I'm a cop, so post your 'police type' questions here. :-) (Thread #2)

[Cuban_Liberal]

The other thread was becoming unwieldy, especially for dialup users. Feel free to continue here. :)

[freetobegay]

1. Well as a retired State Corrections Sergeant

Thanks for all the Work! :)

[Cuban_Liberal]

2. You're most welcome. The honor is all mine!

Thank you for entrusting me with such an important responsibility.:hi:

[Madrone]

3. Is this SOP?

Approximately 10 years ago I had a really good friend that was male, black, and probably 19 years old. He had moved from the Chicago ghetto (Cabrini Green)when he was 13 to where I lived in Michigan. According to him, he was so illiterate at that time he couldn't even really talk. Because I didn't know him at that time I don't know exactly what he meant by that - but he said no one could understand him.

When I knew him he was going to college full time, and working 2 jobs. He had no immediate family, and was quite amazing in his resolve to make something better of himself and his focus and strength in doing so. He had no help, he worked hard for everything he had.

He never drank, but he LOVED the ganja. Never got in any trouble, however.

One day he want back to Chicago to visit some cousins. One of his cousins and himself took a ride. 5-0 rolls up behind him - lights go on, and he's pulled over for DWB.

Cop makes my friend get out of the car, and assume the position on the side of the highway. Checks the car out, doesn't find anything.

Cop comes back to my friend, tells him to drop his pants to his ankles right there on the side of the highway, and lift his nuts.

My friend says "what?" Cop tells him if he doesn't like they way they do things in Chicago, to go back to MI. My friend, having no choice, does what he says.

When I heard about this I was OUTRAGED. I wanted to call someone, report the cop, something. My friend pointed out to me that it wouldn't do any good. He was a young black man, driving a nice car, wearing nice jewelry. No one cares what cops do to a guy like him.

I'll NEVER forget that story - and it still pisses me off to this day, long after I lost touch with the friend.

I want to know - is that SOP? Or did the cop overstep his bounds?

[Cuban_Liberal]

7. That was WAYYYYY outta bounds!

Your friend should have contacted the ACLU--- I would have, if that had happened to me.

[Madrone]

12. That incident gave me a real education in police related race relations.

As I said, it still pisses me off.

I was so irate about it, and he just kept telling me don't worry about it. He just sucked it up - :( He didn't want to pursue it.

Thanks for your answer - I've always wondered about that.

[Cuban_Liberal]

19. Well, as a professional AND a minority, it incenses me, too.

:grr:

[m-jean03]

4. So, again, who do you like better :

Starsky or Hutch? (in the original series)

:) And have you always wanted to be a cop?

[Cuban_Liberal]

8. I don't really remember what either one looked like.

Actually, I'd never considered being a cop, until just before I got out of the Army. :)

[m-jean03]

21. Oh, here you go

I'm a Starsky woman myself:9 (the dark haired one, on the right)

[Cuban_Liberal]

25. Me, too!

;)

[southerngirlwriter]

5. Couple of questions (thanks for the new thread!)

1. Why are cops afraid of me? In my old neighborhood, which was high-crime, I had to call them fairly often. They would never step inside except one time to make a report, and then they refused my offers of bottled water, milk, and homemade cookies. x( I was just trying to be nice, because I appreciate them. Do they think they're poisoned or something?

2. What's the rationale on speeding tickets? I've been stopped about ten times (roughly once a year since I started driving). I am not a habitual speeder, but I do travel quite a bit late at night. At 3:30 in the morning when there is absolutely no traffic, it seems very stupid to do 40, so I usually go a bit faster.

Of those ten times, I've been ticketed twice. Both times, I was a teenager. The other times I was speeding much worse -- more over the limit, I mean -- but wasn't ticketed. Is it a plus of getting older? Are cops stricter with kids?

Thanks very much! Sorry if you already answered these! I tried to load the old thread and it crashed my browser.

[Cuban_Liberal]

11. Hmmm....

They might well have been concerned about what was in the refreshments, but most likely they were both just busy, or not hungry/thirsty. If I'm not in a rush, I'll normally accept the offer of a cup of coffee, etc. .

Some officers do tend to crack down on younger traffic violators, because they believe that 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure'. :)

[JohnKleeb]

6. ok more stupid questions

whats the most pathetic excuse you've seen by a crook or suspect?
what brand donuts do you eat? coffee?

[Cuban_Liberal]

13. Pathetic excuse for a suspect?

That would have to be the DD group-home aide who serially molested the clients who lived in the house and then told me it " didn't matter, because they're all 'tards, and don't know any bettr'. I don't believe in capital punishment, but I would have gladly beaten him down and whistled happily while I did so.

Don't like donuts, but I love eclairs and cookies; I drink my cofee strong and black, with one sugar. :)

[JohnKleeb]

16. oh thats nice

that is pretty pathenic, (word spelled wrong for pathetic factor). how can you not like donuts? granted eclairs and cookies are great but donuts are the best. I would make a bad cop because I would fall asleep like I do in school.

[Cuban_Liberal]

18. Donuts are too greasy.

I'm not a huge fried-food fan, in general, although I love sweets of all kinds. :)

[JVS]

9. Is it true that criminals being chased frequently lose bowel control?

[Cuban_Liberal]

15. Not THAT often.

I've only had it happen once, and I had drawn my weapon on the suspect.

[bucknaked]

10. Well, not many Q's, but you have my utmost respect...

...as somebody who's job is to deal with the worst of society.

Just like Soldiers, Sailors and Marines, I'm glad that there are people like you out there to compensate for likes of whimps like me. :p

[avb7]

14. Give me police perspective.......

Do you as a police officer have any idea how people who are pulled over for a routine traffic infraction feel when the officer approaches the car. It has been my experience that the officers treat everyone as if they are a threat and that bothers me to no end. Do you people realize that the officers, in the vast majority of cases, are the ones who have the gun!!! Now I do understand some degree of nervousness on the part of the officer and there are instances of traffic stops "going bad", but the vibes that most of your fellow officers put out is that I am the dangerous one and I am treated as a threat, when in fact I pose no threat to anyone. I, for one,resent this behavior and it does nothing to make me sympathetic to law enforcement. I would appreciate your thoughts.

[Cuban_Liberal]

17. I think what you describe may be more of an urban phenomenon.

I've been stopped in the city before, and the experience was pretty much what you describe. Out here in 'the sticks', though, I think officers are a bit more laid back. I always try to be polite, even when I have that 'twitchy feeling' about someone I've just stopped.

I'm sorry your experiences haven't been better.

[avb7]

22. Urban rural .....not much diff

It has been my experience, I've been driving for 37 years, that the officers behavior remains fairly constant. What I wonder, is do the officers know that they are behaving like Wyatt Earp when they approach my car? Is it a control thing? A Fear thing? or just a power thing? Your thoughts.

[Cuban_Liberal]

24. I don't know what their reason is.

I've never seen that sort of behavior here. :shrug:

[Skittles]

20. my question

I cannot imagine being pulled into the middle of domestic violence situations. How do you approach these calls? And the children - do you have teddy bears to give them? They help a lot.

[Cuban_Liberal]

23. Yes, I have 'care bears'.

I loathe domestic violence calls! When I respond to one, my first priority is safety--- my own, and that of everyone involved. I handle the calls by the book--- if I arrive and there's been ANY threat or physical contact, someone's going to jail, no exceptions. In some cases, I will arrest both/all participants.

When there are kids present, it just breaks my heart.Those little guys shouldn't EVER have to see the people they love behaving as they do and threatening the security of their world, but they do; when I can (and I can't always, sadly), I try to spend a few minutes with each child and assure them that daddy/mommy/grandpa/whoever isn't a bad person, just that they've done a bad thing, and that I'm going to do everything I can to see that that person gets help so that this sort of thing doesn't happen any more. If the kids are old enough, I'll give them a card with our local domestic-violence switchboard's number on it and encourage them to call it an talk to someone, which they can do anonymously.

[Skittles]

47. wow

EXCELLENT; you have to know you are changing some lives there. Sometimes kids with hopeless parents need to know that such behavior is not acceptable, without hearing their parents being trashed. Sounds like you handle dreadful situations very well.

[latebloomer]

26. My 12-year-old wants to be a "detective"

based on watching the TV show "Monk". Any advice you could give him?

[Cuban_Liberal]

27. Get a good education.

Other than that, not really. :)

[latebloomer]

29. just to clarify my question

I assume you must work your way up to being a detective-- be a patrolman for a certain amount of of time, reach a certain rank, etc? And do they really get to solve intriguing crimes like on TV, or is it mostly very routine?

[Cuban_Liberal]

30. You're correct.

You do work your way up from a patrolman. TV is all nice and neat, and not always terribly realistic, as far as a detective's job goes. The truth is that most detectives are just intelligent, hard-working, methodical people who don't mind doing the important, but often VERY boring 'leg work' that crime solving requires.

:)

[latebloomer]

32. Thanks!

[BlueJazz]

28. Hope this hasn't been posted before:

Do you smile as much as I do when you see commercials such as the new one about the Lady test-driving the new car with the salesman in the pas singer seat?

In case you haven't:
They're on a highway and the salesman is bragging about the passing
power of the car he's selling.
He entices her to pass a car in front of them....she's pushes the accelerator pretty far down and the car Zooms around the other car.
She's impressed....He says, "Go ahead, pass this guy ahead of us"
She does the same thing....as they get even with the other car he
turns to look at the other driver, smiling a smug smile....his face
turns Grey when he see's a Police-Officer (unmarked-car) looking at him with a
"not very friendly frown" on his face. I laugh my ass off at that one!

[Cuban_Liberal]

31. Yeah, I laugh at those.

:P

[LanternWaste]

33. Three questions, one comment

O-kay. I read your first one this morning over coffee and enjoyed the heck out of it. Two interesting (but quick) stories I have regarding run-ins I've had with the local constabulary...

In 1986, I was driving down a small one-lane blacktop in Texas. Going app. 5mph over the speed limit. Car pulls up in back of me with brights on. I increase speed to 40. Car stays on my tail, very close. I increase speed to 50. Same thing. I think this guy is trying to have fun with me so I gun it to 65. He *still* there, right behind me, too close for comfort. A T-intersection that we have to yield to approaches and as I begin to slow down, I *finally* realize it's a squad car! I know that whatever my excuses, I was speeding, so I pull over to the shoulder and wait for the inevitable. Odd thing is, the squad car slowly drives past me, pulls into the intersection and drives off, going the speed limit again.

What the hell happened? So many oddities in that one. Are you aware of *any* reasons that could have happened? (It's been bugging me for fifteen years....)

Second story. In 2000 (or maybe '99), I was pulled over by a policeman for going five over speed limit. He approached car (I keep hands on wheel and don't move, I'm usually more than enough nervous for both of us and don't want anyone to have any excuses...). He looks at me. I'm white, well groomed, in my girlfriend's Volvo and was wearing a Christian oriented Tee-shirt. He simply said, "Have you been drinking?" "No ,sir". "Good enough for me. You were doing five over the limit, in a hurry" "No sir, just on my way home and frustrated by traffic". "O-kay. Good enough. Have a nice evening" Never even asked for my license.

My question: Do you think I was the winner in a case of profiling? I can't help but think that if my hair'd been longer or the car was crappy or my skin was darker, I would've ended up showing him my license and proof of insurance, but in my case, he was gone quicker than he appeared....


You see a lot of the darker side of people on a regular basis. Does this affect your own outlooks or perceptions at all? i.e., Do you think you're more cynical about people because of the job?


BTW: Thanks for doing the work you do. Cops and Teachers are our nation's most underrated (and underpaid) people.

[Cuban_Liberal]

38. hmmm...

In the first case, the officer may have been en route to another call, and decided not to bother with a low-level traffic offense; it happens a lot in rural areas, frankly. In the second case, you may well have been lucky; I always tell people who deal with police officers that a.) the truth never hurts, and often helps and b.) a decent attitude will also serve you better at the end of the day than a bad attitude will. It never hurts to be decently dressed, etc., although in an ideal world, that shouldn't matter; in the real world, however, it matters more than most of us would care to admit.

:)

[Ladyhawk]

34. My brother is a correctional officer.

He is also an Ayn Rand enthusiast, Rush Limbaugh ditto-head and staunch * supporter.

He used to work Death Row at San Quentin and regaled me with stories of how he made life miserable for the inmates awaiting execution. Back when California still executed using the gas chamber, he would walk by the condemned men singing, "Plop, plop...fizz, fizz...oh what a relief it is."

He said one of his greatest pleasures would be to drag these inmates, kicking and screaming, to their deaths.

I have a very low opinion of my brother. And after hearing many stories about how he mistreated inmates, my opinion of correctional officers--and by association--police officers has taken a bit of a dive.

How do you personally view a correctional officer who would behave in this manner? It was quite acceptable among the staff at San Quentin.

[Cuban_Liberal]

36. Your brother needs psychological help.

That's just sick, and it's tolerated, the whole penal culture at SQ is sick, too.

[phaseolus]

35. A Chicago question

Apologies if you discussed this in the earlier thread, which I only read half of. I did see your comment about what you would do if you were offered a bribe, and I saw your comment in this thread where you said you work in the sticks. Anyway ...

I worked in the Chicago area while I was in College 20 years ago - well, NW Indiana to be exact. My coworkers advised me to buy a driver's license holder thing with a pocket on the back for a $10 dollar bill, which the story says ensures you got off with a warning if you were pulled over in Chicago. Can I assume the Chicago cops have cleaned up since those days, assuming the legend was true?

[Cuban_Liberal]

37. I don't know.

I'd hope they have.:)

[SmileyBoy]

39. What did you think of the movie Super Troopers???

Or, did you even watch it???

[Cuban_Liberal]

42. Didn't see it.

:)

[BlackVelvetElvis]

40. Great thread. What do you think of my sherrif?

link: http://www.reddingemployment.com/news/national/past/20030930nat041.shtml

<snip> "Gerald K. Hege pushed the macho, Southern lawman thing to extremes. He had the Davidson County jail painted pink with murals of teddy bears carrying buckets of tears to taunt the inmates. He got himself a nitrous-oxide-propelled hot rod, souped up by the late Dale Earnhardt's racing team, and showed off by taking his deputies on 172-mph thrill rides."

I pretty much know what you will say. He's still fighting hard to keep his job 8 months after being removed and costing the taxpayers big $.

[Cuban_Liberal]

43. What a maroon!

LOL! :P

[BlackVelvetElvis]

45. He used to have a show on Court TV

Never watched it.
He also used to have his deputies destroy campaign signs of his opponents and threatened a boycott of business who gave money to Democratic rivals.
The 170+ car chases took place on a busy highway near where I live.
He's a real tool.

[cally]

41. Why haven't my husband and I had a ticket in 15 years

We both exceed the speed limit. I have a red car. I drive safely but I drive fast on the freeways at times. My husband drives much faster than I do.

My 16 year old got ticketed within 3 months of getting her license. I'm happy about that because she needed to slow down and learn the consequences. She was driving too fast. Both my husband and I have driven the same speed on the same road many times. Do police target older cars, young drivers?

[Cuban_Liberal]

44. Some may target younger drivers.

I don't, personally, but I'm quite sure some do. :)

[Dirty Hippie]

46. 2 Questions

Do you think most Cops believe marijuana should be legalized?

Have you received training on how to detect and handle a suspect that may be mentally ill? Specifically paranoid schizophrenia? I have a family member that suffers and she believes all kinds of people are out to get her if she goes off her meds. I could see her going nuts and confronting a cop.

[Cuban_Liberal]

53. Most of us believe marijuana should be decriminialized, in small amounts

As a practical matter, simple possesion has become a fine-only offense here in Illinois, and the scarce resources involved in arrest, investigation and prosecution of a simple possesion case would be better-utilized elsewhere.

Our officers have received training in dealing with mentally-ill subjects, especially schizophrenic individuals, yes. :)

[Champ]

48. I don't have the facts on me

But do you know why police officers have the highest divorce rates out of any profession.

[Cuban_Liberal]

54. My theory/observation

They get 'married' to the job, to the detriment of inter-personal relationships.

[U of M Dem 07]

49. Yay cops!

My dad has been a police officer for over 25 years, and it's a tough profession. Very thankless.

Are you a patrol officer? Or what? :)

[neverborn]

50. Speeding tickets.

First off -- is there a quota?

Second -- What's your threshold for "acceptable speeding"? Is it different on the interstate?

Third -- I'm speeding on the interstate -- say... 90 or 95. Do I get a ticket for speeding? Do I get a ticket for speeding and reckless driving? Always wondered -- and it's kept me on the vigilant lookout because the next ticket I get, I get suspended license. (Illinois -- 2 tickets before 21 you get suspended :( )

[Quetzal]

51. kick

:kick:

[Quetzal]

52. Thread 1

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=1023234

[Quetzal]

55. Did you ever arrest Padraig?

just wondering :P