Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

A few people were interested, and El D gave me the thumbs up, so now I have some time and will respond to questions. I didn't want to post in OOT because of the hate I will get, but I am sure I'll get some here.

I reserve the right to not respond to questions that I feel are a judge of my character as a police officer, or any other question that I feel is inappropriate to answer.

I will try to answer all questions to the best of my knowledge.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

What is your favorite part of the job? What is your least favorite?

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

Have you ever arrested someone for something?

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

Tase anyone, bro?

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
What is your favorite part of the job? What is your least favorite?

[/ QUOTE ]

Favorite: Responding to a call with lights/sirens, and just the general sense that people look to me to help them. Helping someone is very rewarding in this profession.

Least: The "he said/she said" incidences when you are like "who the hell do I believe and what is the best possible alternative to not arresting them both." I also don't like the domestic calls when the argument begins, "I pay all the bills..."

If I think of anymore, I'll post them.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
Have you ever arrested someone for something?

[/ QUOTE ]

Anytime a citation is written, it is called an "arrest." As far as putting someone in handcuffs and taking them to jail, I have a couple times.

The first time was when I got a call from the hospital saying that a lady just took a bunch of medical supplies, stuffed them into her coat pockets, and walked out. Her next of kin was a guy who had a bench warrant out for his arrest for 8 months. That was 2 days before Christmas. He is currently back on the list, and drives a semi somewhere out there.

Other times were for other bench warrants that weren't as exciting.

It is generally misunderstood though, that all arrests mean jail time. Most of the time they are just citations and everyone goes home.

One time I had a guy from Maryland pump gas without paying the full price. He came back the next day, I caught him, and told him to pay. He refused to pay saying it wasn't him. I told him, "Pay or I will have to arrest you for retail theft." His friend then said something about him going to jail, and he ended up paying. All he would have gotten was a citation and he would have went on his way.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
Tase anyone, bro?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't carry a taser, but if I did, I have never been in a situation where I thought I would need it.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

Which city Italian? Would u bust a guy for getting an asian massage with happy ending? I mean, do cops even care about little stuff like this? I'm in San Fran and this is quite the common practice out here....Would I go to jail for this?

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

How would you respond if someone yelled "[censored] the police!" within earshot of you driving by?

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

DO those little blue and black stickers that family members of cops get make a differance in how you treat someone? How much slack would you be willing to give someone that was a family member of a cop? For instance, you would let them off for running a stop sign but not speeding, or you would let them off for reckless driving but not a DUI.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

What is your academic background? Why be an officer and not work for the FBI, NSA, etc? Is it ironic you play online poker when it is "illegal?"

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
Which city Italian? Would u bust a guy for getting an asian massage with happy ending? I mean, do cops even care about little stuff like this? I'm in San Fran and this is quite the common practice out here....Would I go to jail for this?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a small town in western Pennsylvania. I am a municipal police officer.

I do not believe there are any laws like that in Pennsylvania, and there aren't any asian massage parlors around where I'm from. The only Asian people we have are people who are here to own chinese restaurants.

If we did have some kind of law like that, I would assume it wouldn't be a jailable offense.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

Where did you work? If too specific, city or suburb?

In my experience city cops tend to be way cooler.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
Were you trained to word things in such a way as to maximize the chances of a person giving up their rights to you?

For instance, asking whether or not you can search someones car in such a way that leads them to believe they do not have a choice when in reality they do.

Please do not take this post the wrong way and I hope that you'll reply. I'm not passing judgement here, it just seems to me a lot of police tend to intimidate people into doing things they do not have to do using creating language etc, and I'm wondering if they were specifically taught this or if its just individual cops etc

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I was never specifically taught to do anything like that. With PBT tests (like a breathalyzer), I will specifically say, "Do you agree to take a PBT test?" I will not say, "Blow in this tube," like they don't have a choice. I make it known that people have a choice. I try not to be deceptive in any way unless I am trying to get some information out of somebody in an investigative way. I will not degrade anybody's rights.

FYI, PBTs are not sufficient evidence to be able to convict anyone for DUI, and everybody has the right to refuse the PBT without recourse.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
How would you respond if someone yelled "[censored] the police!" within earshot of you driving by?

[/ QUOTE ]

Either pretend I didn't hear it, or stop and ask the person if that was necessary. Most likely though I wouldn't do anything. However, if it was in the vicinity of the public, they could be arrested for disorderly conduct, but not because of what they said to me, but because it would annoy or alarm the public with no legitimate purpose.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

As a favor to me, would you crack a few hippies across the mouth for me this weekend?

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
DO those little blue and black stickers that family members of cops get make a differance in how you treat someone? How much slack would you be willing to give someone that was a family member of a cop? For instance, you would let them off for running a stop sign but not speeding, or you would let them off for reckless driving but not a DUI.

[/ QUOTE ]

This seems to be a question of my character.

I have never seen those blue/black stickers so I don't know. I do treat everyone respectfully with honesty. If I have dealt with someone many times and know their attitude, I will tighten the clamp a little bit.

For family members, it is just accepted that they can be left go with verbal warnings. Traffic violations are not the end of the world. It is just the world of law enforcement and a benefit to those involved. It's not my personal discretion, it is an accepted practice, however, it is left up to the officer with what he wants to do.

My g/f was stopped by the state police for speeding and he cited her. He didn't know she was my g/f (and still doesn't), but there was nothing I could do and she paid the fine.

The son of my Chief was arrested for DUI several years ago by an officer of my department. You can be the judge of that one. I was not working with the department at that time.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
What is your academic background? Why be an officer and not work for the FBI, NSA, etc? Is it ironic you play online poker when it is "illegal?"

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm currently a senior in college in Economics, graduating in December. I was also in the Army National Guard for 6 years, promoted to Sergeant, with a deployment to Kosovo and Louisiana.

I have wanted to be a police officer for as long as I can remember. I'm still in school now so the police job is a stepping stone. I'm not sure where I'll end up.

I played online poker for awhile, but I haven't played in about 2 months maybe? I played on a cash table for about 5 minutes last week, but that is about it. I didn't quit because it is "illegal," I just lost interest in grinding. Plus, I was never successful with poker so I decided to take a break.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
Where did you work? If too specific, city or suburb?

In my experience city cops tend to be way cooler.

[/ QUOTE ]

I still do work, part-time. I work in a rural area of about 4,000 people. I do not want to give away the actual name of the town because of it's small size.

City cops is a general term because we have a city right next to us, with about 10-15,000 people, but it's not a developed city like Pittsburgh. It's just a large town that they call a city.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
As a favor to me, would you crack a few hippies across the mouth for me this weekend?

[/ QUOTE ]

I haven't run across any hippies in a while, but I'll see what I can do.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

what do police do to familiarize themselves with the law? do they read the criminal code? court opinions? something else?

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

Have you ever felt physically threatened while on the job?

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
what do police do to familiarize themselves with the law? do they read the criminal code? court cases? something else?

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In our police academy, we went one-by-one through the criminal and vehicle code. Just getting the idea of what is in there is usually enough to know what is right and wrong.

We did learn about some court cases too.

I would say going through the book is best, but then going out on patrol and actually running into situations is what is really going to make you a better officer. If you leave the streets for awhile and do something else, like school work, you tend to forget what is in the book. It's very thick and consuming. There is alot to know, and the wording is tricky sometimes.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

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Have you ever felt physically threatened while on the job?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know if you'd call it threatened. One time I was going to question a guy about punching his g/f's van, and I know him from just knowing who he was. He's a big dude with a bad temper and could probably do a lot of damage if he started swinging. I kept my distance. After he knew he was caught, he walked back inside, slammed the door, and said "You have 5 minutes to get off my property." I got out of there because I had no idea what he was truly capable of doing.

Needless to say, his g/f wanted the charges dropped at the court hearing because he started paying her back for the damages. They've since been in at least 2 or 3 more fights.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]


I have never seen those blue/black stickers so I don't know. I do treat everyone respectfully with honesty. If I have dealt with someone many times and know their attitude, I will tighten the clamp a little bit.

[/ QUOTE ]

I find the thin blue line stickers extremely repulsive, that being said, I have thought about trying to acquire one, or manufacture my own.

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For family members, it is just accepted that they can be left go with verbal warnings. Traffic violations are not the end of the world. It is just the world of law enforcement and a benefit to those involved.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you realize that for a lot of people this is why they tend to think of cops as "dicks"?

Police officers are sworn to uphold the law, and are supposed to be taught that the law is to be applied evenly to everyone. Doing something like letting a spouse go on a speeding ticket just because they are a spouse of another officer just really rubs me the wrong way.

And I think it goes against the entire idea of "equal protection under the law".

Respond to my criticisms if you wish, but I realize they are a bit trollish and don't want to derail your thread because you do genuinely seem like a pretty decent police officer.

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

blueman,

How often do you hear about corrupt police officers being sent to jail?

I think that should answer your question.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

r cops treated with special care in strip clubs? do u ever get offered any pussy to not give a speeding ticket? did u accept? i would:)

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

do you like telling people what to do?
what percent of police officers would you say are addicted to power?

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

Who gives you the most lip while on teh job, rich, dumb, white 20 something know it alls, or poor black people from the ghetto?

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

If you had to fire your gun in the line of duty, are you 100% confident that you wouldn't freeze up?

Would you feel at all disappointed if you went your entire career without firing your gun in the line of duty?

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

1) Are there instances where you have let someone go without a ticket for speeding?


2) If someone had a really good reason for speeding, do you let them go?


3) What are the best ways to conduct myself or best things to say when an officer pulls me over so I can avoid getting a ticket?

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
Who gives you the most lip while on teh job, rich, dumb, white 20 something know it alls, or poor black people from the ghetto?

[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty sure I give police officers more lip then any poor black person from the ghetto would.

Then again I value my personal liberties and believe that the only way to keep the state from taking all freedoms away is to be LOUD and VOCAL about what they are doing wrong.

If that makes me a douchebag, that is fine with me.

I may not agree with your opinion, but I sure as hell will go down kicking and screaming to allow you to voice your opinion.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


I have never seen those blue/black stickers so I don't know. I do treat everyone respectfully with honesty. If I have dealt with someone many times and know their attitude, I will tighten the clamp a little bit.

[/ QUOTE ]

I find the thin blue line stickers extremely repulsive, that being said, I have thought about trying to acquire one, or manufacture my own.

[ QUOTE ]

For family members, it is just accepted that they can be left go with verbal warnings. Traffic violations are not the end of the world. It is just the world of law enforcement and a benefit to those involved.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you realize that for a lot of people this is why they tend to think of cops as "dicks"?

Police officers are sworn to uphold the law, and are supposed to be taught that the law is to be applied evenly to everyone. Doing something like letting a spouse go on a speeding ticket just because they are a spouse of another officer just really rubs me the wrong way.

And I think it goes against the entire idea of "equal protection under the law".

Respond to my criticisms if you wish, but I realize they are a bit trollish and don't want to derail your thread because you do genuinely seem like a pretty decent police officer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Let me ask you this, if you and a friend were both police officers and you caught his wife or g/f speeding, what would you do?

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
Not sure if you have a partner, but if you did, and your partner did something very illegal (like say totally lied on a police report to put somebody in jail who he didn't like), would you turn him in? Are police sort of like a band of brothers where you don't rat on each other etc?

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I don't have a certain partner. I work with whoever works the next shift. However, if they lied, I would definitely say something to someone. I already have, but it wasn't anything extreme. One night I was the secondary officer and we got a guy DUI. At the court hearing, some of the things the officer was saying weren't accurate (on our side) and he incorporated me as if I agreed with him on some things. I never agreed to anything, and he made it look like I was inexperienced. It has rubbed me the wrong way since that court hearing and it has given me a different view of him. I did talk to other people about it, but it wasn't anything too extreme. In your case, I would probably stop the officer first and make him think about what he is doing.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
r cops treated with special care in strip clubs? do u ever get offered any pussy to not give a speeding ticket? did u accept? i would:)

[/ QUOTE ]

If you read the one post about the guy punching his g/f's van. Well, one night I saw her (yuck, disgusting) and she wanted to go for a walk. I declined.

There are no strip clubs around where I work.

We had a guy in our dept. let a girl off once she blew him. He got caught and fired. Our dept. has been suffering, but we are slowly getting our reputation back. That happened at least 5 years ago.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
do you like telling people what to do?
what percent of police officers would you say are addicted to power?

[/ QUOTE ]

I really don't like telling people what to do, in most cases. I never try to throw down my authority on anyone. We have a skatepark in our jurisdiction that says at the front gate that they must wear helmets. We catch them all the time and have to tell them to put helmets on. They are starting to get the impression that we are harassing them, but I don't stop if I catch them doing spins and whatnot without a helmet on. I really don't like doing it because it's great that they are off the streets, but at the same time, rules are rules.

I really have no idea what % are addicted to power. I can't say, honestly, that I know anybody in my area that is like that.

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


I have never seen those blue/black stickers so I don't know. I do treat everyone respectfully with honesty. If I have dealt with someone many times and know their attitude, I will tighten the clamp a little bit.

[/ QUOTE ]

I find the thin blue line stickers extremely repulsive, that being said, I have thought about trying to acquire one, or manufacture my own.

[ QUOTE ]

For family members, it is just accepted that they can be left go with verbal warnings. Traffic violations are not the end of the world. It is just the world of law enforcement and a benefit to those involved.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you realize that for a lot of people this is why they tend to think of cops as "dicks"?

Police officers are sworn to uphold the law, and are supposed to be taught that the law is to be applied evenly to everyone. Doing something like letting a spouse go on a speeding ticket just because they are a spouse of another officer just really rubs me the wrong way.

And I think it goes against the entire idea of "equal protection under the law".

Respond to my criticisms if you wish, but I realize they are a bit trollish and don't want to derail your thread because you do genuinely seem like a pretty decent police officer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Let me ask you this, if you and a friend were both police officers and you caught his wife or g/f speeding, what would you do?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd make her blow me and not tell her hubby??? was this a trick question sir?

Re: Ask Me About Being a Police Officer
 

[ QUOTE ]
Who gives you the most lip while on teh job, rich, dumb, white 20 something know it alls, or poor black people from the ghetto?

[/ QUOTE ]

We don't have very many black people in my community.

It's definitely not the rich because they keep to themselves.

I'd have to say it's the people struggling with money, who like to party and drink alot of alcohol, and fight, and the ones who are into the drug crowd. I'd put them into the 17-25 age range.