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.
You should probably contact a family attorney in Utah.
The handler and dog are considered a team. Most departments require the handler to board, feed, and care for the dog off duty. Typically there is a small stipend provided to the officer for this time, food and supplies. Rarely does that stipend cover everything the human puts into the care of the dog.
If you lie to a law enforcement officer about your age, you could be charged with providing false information to the officer. (The exact name of the crime varies from state to state.) Sounds like you took a minor issue and made it into a crime due to your lack of honesty.
The impacts have been studied by many researchers for several decades. The influence of the job on the personal life is significant, and few people are really prepared for it.
Many friends, and even some family, will no longer associate with the new police officer because of the job. The officer's spouse and other family will live in fear that this shift could be the one where the officer is killed or horrifically injured. The officer is confornted by violence, death and evil every shift and begins to worry constantly about the safety of his/her family and loved ones.
It is a high-stress job and you are never really "off duty." Officers with a very strong faith and solid family support tend to fare better than others, but the job has a very strong impact on all relationships, the health of the officer and every other aspect of the officer's life.
You may have heard that officers have high divorce rates and high instances of alcohol abuse. One of the dirty secrets of police work is a relatively high incidence of suicide as well. All of these things obviously impact the family in a severe way.
There is a lot of research out there, but here are a few places to look:
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/163175.pdf
http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1218&context=honors
http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=120&issue_id=102003
http://www.emich.edu/cerns/downloads/papers/PoliceStaff/Shift%20Work,%20%20Stress,%20%20Wellness/Police%20Stress%20and%20the%20Effects%20on%20the%20Family.pdf
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There is no single answer to your question. You may as well ask "what does a middle manager in a company do." The only real answer is "it depends." Different agencies have different rank structures and assign job duties/responsibilities in different ways. At one department something might be assigned to an officer, while it is assigned to a captain at another department.
I don't know Virginia law, but in many (most?) states, you can pass all of the tests and still not be hired. If you think about it, say 100 people pass all of the tests but there are only 10 positions open. 90 people passed but won't be hired.
I have no idea what your department's background investigation requirements are. If he/she was convicted of domestic assault or domestic battery, he/she is not allowed to be in possession of firearms by federal (and probably Virginia) law. A department might not want their firearms to be around a prohibited person. You should probably talk to your recruiter about your situation for more information.
No, stopping someone without reasonable articulable suspicion would be a violation of the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution and a bunch of state laws and department policies.
Speeding, even if "everyone does it" is still illegal, hence the reason why you were stopped.
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