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[Fish_Whisperer]

Whenever you've been worried or distressed while out on a call, have you ever placed your mask on your forehead?

 

[H2Andy]

The parallel I thought was interesting is that soldiers are required to refuse an illegal policy or order rather than enforce the politician's instruction. I think it is a double standard. Not that it is really enforced on the little guy.

hmmm.... there is a "double" standard because soldiers and police officers
are not the same animal.

if a superior officer gives you a lawful order, either as a solider or a policeman,
you are required to follow it.

you are only allowed to disobey the order (generally speaking) when it is
an unlawful order.

however, what "unlawful" means is different from soldiers and police officers. soldiers
are subject to martial law, and police officers are subject to criminal and civil law.
also, their mandate is different (defeat the enemy; enforce the law).

neither soldiers (the Pentagon) nor police officers (Law Enforcement) select where
and who they fight (soldiers) or wich laws they enforce (law enforcement).
this is determined for them by the civilian authorities (the President, in case of
soliders; the various legislatures and courts in the case of the law enforcement
community).

perhaps if you gave me a specific instance i might be able to comment further.

 

[adurso]

You want funny and human eh? Elderly folks are often the best asset a beat officer can have, they see everything that goes on in a neighborhood and do not sleep much. They also are often lonely and every now and then will call the police and complain about a prowler, just so they have someone to talk to in the middle of the night. Due to the press of business some officers find this habit a pain, and rush off from the complaintant. I was called one night to respond to a prowler call and met a little old lady who was waiting at her door with cookies for me, she might have seen someone, but really just wanted company, so I sat and talked with her, after a bit my boss wanted to know where I was so I told him I was learning to play the piano over the radio, as the complaintant was a former piano teacher. He flipped of course, drove over to where I was, wherupon I introduced him and left, he stayed the rest of the shift keeping her company. We made a habit every night shift of going by her house as often as possible...she made great cookies, knew a lot of history and was generally a font of information....

 

[Knight1989]

Ron and others, when inside the station do you go without your sidearm? Or, is it where it belongs just in case??

Chip, I'm not a police officer but I have worn body armor, the body armor I described is not hard in any way UNLESS the officer has inserted a ceramic plate in the carrier, vest, to increase the stopping ability of the vest. The armor a SWAT team wears could be part intimidation but not the much lighter stuff a patrol officer would be wearing.

I'm not quite tracking on what you mean by inside the station? I carry my gun at all times unless I'm in the corrections building or booking a suspect. Sometimes if I'm conducting an interview/interogation I'll take it off (we have no policy on this), but thats a psycological thing, to make the suspect become more at ease with me. A lot of time I'll even take my uniform top off as well to present a more casual and less authoritative apearance.

The body armor we wear on patrol is designed to be concealed. It presents a less intimidating apearance that way. There are tactical reason as well for concealing your armor. The armor we wear of SWAT teams, or during raids is a completly differant set of armor. Its of a higher level of protection. Its worn outside the uniform, not to intimidate, but because of its size. Its to large to be concealed, plus many of our modern armor vests have pouches for gear and equipment as well. Trust me the decision to wear armor outside the uniform has nothing to do with intimidation, but pure tactical practicality.

 

[chip104]

You want funny and human eh? Elderly folks are often the best asset a beat officer can have, they see everything that goes on in a neighborhood and do not sleep much. They also are often lonely and every now and then will call the police and complain about a prowler, just so they have someone to talk to in the middle of the night. Due to the press of business some officers find this habit a pain, and rush off from the complaintant. I was called one night to respond to a prowler call and met a little old lady who was waiting at her door with cookies for me, she might have seen someone, but really just wanted company, so I sat and talked with her, after a bit my boss wanted to know where I was so I told him I was learning to play the piano over the radio, as the complaintant was a former piano teacher. He flipped of course, drove over to where I was, wherupon I introduced him and left, he stayed the rest of the shift keeping her company. We made a habit every night shift of going by her house as often as possible...she made great cookies, knew a lot of history and was generally a font of information....

hey adurso, I wanna hear more old school rocky and bullwinkle stories...

 

[Knight1989]

Ok, here is another question. Why did you decide to become an officer?

I have no idea Honestly its what I've always wanted to do since I was a kid. I cant give you any specifc reason, other than to fight crime. It's just what I love to do, I cant imagine doing any other job.

 

[do it easy]

Here's my pet peeve- The usual commuter speed limit around here is about 10-15 miles over the limit, but when there is a speed trap, some people slow down to 45, as if to make up for going over the limit. What do the officers think about this? I'm assuming it's pretty obvious when people go from 70 to 45, and the cars start piling up behind them.

I can understand when the car is on the shoulder or close to the road since this is a safety issue, but the usual speed traps are further out or hidden behind overpasses, curves, etc.

Thanks for starting this thread- it's certainly some interesting reading!

 

[adurso]

hey adurso, I wanna hear more old school rocky and bullwinkle stories...

Officer is chasing a stolen car down the interstate, the stolen car catches on fire and the suspect bails out at the tollboth, officer gives chase on foot, bad guy runs around and jumps into the still running police car takes off down interstate, officer commandeers what turns out to be slowest car on planet, finds wrecked police car down the road in another city, everybody else laughing too hard to come to help.....He still hears about that to this very day.....

 

[Knight1989]

Officer is chasing a stolen car down the interstate, the stolen car catches on fire and the suspect bails out at the tollboth, officer gives chase on foot, bad guy runs around and jumps into the still running police car takes off down interstate, officer commandeers what turns out to be slowest car on planet, finds wrecked police car down the road in another city, everybody else laughing too hard to come to help.....He still hears about that to this very day.....

ROFL....This officer dosent happen to also be a diver is he

 

[chip104]

Officer is chasing a stolen car down the interstate, the stolen car catches on fire and the suspect bails out at the tollboth, officer gives chase on foot, bad guy runs around and jumps into the still running police car takes off down interstate, officer commandeers what turns out to be slowest car on planet, finds wrecked police car down the road in another city, everybody else laughing too hard to come to help.....He still hears about that to this very day.....

haha! now that's what I'm talking about! thanks adurso.

You know I'll be asking again soon... (tomorrow, have to go to bed)