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.
Public transportation. You created the problem, now you must live with the consequences.
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Feel free to ask anything you like.
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At one department, there were three patrol zones and only a single station. A sergeant plus three or four officers were on duty at any given time. (Not including any specialty units.)
At a larger agency, there were six patrol zones with multiple officers assigned to each zone. There were three "sector offices" plus the main station. There were up to 24 patrol officers on the road. Generally there were 2-3 sergeants on duty at any given time plus a lieutenant and possibly a captain depending on time of day/day of week. Those staffing numbers did not include specialty units that might have also been working. For example, three traffic units plus a sergeant, a gang unit plus sergeant, etc.
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I value them all. If you are asking me to arbitrarily rank them in order of importance, I cannot. What duty is the officer trying to perform? Every task is different and requires varying degrees of each of the above. Also time in grade does not equate to experience. Also, experiences vary widely. Are the experiences in roles as a trainer, investigator, narcotics officer, or what? A highly educated homicide investigator with ten years of violent crime investigations may get his butt kicked the first night he rotates back to patrol and goes to a bar disturbance, while the two-year officer with nothing more than a high school diploma saves him. There is no neat way of quantifying police officers.
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Chef
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By phone is often the easiest for many people. Sometimes walking into the police station is easier.
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I cover this information further up the page. Good luck.
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The availablility and use of helicopters vary widely from area to area. Some departments have access to helicopters in a relatively short amount of time, while other departments never have access to their assistance.
At my former agency, I worked in a very urban area with dozens of cities and counties in the immediate area. We had access to a helicopter that was operated by the sheriff's department, and was normally only up during the evening hours. It was available during other parts of the day, but would often take some time to get up and to you.
For a vehicle or foot pursuit, we would generally want the assistance of the helicopter, and most often they would be enroute to us before we even asked. They monitored our radio channels and would start our way if they could be of assistance. If we had to call for one, that would be cleared through a supervisor.
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