BlueSheepdog
10 Years Experience
Around the Way, FL
Male, 40
Cheating death and fighting communism: that is how a fellow officer once described our job. It was meant to be funny, but as time went on it seemed all too true.
I spent more than ten years in law enforcement, all of it on the street in uniform patrol. I've been a patrol officer, instructor, sergeant and lieutenant.
Do not report crimes here. Nothing here should be considered legal advice. All opinions are my own.
The fictional TV shows you mentioned bear little resemblance to police work. They might be interesting stories but are not accurate representations of the job.
COPS is real, but edited. They film hundreds of hours of activity to get a few 20+ minute shows. That means the vast majority of the job is never seen, and when something exciting does go down, that is highly edited also. The officers shown on COPS are criticized for poor police procedure, not reading someone Miranda, atc. The reality is all of that stuff probably wound up on the cutting room floor.
I don't watch a lot of cops shows fictional or otherwise. I do the job, why do I want to watch it when I'm off duty?
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Unless your state has a law prohibitting it, yes. Most police officers have second jobs, and I've known a few that were real estate agents. As with anything, you just have to be clear not to mix the two and do any private work on the public's time.
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Patrol - mostly in a patrol car. I'm assigned a section of the city as a patrol zone and I am responsible for all calls that come into that area. A portion of the time includes getting out on foot and walking through businesses, parks and apartment complexes, but most of my time is spent going from dispatched call to dispatched call via automobile.
No one really responds from the station (like a firefighter). Sometimes you might be there for paperwork or submitting evidence and then get a call, but it isn't normal procedure.
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Depends on what state the crimes happened in, what the laws of the state are, the severity of the injuries, what (if any) special circumstances are in play and the defendant's criminal history.
For example, if a man slaps a woman and there are no injuries, prior convictions or other special circumstances, it would likely be a misdemeanor. It would probably be up to one year in jail.
If the woman is pregnant, elderly, or significantly injured then the charge might be elevated to an aggravated circumstance and be classified as a felony. Depending on the laws of your state, 20 years in prison is probably the top end.
Likewise, someone with one or more prior convictions for battery might also be charged as a felony.
Hitting a child might start off as physical child abuse and escalate depending on some of the prior concerns (severity, history, etc.) Most child abuse cases are felonies, so figure up to another 20 years on that one.
It really depends on the specifics of the case and the laws of your state.
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To optimize your chances at being a police officer, there are several things you can do. These include:
1. Stay in school, learn proper english and get good grades.
2. Obtain and hold a steady job.
3. Join the military, work hard, earn commendations and be honorably discharged.
4. Complete a higher education degree.
5. Avoid doing stupid things with stupid people in stupid places. Or in other words, don't get into trouble, do drugs, drink to excess, go into debt and hang around with the wrong people.
6. Join a law enforcement reserve program. This is volunteer work that can give you valuable experience in law enforcement. Getting into a reserve program requires you to go through the same background investigation and meet the same standards as a full time officer does.
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It depends on what state the story happens in. Murder is a state level offense in most cases, so there is no real uniformity from state to state. In many states, a life term with some opportunity for parole later in life is the maximum sentence.
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