Police Officer

Police Officer

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.

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615 Questions

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Last Answer on October 29, 2014

Best Rated

Does being Bilingual help when applying to a police force?

Asked by Mackenzie over 11 years ago

Yes.

can a single father of a daughter younger than five take her in the womens room? theres stuff in the mens she shouldn't see

Asked by Alex over 11 years ago

There is stuff in the women's restroom that you shouldn't see.  Stay out.

 

Hi I live in a small town with it's own police force. I want to show some thanks to them but I only see them driving by. They don't have any outreach programs. Is waving a good way to show thanks? Or will they think I'm flagging them down for help?

Asked by Robert over 11 years ago

Waving is a friendly gesture, and is appreciated.  If they stop, it is a perfect opportunity to get to know the officer and tell them thank you.

Do big-city police radio systems sometimes work like a tree where a dispatcher handles say 20 units in a precinct; another dispatcher communicates with 10 of those dispatchers so an officer can comm with an officer on another district or something?

Asked by Sal almost 12 years ago

I've not had the chance to observe the dispatch center of a very large agency (such as a NYPD, LAPD, Chicago, etc.)  What I've seen in medium sized departments (100-200 officers), you would have a dispatcher on each channel.  A single channel might be dedicated to a specific area or precinct, while another might be dedicated to records checks.  

So if a department had three precincts, there might be four channels (a dispatcher for each of the three precincts plus one for running warrant checks, license checks, etc.)  Then there would be at least one supervisor who would make sure everything is running smooth.  There would be call takers (people answering the phones) who might be cross-trained to dispatch.

Typically, there will be extra people available to bring up an extra channel if a special event happened.  For example, lets say you had a vehicle accident with a death.  The traffic homicide unit plus the officers working that scene might go to an extra channel to work and keep their radio traffic off of the precinct channels.

I hope that helps.

 

When did you know you wanted to be a police officer? Was it a childhood dream?

Asked by 2014 over 11 years ago

I was in college and was not happy in the aerospace engineering program I was in.  I explored the possibility of police work, and after riding a few shifts with officers, I decided to go into law enforcement.

When police officers graduate the academy, do they go through a period where they are always with a more experienced officer, or are they trained enough to start off on their own?

Asked by Jacob over 11 years ago

New officers go through a period of on the job training called Field Training.  Experienced officers with specialized training take new officers and teach them how to employ the things they learned at the academy in the real world.  This is also a time when the new officer is closely watched in an effort to determine if they are a good officer/person or if they should be terminated because they are unfit for the job.

After a suspect is questioned and released from a police station, how does that suspect(s) get back home or to their car if it's parked at another location? Call a taxi or does a Police Officer drive them back to where they need to go? Thank You

Asked by edwurd over 11 years ago

Any of the above.  It could be anything that is reasonable.  Sometimes a suspect will not want to be seen in a police car (looks like a snitch) and will prefer to walk.  Other times a family member might pick them up.