Llewellyn borrows city radar gun: Takes it from police car to use at baseball practice
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“I don’t guess we’ll take any action on it,” said McMinnville Mayor Royce Davenport after learning of the incident. “It wasn’t a real smart thing on his part and it’s not a normal thing we do. But, we do loan equipment for some events, like the upcoming Highland Rim Classic, so we have made city property available for some community events like that. On this though, there was no resolution or anything like that.”
The questions arose after various city employees and some members of the community raised the issue after Llewellyn borrowed a city radar gun for his little league team earlier this month.
“He did borrow a unit,” said McMinnville Police Chief Joe Melton. “He’s the boss.”
The gun, which Llewellyn said he never got to use, was part of the city police inventory of traffic enforcement devices. The mobile, hand-held unit, was in use by a police unit when it was borrowed, thereby stopping the officer from running radar. The radar was returned to police Monday.
The officer who used the unit, according to police sources, would normally write about five tickets per shift using the radar – revenue that was not realized while the gun was borrowed.
In his defense, Llewellyn said he did not know if the radar was being actively used by police when he borrowed it, noting he did not realize there would be a problem with him using the unit for his baseball team.
“We just wanted to see how fast the little pitchers were throwing,” Llewellyn said. “I was just trying to help out. I never actually got to use it.”
Llewellyn said he knows of no regulation which would prevent the use of radar in such a manner, noting in other cities where he has served, there would have been no problem with such use of city resources.
“I’m guessing others have used things around here,” Llewellyn said referring to other city property.
When asked if any city employee or any member of the general public could borrow city radar guns or other city property for use for community events, Llewellyn said there perhaps may have to be a restriction placed on its use since the controversy arose concerning his borrowing of the radar gun.
“I didn’t think there’d be any big deal since I was doing it for the kids,” Llewellyn said.
McMinnville Alderman Bobby Kirby also said he saw nothing wrong with its use, saying perhaps such a unit should be made available for the baseball leagues.
“I don’t see a big issue with it,” Kirby said. “It wasn’t something that was going to injure anybody and police do have other radars available.”