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.
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.
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Some officers avoid the places, while others don't mind. For a lot of areas, these are one of the few places open if you are working midnights. So if you need a cup of coffee, the local Dunkin Donuts might be your best bet. I'm not a huge fan of donuts or coffee, so I don't generally have cause to stop in.
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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.
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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.
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Casino Marketer
What's the most unethical thing you've seen casinos do to "part you from your dollars?"
Wills and Estates Lawyer
Can I leave everything to my pets?
Dry Cleaner
Why don't more dry cleaners stay open late?
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?
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It depends on the circumstances. There are three tiers of police-citizen interactions: consensual, investigative detentions and arrest. Your question relates to the first two tiers. If it is a consensual encounter, you do not have to stop and talk with the officer. An example of a consensual encounter is an officer engaging in friendly conversation with a shop clerk, stopping out to talk to kids playing basketball in a park or talking to someone on a street corner. This conversation is another example of a consensual encounter. If it is an investigative detention, then you must stop and identify yourself to the officer. Depending on the circumstances, you may be required to give additional information (such as on a traffic stop, you would need to provide a driver's license, registration and proof of insurance in many states). An investigative detention is predicated by an officer's reasonable, articulable suspicion of illegal activity by the person being stopped. This is more than a hunch, but far less than probable cause (needed for a lawful arrest). Examples of reasonable suspicion that would warrant an investigative detention could include a subject hanging out at the rear of a closed business late at night or seeing someone matching the description of a person fleeing from a crime. The problem with just ignoring the officer and walking off is you don't know which of the encounters the officer is initiating. If you ignore and walk away from an officer who is attempting to stop you as part of an investigative detention, expect to get grabbed and possibly face obstruction charges. Your best bet is to stop long enough to talk with the officer and inquire if you are being detained. If the officer says no, then feel free to walk away. Of course, being friendly and introducing yourself to the officer is always an option as well. Cops are people too, and unless you are involved in criminal activity you might find that we can be quite engaging to talk to.
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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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