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I'm sure some of the policemen you see may be "goofing off" but I think looks may be deceiving. My understanding is that these guys have a ton of paperwork to do and they use the "downtime" between calls to get that done. Personally, I'd rather see a copy sitting in his parked car than burning taxpayer gas $ by roaming the city aimlessly. Don't get me wrong, some of this "roaming" has a positive impact, but hey, what are these guys supposed to do between calls?
That being said, in our neighborhood we've had policeman park in our clubhouse parking lot. There are some crime calls to that area, so it doesn't bother me. Some of the neighborhood kids witnessed a policeman "making out" with a female in the parked car. Obviously NOT ok.
I wouldn't walk up to a policeman coming out of a barber shop and give the guy a bunch of grief. Nothing good can come of that and I may need him someday when it counts.
Tell you what. If a cop comes to my place of business, he gets the best treatment possible: a cup coffee from my very own Mr. Coffee machine, and he can use the facilities.
Must be Californey cops in that video. Most cops I know take it on the chin and go about their business.
Uhhhh, it's from a TV show.
Quote:
Originally Posted by carolinacamper
mod cut
bs13690...
I was in the service for over 6 years and would never compare my duty to those in combat and neither should you.
Please let me know where you mentioned anything about combat. I will check with my ISP to make sure all the packets are being delivered because I sure don't see any mention of combat.
nothing wrong with taking a break like the rest of us get but again we don't get an unlimited number of breaks and for as long as we like at times on top of taking care of our personal business too! And the point wasn't him being in an unmarked car rather him parking around back and using the backdoor to come and go, sort of like he was knowingly goofing off rather it was his intent or not..
Do you follow this guy around all day?
maybe he used the back door because he doesn't want to be seen.. the guy is in an unmarked car and getting a haircut. That is a pretty vulnerable position for a cop.
yes exactly...sometime when you have some time on your hands pick out a car at random and follow him. not always but at times you'll be surprised at how much personal business he takes care of..
and honestly it takes very few to tarnish the whole..like the saying goes, one bad apple spoils the bunch.. and I'd be the first to admit that if I could take advantage of my job like some do I would and I believe most would so this isn't a personal attack on anyone...we are all human and will get by with as much as we can...
but with it brought to the forefront I believe if there truly is a problem it will be dealt with but not without being talked about...just like the two (2) places that I spoke to the Sargent about, almost overnight they were free of cops hanging out there and hopefully no one got in trouble for it just reminded to be more mindful of their responsibilities
I thought part of the "job description" for the LE who patrol my neighborhood is that they go around to businesses, meet folks, check things out (ingress, egress) . . . I thought they drove through neighborhoods to see the layout, what is "normal" as far as the neighbors who are home at various times of day . . . stopping in parking lots, to see the usual flow of traffic, what types of patrons come and go (a lot of children? unaccompanied? elderly? students?)
I like it when I see police cars roaming around or parked at unexpected places. To me, that says they are getting a feel for the community they serve.
Maybe I am naive but I thought that is how it was supposed to be.
I don't have a problem with cops taking breaks. Typically, I don't even bat an eye, when I see them patronizing a business. What I do have a problem with, is seeing them parked on the sidewalk, at Target, while they are inside, relaxing. Sorry, but an "emergency vehicle" not actively responding to an emergency is legally required to abide by the same laws as any other vehicle. It doesn't take any longer for the officer to walk to his car, properly parked, than it does to walk to his illegally, improperly parked vehicle. This applies to officers making shoplifting arrests too; shoplifting isn't an emergency.
What you don't see is someone who is on 10-12 hr shifts at a time.
Whenever an arrest is made, do you have any idea how much paperwork is involved? 1 week of patrol work in a large city, is only about 10 minutes cool enough to be on the television show, COPS. But if COPS was about report writing and accident reports, each show would be a week long.
Papering cases. In addition to misdemeanor cases that take that amount of time to complete, then you have felony cases that have to be papered. These are long, lengthy amounts of ungodly mountains of legal work between the officer, his supervisor (Proofing it etc) the DA or ADA, Grand Jury at times and more.
Then there's court. Many times an officer is assigned days for court, however, it doesn't and more than likely never happens that way. He comes off a 10-12 hr shift only to find himself, in the courthouse, waiting for his case to come up on the docket. Depending how long (Or stupid) things can get, he may find himself sitting there all day long, with no sleep.
Then there's the reality of zero to 300 mph in the blink of an eye because that's the way most things happens out there on the street.
Not to mention, whenever there's gunfire involved, when everyone else is running away, he is running towards it.
Unlike TV, there is no machine that we can drop an eyelash into and come up with the DNA profile, fingerprints, and mug shot of the owner in 2 minutes.
We get coffee breaks too, and sometimes we run into stores and do some shopping during them. Dunkin' Donuts has much better coffee than they do doughnuts.
Some cops are just jerks, but take heart in the fact that other cops probably don't like them either.
Every traffic stop could end in gunfire, but we have to be polite and professional until that time.
And Last but not least: 99% of Police Officers do their job honestly and with great pride, we try to do our job well. Often we have to work in environments where we are the only ones that have to follow the rules.
A veteran Sergeant told me on my first day of patrol when you wear that uniform everything you do is a liability.
We do make mistakes and due to the nature of the job sometimes, they have horrific results. Sometimes minor mistakes can cost Police Officers their lives, at a rate of 1 every 50 hours.
Just some things you may want to think about next time you see a patrol vehicle just sitting there, "Goofing off."
oneuvakind...Thanks very much for your view on this and yes I do know a little about what LE's put up with since I have a son-in-law and a nephew that are both cops.. They sit in court and many times the court releases the bad guys after all the work you so accurately detailed. This along with the stresses it places on their family as well as their marriage sometimes takes a terrible toll!!
Hence the reason I started this post because the few cops that abuse their position such as the earlier post about cops parking on the sidewalk instead of taking a parking place like the rest of us do all of them an injustice. Just maybe they will see this post and park in a parking spot and realize that the few extra steps will do them good as well as improve the public image of their chosen profession..Asking a sergeant on patrol is indeed the correct path to take I believe and hopefully will result in the offenders if they are offending to reconsider their actions. And I for one certainly have more faith in our cops than to think that they would withhold or even be slow in responding to a call for help if I or anyone else need them.. To do otherwise would certainly say much about their character and the need to remove them from the force!
How do you know the cop at the barber shop was even on duty? If he was in an unmarked car he is probably a detective and they get issued take homes because they get to do fun stuff like get called out at 2am. The cop could have been just getting off duty and stopped to get a haircut or pick up dry cleaning on their way home.
Police also need immediate access to their vehicles, so parking them in a parking space at a store is not practical. This means when they get the baby not breathing call they have to run to the parking space turn on their lights and back up in a crowded parking lot potentially causing in accident. So their is actually a law exempting emergency vehicles from parking codes. So if you see a police car parked in a fire zone at a Target they are technically legally parked.
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