Ask a Cop whatever.....

used to work in law enforcement about for about 3 years..... as a police officer treat everyone with respect just cause you got the power don't go around acting like a douche all the time.  There is already a bad stigma about cops.  I see a lot of rookie cops trying to "PROVE" themselves to the rest of their colleagues by  doing all kinds of crazy crap....

Best thing is be approachable, respect everyone, its ok to be a self starter and motivated but most of the times the CALLS WILL FALL IN YOUR LAP.

most dangerous call I was when I was dispatched to a theatre shooting



me at 1:30

I'll never forget that night..... I was one of the first people inside the theatre, bodies were everywhere with emts running out of equipment trying to get everybody that was hurt or dead out.

I'll never forget one of my sgts made me watch the suspect with his brains on the stair way
 
 
First of all, I appreciate you making this thread, and although you speak for your department, your perspective is important. I have family in law enforcement as well and I know it's not an easy job.

I’ve had encounters where my situation was fairly routine and the way the officers spoke with me agitated me from their tone of voice alone.  One situation, I had to go to the precinct to pick up a copy of an accident report for official city business for my job and I was given contradictory information on who to speak with, and when I asked questions to get the right person, they spoke to me in a way that really started to upset me. In fact, it agitated me. I was cut off when I spoke. I wasn’t given a chance to fully explain the situation. And when I was done, I was completely upset with the officers I spoke with. Although I got the report, I didn’t feel like I was helped at all, despite serving the same city they do.

I was stopped this past Saturday night by officers because my headlight was out (I didn’t notice, it had just went out when I went on a short errand that night). He asked for my license, and I didn’t realize I left my wallet at home until he asked me.  He then asked if the car was mine (which I interpreted as an assumption that I stole the car, which bugged me), then he asked for my registration and DOB. I gave it to him and he ran a check.  Nothing,  I’m clean. For some reason the encounter, although routine, bugged me. I was literally circling my block to find a parking spot and right before I turned the corner of my block. They stop me.

I have a question. Are officers trained to speak to civilians in a certain way? I know there are standard procedures, but is there room for judgement calls? You can tell when a person is aggressive and respond accordingly, but when a person is calm and cooperative, is it necessary to continually speak aggressively  even when their tone remains calm and cooperative?  I’m Black and I’ve noticed this behavior towards me and others when I was around another Black person and a police officer.
1. I apologize for the way you were treated when getting your accident report. All I can say in that situation was you encountered a bunch of *****.

2. The stop was valid if your headlight was out (most people cannot even tell their headlight is out so if I stop them for it it is usually a heads up from me). The whole license thing I'm sure you understand you need to have on you when you're driving. Him asking if the car is yours is normal. I can absolutely understand if it made you feel like he was questioning if the car was stolen or not. It MAY also have been because we don't write fix-it tickets if the person driving the car is not the registered owner (like if you borrowed the car from a friend, I can't write you a ticket for his/her headlight).

3. We are trained in the academy and during in-service training about interactions with other people. How to talk to them, how to deescalate a situation etc. It's different for every cop though. We call those cops "escalators" because anytime they come into a situation they escalate it. It is definitely not necessary to talk like that to people especially when they are being cooperative and compliant but its really on them. I go with the "if you're cool with me, I'm cool with you" mentality."
 
Can you explain why many officers might not be supportive of wearing body cameras?

What do you do to de-stress after a rough shift?

Have you ever let someone go with just a warning?

What's your opinion on the blue wall of silence? Is it real?

Any tips or recommendations on what to do or not to do, say or not to say during a traffic stop?

Were you ever in a situation where you had to fire your gun?

Should officers be held to a certain standard in relation to physical fitness? How is obesity viewed in law enforcement?
 
Just remember guys.....all cops are different. There is no set script per say on how cops talk to or treat individuals for different situations. Some cops are cool and understanding given a particular situation and some are not. Body cameras are very helpful to cops but more importantly the general public in helping to try to make cops and departments more accountable.
Well said!
 
have you ever had to put a colleague in check because they went out of line during something routine?
I've told parterres to **** before. Usually when I have a situation handled and they keep talking and angering the person back up again. Never have I had to interject myself when a cop was beating up on a dude or anything. You see on TV sometimes an officer losing his cool and just beating a dude more than he needed to but I haven't witnessed it. 
 
If a fellow officer is as doing something foul would you risk your job to expose it? What do you think your coworkers would do in that same position?
Protect the blue or do whats "morally" right?
I wouldn't say its "risking my job to expose it." The more crooked they are the worse it makes it for the rest of us. If it's something that egregious I personally wouldn't have a problem bringing it up to somebody and I would say the same for ALMOST everybody else. There are those I'm sure that wouldn't say anything for whatever reason, but I would say thats the minority.
 
Do you guys really have a ticket quota each shift?



-Drew
Nope. Common misconception, at least for my department. I personally haven't written an actual ticket in probably 3 weeks and I've certainly gone longer.
 
What do you think of civil forfeiture in some jurisdiction's? If you aren't aware of it (not trying to insult your intelligence btw), cops can seize someone's property without a warrant because they believe "it may have been involved in a crime" and the person has to jump through all types of legal hoops to get it back, making it not even worth the effort.

Read stories of Canadian tourists in northern states getting their cash taken when getting pulled over by state police and they are SOL afterwards.
 
One more question, Cops are so heavily militarized but cannot follow rules of engagement. why is that?
I mean we have our own "rules of engagement" and to be honest they're pretty clear cut, but sometimes situations change so fast that some people have trouble with their reactions. We have scenarios we run through during our trainings to kind of keep everybody up to speed and different people have different reactions at different times for different reasons. It's kind of tough to say. If you look at the last couple of years and all of these police shootings, some I'd say were handled perfectly fine. Others have me shaking my head for sure. 
 
1st of all Thanks for providing a service to the community you work in and if you are a good cop, keep it up!

My question is why isn't respect a 2 way street for a lot of Police? Cops can talk to you any type of way but if you say something back its a problem even though we all grown ups :smh:
 
How does it feel to know you are a puppet for the wealthy elite in keeping minorities and poor people encaged, enraged and disenfranchised. You didn't create the policies but sure are solider for its war.

May have been answered but have you ever snitched on a fellow officer? How many times have you disobeyed an order/procedure for the betterment of a civilian?
1. Though I may not share your exact viewpoint, I get it. I'm out there doing what I do handling what I see/observe or what is brought to my attention through a radio call or by somebody flagging me down. I, and the vast majority, are not out there to "keep minorities and poor people encaged, enraged, and disenfranchised." If you did something to deserve the discipline then you deserve it. Though we do have what they call "letter of the law" and "spirit of the law." Which basically means the enforcement is at our discretion, unless its something horrid of course. I search for crime, not a social or economic class.

2. Never snitched on a fellow officer. I've never witnessed anything worth snitching for. I've thrown drugs and paraphernalia away to lessen a charge for somebody if they're cool. Plenty of times if the person is cool I've let them toss their drugs or step on their pipe and I let them walk away.
 
One more question, Cops are so heavily militarized but cannot follow rules of engagement. why is that?


I mean we have our own "rules of engagement" and to be honest they're pretty clear cut, but sometimes situations change so fast that some people have trouble with their reactions. We have scenarios we run through during our trainings to kind of keep everybody up to speed and different people have different reactions at different times for different reasons. It's kind of tough to say. If you look at the last couple of years and all of these police shootings, some I'd say were handled perfectly fine. Others have me shaking my head for sure. 

Thank for answering my questions.

You mentioned your own "rules of engagement" How does it differ from the military's rules of engagement?
 
How often do you use your lights and sirens just to blow past traffic?

What do you/does your department carry?
1. Never. I have disobeyed traffic signs and lights though when its like 3am with nobody around.

2. Glock 17
 
Thank for answering my questions.

You mentioned your own "rules of engagement" How does it differ from the military's rules of engagement?
Military rules of engagement are based on the operation and threat level according to the commander assessment. Also the geneva convention governs military use of force. No blanket federalor international law covers police use of force
 
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What's the usual reaction/thought process that an officer has when they are about to ticket someone and they are presented a PBA card from the person they are about to ticket?



-Drew
 
Oh yea ive always wanted to ask a cop this.

How much over the speed limit can i go on the highway without being pulled over?
 
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