Thoughts on your Police Officers

[Brandon]

The few I have had have been mostly good, there were 2 incidents (traffic) that were less then fun.

 

[Mgderf]

I have ongoing contacts with my local police. No, wait, let me explain!

I'm a contractor by trade, and I have had the pleasure to have a handful of LEO as customers. Granted, being in their house(s) garners a completely different set of circumstances than your average traffic stop or domestic call. They are generally a lot more relaxed for one.
I had a really fun time with one of my local police. His wife is a school teacher, both really nice people with good senses of humor.
Working on their kitchen re-model one day I received a call from my local neighborhood gun shop. My new pistol was in. It was a special order Judge, and they were brand new.
My police officer and his wife were both home that day. My brother and I went to lunch and picked up my Judge.
We went back to mister police officers house after lunch and I took my new acquisition in to show-off.
When I got inside I said "Hey, (insert name here) come take a look at my new toy."
He stepped in front of me in his kitchen. I opened a case in front of him and presented the contents to him.
Hook, line, and sinker, he took the bait. He reached out and picked up the Judge. He turned that thing every which way but loose. Tried the action, held it out to get a sight picture... "Boy, I really like this, what is it called again...?"

I answered him, while holding the case out in front of him. Once again, he bit. He placed the Judge back in the case and I closed it.

He turned to walk away, when I said to his wife on the other side of the kitchen, "See (insert name here), that's what you want to do when you get a new pistol. Get a cops fingerprints ALL over it."

His wife laughed so hard I thought she was going to hurt herself. My friendly neighborhood police officer looked as if he'd seen a ghost!

My brother was laughing when I turned around, and I've been laughing since it happened. It was one of the funniest moments I can recall in my 54+ years of life.

I also have ongoing contact with our local sheriff's office. I'm on my county "road-kill" list for deer.
This year has been slow. I've only gotten three deer from the road-kill list this year. One year I got nine!
Anyway, during one pick-up this year, I had a sheriff's deputy say, "I see you have a license to carry a firearm."
I said, "Yes sir, I do."
He said, "Do you have a firearm on you right now?"
I said,"Yes sir, I do. I have a .357 magnum in a holster on my belt."
He said, "GOOD! I am sick and tired of seeing people with a license to carry but don't!..." and we proceeded to have a very nice conversation about firearms, the 2nd amendment,national politics...

I seriously can't recall the last time I had an encounter with a police officer that was not initiated by me.

I find LEO, as with most everyone else, their actions/reactions with you are directly proportionate to your actions/reactions with them.

If you get pulled over and the first thing out of your mouth is, "...you know I pay your salary don't you...?" Prepare yourself for some heartaches and headaches.
If, on the other hand, you show a little respect for another human being, chances are you'll fair MUCH, MUCH better.

Then again, I did NOT stay at a Holiday Inn last night, so what do I know?

BTW- Thank you for your service. Is it just LEO, or are you a "dormant" Marine, Devil-Dog, Leatherneck, Jar-head as well? At either rate, thank you!

 

[jwh20]

From reading past posts...Im getting alot of mixed reviews in regards to cops. As a LEO of 8 years, Im curious on what you think of your cops, what they do good, and what they could improve upon. How did they treat you and where you happy or unhappy with the end result of your contact.

Some people are just jerks. Unfortunately some people are police officers. So some police officers are jerks. Since they end up in positions of power and authority they take advantage of people, almost always the people who are no threat to their safety and are lawful citizens. Even in a traffic stop which is NOT a criminal activity, they make the person submit to their authority. So rather than using that as an opportunity to help the person understand why what they did is a generally bad thing, the person comes away thinking, "what a JERK that f___ing cop was!"

I do realize that the great majority of police officers are just regular folks, they work hard, do the right thing as much as they can, and really care about their communities, and want to make the place a better and safer place for everyone. Unfortunately the bad apples are the ones we all remember.

My advice, be a leader! Have ZERO tolerance for jerks and *******s who are one some sort of power trip. You know as well as anyone that the GREATER respect the community has for its police officers, the easier and better you can do your job.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

 

[PX4me]

Well I haven't had any encounters with a Dyer PO for an infraction up to this point. Hopefully it will stay that way.

I have spoken to a few and they are pretty good dudes as far as I can tell. One night not long after we moved in about 13 years ago we got a call at 2 in the morning from an officer telling us our garage door was opened. I found that pretty thoughtful considering most cops wouldn't bother. Made us feel confident that things were being watched around town.

And just last summer my 4 y/o saw a cruiser sitting a couple houses down. The officer was probably catching up on paperwork or something. Anyway my son has a fascination with police cars right now and asked me if we could go look at this cop car. I said sure lets go check it out. The officer rolled down his window and I mentioned my sons curiosity. He was very nice, asked my son what his name was and where he lived. He told him and they had a nice little chat.

All in all it was a cool experience for my son and reinforced my thoughts on the Dyer PD. Good guys in my book.

 

[aaron580]

I have good relationships with my local and campus PD. Only time I had trouble with a cop was when I was stopped with another car for doing 4 over about 10 yards in front of a sign that was 5mph faster and he was a complete @$$. I asked him what I was being stopped for and he said speeding and asked (politely) how fast and he told me and gave a smart comment. There were people passing me and the other car going 10+ over and he was stuck on us. Gave me a 140$ ticket!!! State cop south of spencer in a red crown vic. Saw him at the mcdonalds on my way back up and boy was that awkward...

 

[cmamath13]

Since my adulthood, I have only had a few encounters with the police and they have always been professional and courteous to me. For example, a few months ago there was an emergency at my mother's house so was speeding and ran a red light just as it changed. Of course a cop was there. He pulled me over. He could tell my panic and I told him what was going on. He told me to be careful and slow down. He did NOT right me a citation, which he was perfectly able to do. I was breaking the law. I was really impressed with this action on his part.

That being said: Both my father and step-father were policemen. So, I learned that you always treat of office with respect and tell the truth. Lying or treating an office with disrespect probably causes more problems for people than the percent of LEOs that are "jerks". Plus, many of them are VOLUNTEERS! They are serving they community for free. That gets my respect right there.

 

[Titanium Man]

I really truly haven't had any true issues with any of my local PD or Sheriffs Deputies and actually thought they were really nice guys, but I really am not a big fan of COs.

I'm not going to get into a big long explanation, cause that's all I have to say about that.

 

[pack-indy]

I spoke with one the other night while we were both in line to return a Redbox. She was smokin


So ya, I had a great experience. Hi Officer Lantz
















Now that I got that out...I haven't had any trouble with the NPD. All of my encounters have been pleasant and professional.

 

[Bollorollo]

I like the police and have a good amount of respect for them. You are going to have one idiot who is an ass and some how slip through the wood working and gets hired but I do respect the police.

 

[ziggy]

I think LEO's are like everyone else, some are good and some are not so good. My experience has been that when the LEO is polite and respectful of the public the public is far more likely to be polite and respectful toward the LEO. Not always the case but generally true. Don't come at me with an "attitude" and I will be respectful.
What I hate is that we are becoming a police state and the PTB seem to want to make LEO's into something they were never intended to be. A LEO should be our friend, in a professional sense, not a jack-booted dictat that makes our life miserable.
A LEO has a tough job. Don't make it tougher by making the public disrespect you or fear you - unless, of course, that person happens to be the bad guy!

 

[AutomationEngineer]

Most cops are deserving of a lot more respect than they get, but having said that, and having been an LEO (Engineering pays better) I can say that IPD has had an ongoing corruption issue for a very long time. It is only a few people, but those people seem to always find themselves running the FOP or being in a position as chief or assistant chief. It does not help that the Mayor's office prior to Ballard seems to be part of the problem.

I have seen it with my own eyes and know too many other people such as myself that decided to change departments or change jobs. It seems that IMPD got some of these peope in the merger, but it is a little better as it seems most of the problems do seem to get more public attention.

 

[littletommy]

When I was younger, the town and county cops around here told me to get my butt home quite a few times. I've got no complaints.

 

[BKExpress]

I have had very good and somewhat bad interactions over the years. I've had cops let me off for speeding when they could have thrown the book at me.

I've had two experiences that were not positive. Once several years ago I was driving on I-69 and going with the flow of traffic, yet speeding. A cop in a camaro passes me, pulls in front of me with his lights on while simultaneously gesturing with his arm out the window for me to pull over whilst also pulling over the person in front of me. The result of this great little trick was me absolutely laying on my brake to keep from hitting him in the rear as he had to lay on his brake since the little lady he was pulling over in front of me panicked and stopped abruptly. The net/net was this idiot just about caused a 20 car pile up just so he could use a sneaky little tactic to pull over two people at once. He was a total jerk to me as well. After speaking with his bosess, bosses, bosses boss on the phone after filing an extensive complaint they admitted to me that the state police does not train officers to do this maneuver. I finally let it drop, but I also made myself very clear about how I felt regarding this incident.

Another time I got pulled over in what amounted to a speed trap in the country. This short little blonde haired blued eyed trooper with his flat top haircut gets off his motorcycle and proceeds to approach me in his "Hitler jack boots". I almost laughed in his face. With much righteous indignation he gives me a ticket. I think he felt like he owed it to me. Major power trip on his part.

With that all being said, I have much respect for the profession and respect the hell out of most of them. But, just like the business I'm in there are rotten apples and they are unavoidable. JMHO

 

[churchmouse]

When I was younger, the town and county cops around here told me to get my butt home quite a few times. I've got no complaints.

This was my experience in our area with the 2 beat cops. They knew everyone and everybody. Nothing came down that they did not have a good idea who did it and usually why. They knew my car and sent "It" home many times. Was told if it was not in the drive way I was dead meat and I believed them. When our band played a bit to hard and loud for the neighbors one of them would park the cruiser in the drive and have a cup of coffee with my Mom while we shut down for the night. Good people doing a hard job. I miss this.
It is not that way anymore. Too many lawsuits and loop holes. People want to take advantage and LEO does not seem to interact. I think the loss of the beat cop had a lot to do with this. Too few covering too much with too little these days.

Edit....OP, Welcome to ingo.

 

[Indy 1911]

I really haven't had much interaction beside being stopped twice. I got a warning when I was doing 15 over, and a ticket doing 5 over. So probably a wash. I do not like the idea of unmarked cars catching speeders. I think they should all be marked and try and prevent speeding and be hi profile. I think that alot of the traffic violations are solely for revenue. I support LEOs because the have a hard job, but just like every profession, there are jerks, but most are not. I really thought about LE when I was in HS and college, and even then realized I did not have the temperament for it. I just know that I could not maintain my composure when arresting and abusive parent, child molester, rapist and such.

 

[nemo97]

LEOs have one of the hardest damned jobs God ever created. I have nothing but respect for them. No matter how tough my day might be, at least nobody's going to shoot at me. God bless and protect them - and all first responders.

My two cents...

I disagree with you. Parenting is the hardest job.

 

[churchmouse]

I disagree with you. Parenting is the hardest job.

I agree with you.

 

[Indy 1911]

I disagree with you. Parenting is the hardest job.

I agree. Said the father of 17 and 18 daughters. They are really good kids and its hard.

 

[j706]

From reading past posts...Im getting alot of mixed reviews in regards to cops. As a LEO of 8 years, Im curious on what you think of your cops, what they do good, and what they could improve upon. How did they treat you and where you happy or unhappy with the end result of your contact.

In the Marines...its never just Sgt. So & So, it was always, "US Marine throws puppy off bridge" So I get that it only takes one experience to ruin it for the rest of them...No question, off duty, some of my personal experiences havnt been that great at times...

Was curious on some of INGOs experiences and what youd like to see improved upon...

For the record...in 1200 traffic stops, Ive only written 3 citations...so take it easy on me. I think tickets do much more harm to families then good...just wanted to get that out there

Welcome! Glad to see another fellow LEO on board. We need all the help we can get. INGO has "some" VERY radical thinking and VERY ANTI LEO members. With some of these guys if a cop gave them a check for $1,000,000.00 they would find some fault with it.

BTW- I am with you 100% on your post above.