APRTW wrote:

Insults dont bug me.  I dont know how people do this job and maintain thin skin.

What would frustrate me more than anything else is the lying. I don't know how many reports I've read of drivers pulled over for a license or registration violation who tell the cop that even though their license has been inactive for the past six years in an ironic coincidence this happens to be the moment in time they were on their way to the DMV to get everything straightened out. The cop knows the driver is lying, and the driver knows the cop knows he's lying. So why bother lying about it?

Last edited by artie_fufkin (12/07/2011 1:05 pm)

APRTW wrote:

I guess if I screw up I will either have to find away around my gag reflex or take my lumps.  I think the latter is more appealing.

Last time on the road I saw an interesting Australian documentary on Daniel Ellsberg, the guy who outed the Pentagon Papers and proved the government's story about the Vietnam war was a bunch of BS.  When it came time to go to trial, the defense hired the usual panel of psychologists etc. to help them select a sympathetic jury.  The panel's recommendation was, "don't have any middle-aged men, those guys have mostly all made major compromises with their values to gain success at work, at they'll be deeply resentful of Ellsberg's idealism and self-sacrifice."

I think lots and lots of guys somehow find themselves choosing the former, and spend the rest of their lives in denial, consumed by bitter regret.

Fors, I got called into the office and told I have to be nice to people because I called a lady stupid.  I didnt even really call her stupid, I asked her, "are you stupid"?  So now I am an angel of political correctness.  The more rude people are to me the friendlier I am.  I only hope they pick up on he sarcasm.

Our department was on a huge diversity push when I got higher.  There was probably a 4-5 year period where I was the last white male hired.  During that time, we hired one black guy who had been convicted of attempted rape as a juvenile (the record is sealed, but it happened in our town and several of the older cops were involved in the investigation) and another black guy who had been fired from his previous job after several incidents of domestic violence.

The rapist was married when he was hired and he and his wife moved into a house in the west part of the city.  About 6 months after he started, we were told that he wasn't permitted to be assigned or respond to the west end of town because his wife had obtained an order of protection that prohibited him from being armed within 1,000 feet of the residence, regardless of whether or not he was on duty.  Later, when I was working a midnight shift, I was the senior officer (with all of about 6 years seniority) and I had to field a call from a citizen who wanted to make a complaint that after she had made a report to him, she had seen him parked in front of her house in his marked police car each of the last three nights and she felt he was stalking her.  When I left the department about a year later, he was still employed, but I found out he was later fired after a female complained that he insisted she agree to a date with him during a traffic stop.

The other guy was one of the dumbest humans I ever met.  Coupled with the fact that he had to weigh about 350 pounds when we hired him, he was just a treat to work with.  He got fired around the time I left.  I came back to the department during law school and worked as a dispatcher part time.  One morning when I was working, we received a request to send officers to his house to make an arrest attempt because he had kidnapped and raped his ex-girlfriend the night before. 

Have I mentioned lately how little I miss working for the police department?


ETA- Holy crap.  I was looking at Missouri's court website because I was curious what ever happened with that case (he was convicted) and found this.  Looks like my former co-worker might be out of law enforcement for a little while.  Turns out he's doing consecutive life sentences for murder.  We only hired the best.

Last edited by forsberg_us (12/07/2011 5:06 pm)

"Looks like my former co-worker might be out of law enforcement for a little while.  Turns out he's doing consecutive life sentences for murder."

He could say he's still in law enforcement. He's just experiencing it from an alternate perspective.