – As you will hear in the following HN “video,” Barnstable Police patrol officers responded to the area of the West Barnstable Fire Department early Saturday morning – 11/2/24 – for a report of a number of possible gunshots. While it’s not unusual for police officers to be dispatched to possible gunshots (which typically turn out to be only fireworks or vehicles backfiring, etc.), this time was different!

When officers first arrived in the vicinity of the West Barnstable FD, they heard two separate “volleys” of 5 or more “pops,” that sounded very much identical to actual gunshots. Upon actively hearing those distinct pops, a police sergeant requested additional units to respond.

Arriving officers quietly entered the family neighborhoods near the fire department and along Cedar Street with lights off, fanning out into the darkness on foot, with the intention of conducting “threshold inquiries” on anyone suspicious. (God bless ’em…)

A “threshold inquiry” is a legal police procedure that gives officers the right to investigate further when they have “reasonable suspicion” of criminal activity based on specific “articulable” facts and “reasonable inferences,” according to current case law. In such an inquiry, officers may temporarily stop and detain a person or vehicle. Once stopped, a suspect may be frisked for weapons if the officer “reasonably believes” the person to be “unlawfully armed” or “armed and dangerous,” according to current case law highlighted in various online sources.

Furthermore, under Massachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title VII, Chapter 41, Section 98 (final paragraph), it reads:

“If a police officer stops a person for questioning pursuant to this section and reasonably suspects that he is in danger of life or limb, he may search such person for a dangerous weapon. If he finds such weapon or any other thing the possession of which may constitute a crime, he may take and keep it until the completion of the questioning, at which time he shall return it, if lawfully possessed, or he shall arrest such person.”

(Note: It basically is not necessary that the police officer be absolutely certain that the person is armed. However, the officer must perceive a danger to himself/herself or others because of “events leading to the stop or which occurred after or during the stop,” according to recognized case law as it currently stands on the subject. So, in short, do not illegally carry firearms near to dangerous, active crime scenes and/or investigations and you should, in theory, have much less to worry about. Better yet, do not illegally carry firearms at all!)

(Additional HN Note: The above paragraphs are HN’s very basic notes and understanding of current law related to “threshold inquiries.” Under no circumstances should it be considered “legal advice”… or else any other form of acceptable “happy horseshit” as it pertains to our local Massachusetts courts, justice system, and/or “just-us system.”)

As you will hear in the following HN “video,” officers remained in the area for a significant period of time but heard no further “volleys” of apparent gunshots, nor were there any sudden yelps, bloodcurdling screams, nor any loud outbursts of “AYE YAI YAI!” by anyone punctured and/or grazed by high-velocity projectiles in the vicinity.

The BPD is investigating…

… but HN, however, is chalking the entire thing up to someone violating another often proposed – albeit currently unrecognized – Massachusetts General Law entitled, “Wanton, Major League Douchebaggery in the Nighttime…” or otherwise known on the streets as “Being a Common D-Bag in the Nighttime…”

(which should be on the books as a felony, in my humble opinion…)

… and which is currently rarely held up in any court, in any of its identical forms whatsoever, especially as things stand now…

… but, rest assured, these all-too-common, annoying breaches of the peace and public safety, do currently stand as documented evidence, in any number of exclusive HN videos, photos, and mullings on such matters.

(You are welcome.)

And it’s HN’s great hope that, someday, Anti-Douchebag Laws (“ADLs”) be officially recognized and aggressively enforced across the entirety of our once great Commonwealth.

And, as a proud member of the anti-douchebag lobby, I hereby pray for “STRONGLY ENFORCED ANTI-DOUCHEBAG LAWS NOW!”

… and once again, sadly, I digress with yet another one of my fanciful daydreams.

* sigh *

[HN VIDEO – PRESS PLAY]