A Hero Ex-Cop Is Actually Having to Sue for the Right to Carry a Concealed Firearm in California

The UC Berkeley police officer who famously helped rescue kidnap victim Kaycee Dugard is suing her former employer, claiming she was wrongfully denied approval to carry a concealed firearm after she retired on medical disability.

Allison Jacobs, left.

Allison "Ally" Jacobs became a hero after her intuition helped lead to the capture of Phillip Garrido, the sex offender who held Dugard captive for 18 long years. Jacobs reportedly suffered an on-duty injury about a year later and she accepted a disability retirement in April of 2013.

When she submitted an application for a concealed carry permit, which are available to all retired cops in California, it was rejected.

As it turns out, UC Berkeley doesn’t consider her actually retired because she is receiving disability income and therefore she’s apparently not entitled to carry a concealed firearm like other retired officers. In a strange policy change, there is reportedly no longer any such classification as “disability retirement” at UC Berkeley.

That is different even from state plans like the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

SFGate.com has more details on the policy change:

UC officials said they changed their policy after former UC Berkeley police Sgt. Karen Alberts, who was close to retirement age, unsuccessfully sued UC in 2012 over a similar denial of a weapons permit after she suffered an on-duty injury.

In rejecting Alberts' request for a court order, Judge Evelio Grillo of Alameda County Superior Court suggested that Alberts had the "ability to pursue alternative paths that may lead to the same ultimate result," such as formally choosing to retire instead of continuing to accept disability payments, in accordance to UC policies.

Jacobs, who know gives public speeches, says she wants a concealed carry permit because her publicized role in the Dugard case could make her a target for criminals.

"The fact is all officers are targets the rest of their lives whether retired or not,” she said. “A big target is painted on my back, and I fear I will not be able to not only protect myself, but my family if the need arises."

California, unsurprisingly, has some of the strictest concealed carry laws in the nation.

To get a permit to carry a concealed firearm in public, you have to show "good cause" to a local official, many times a sheriff. However, in places like San Diego County, not even the right to self-defense is enough to prove "good cause" and discretion is left to local officials.