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.
Drugs are held in evidence storage until the conclusion of the criminal trial. At that point, a judge will typically issue a court order for their destruction.
Depends on the area of the country where you are doing the comparing. Where I started my career in Georgia, no. Our benefits, pay and retirement were significantly below what was available in the private sector. At my current position in Florida, my benefits are on par with much of the private sector, with a better retirement plan than many in the private sector. Other areas of the country, benefits and pensions vary - some significantly better than others.
There is some truth to it, as people who are friends (regardless of profession) do tend to stick up for each other. You can find the same dynamic on a sports team, in a military unit, and in any organization where tight teamwork is essential for success. I've never seen a police officer lie under oath to protect another officer. Nor have I ever seen another officer turn a blind eye to unethical or criminal behavior. Does it happen? Sure - but no where nearly as often as Hollywood depicts.
Yes. It saddens me to see certain political "leaders" suggest otherwise for their own personal gain. It saddens me even more that their are people gullible enough to believe it.
School Bus Driver
Do the kids treat you with the same amount of respect as other authority figures at school?
Nurse Practitioner
As gender roles continue to evolve, are you seeing a rise in the % of male nurses?
Navy Officer (Former)
Just how educated is the typical US military serviceman?
Some agencies have used quotas as a method of ensuring officers maintain a high level of productivity. Frankly, quotas are unethical and are just a lazy supervisor's attempt to look good. If officers are not active, a supervisor should demonstrate leadership and inspire his or her people to provide superior service. Even if an agency employed a quota, I don't know that timing would have any bearing on enforcement. It is possible though. Maybe a topic for Mythbusters?
Yes, I have worked with several officers who are openly homosexual. No, they are not given any grief about that from the other officers. Most people/officers don't care about your sexual preferences. How you are treated by other officers comes down to the content of your character. Are you a hard worker? Are you honest and honorable? Are you effective as a police officer? These are the things that cops care about when evaluating their peers.
The severity of the crime generally dictates who will process the scene. At my department, all of the patrol officers are equipped and trained to lift prints. So, on a relatively minor crime like an auto burglary, the patrol officer is responsible for processing the scene for evidence. We also have officers in patrol that are cross-trained to be evidence techs. These officers have been through multiple training classes for advanced evidence collection and have more tools than the average patrol officer has. In your example, a patrol officer would likely call one of these officers to help process the scene. For major cases, such as murder investigations, a specialized crime scene unit will be called in to work the scene. Traffic homicide cases are handled by a specialized unit of traffic homicide investigators. Evidence collection in these cases is similar, but these investigators are having to collect a lot of physical data that will allow them to reconstruct the physics of the accident. All crimes are important. However, a finite amount of resources requires departments to ration services. The more serious the crime, the more resources a department will be able to devote to it.
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