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Why Be LEO in todays environment ?

USClb41

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I wouldn't do it again, and I work for a city that supports us. I've seen enough death and misery, the things coming out of some of these people's mouth is so absurd I can't believe it, 22 months to go. Look forward to meeting some of my LEO brothers here sometime on the water, be safe fellas.
 

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Dettom

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This is the truth. My department had only 300 something applicants for the next academy/tower in July. I wasnt totally shocked by that because there’s other departments that pay more and we require a paramedic license. But when I heard that Ontario only had 300 something also, I was blown away. They hire straight EMTs with an academy and get paid very well. OT and Force Hires are already through the roof because of low staffing and it’s not fire season yet. Theres a whole host of reasons for the staffing shortage, not because we’re trying to create OT. I start 7 straight 24hr shifts on Sunday that I didn’t ask for.
If I had sons, I would steer them as far away from public service as possible. My nephews wont be following their dad and uncles foot steps if we can help it.
My step dad is retired Fontana PD and my brothers father in law is retired San Bernardino city. Im certain they wouldn’t do it again the way stuff is now.
I probably know your brothers father in law. I spent 28 years there.
 

Beerme

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I have 141 days until retirement and I can't wait. Am I thankful for what it has provided for me an my family, hell yes! Would I do it again, probably not, nor would I want my son to do it unless he absolutely wanted to. Yes, the profession will never be the same. My grandfather started in 1948 after being a Marine, and my father started in 1963. My older brother retired 2 years ago and my younger brother is 7 years behind me.

It honestly brings a smile to my face to see the new recruits starting with such drive and enthusiasm. Did I watch the news when I was their age, hell no! And i'm assuming they don't either. All I wanted to do at that age was go to the river and party. Hopefully they are doing the same and don't let the negativity get to them. It is a different world out there that I try not get tied up in. I'd be lying if I didn't read a thread or two here on RDP where I had to bite my tongue. I try not to let it get to me. I'll just finish my time quietly and hopefully healthy so that I can spend time partying with the RDP peeps in Havazoo.
 

farmo83

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A long time family friend ran the "major events" unit for years in Houston. He and his unit were the tip of the spear with everything that went on last year. The stories he would tell of what he and his guys put up with is pathetic.

After everything that happened last year he put in for a transfer to run patrol's for a few neighborhoods until his retirement in a few years as he said most of the people he has to deal with now make him worse off as a person.

I thank and respect all those who have worn the badge on this thread.
 

t&y

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Here's a question for LEOs. Has use of the body cam helped or hurt you in performing your duties? And is that because of the neighborhood involved or in general?

At first, I thought they would be a great idea to protect the good officers and weed out the bad. But after recent incidents and seeing how, even when the video seems to support the officer's decision, I'm not so sure anymore.
Helped for sure. It is an adjustment at first because of policy, not criminal law. Once you get used to the procedure of turning on, turning off, knowing when to do both...etc... they are a huge benefit. If you are contacting the right people and doing the right thing, you are good.

It is a great feeling to be able to walk into the station following someone filing a complaint and just roll tape. They are far more beneficial to cops that not. And... if they catch a dirty cop then so be it. Nobody wants those guys on the force anyway.

Of course, non of that matters if society is going to side with emotion and cancel culture over fact and law.
 

76sanger

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First: Thank you for your service!
Second: The NAZI media propaganda machine has been the push towards making it a "RACE" war. The problem: But it's a one sided race war, you only here of white cops who shoot black people. If it's any other color or ethnic group that shoots the same or a white person its silent.
The situation: the uneducated (Hollywood stars, mega sports stars, insert whoever) see the media and absolutely will or cannot use their brains to think through the problem. They see white cop, black man shot. The media promotes this and the uneducated cant or will not try and decipher what actually happend in the situation. Was it a justifiable shooting or take down or...? The NAZI media propaganda machine will only show it as a one sided "race" situation.
Until the media stops this absolutely sick and perverse lying propaganda about making it a race war. Or goes out and really shows all the other statistics of other ethnic cop shootings (black on black, black on white, Asian on, Mexican on...whatever, the hate towards our bravest to keep us safe, secure and protected will not subside unfortunately.
Again, thank you to all the cops in this extremely difficult time.
 

EarpRider

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It is interesting. My grandson has indicated he wanted to be LEO. I do my best to steer him to be a Doctor. He is still a youngster, so we shall see. His Dad, my SIL is LEO and has told him absolutely not. When I was headed into LEO, my Pops, who was an old time deputy from the midwest, made it very clear that I was headed for trouble and would end up in prison. He was a bit clairvoyant, I guess, as he saw the writing on the wall back in 1981. It was a bad time then. All cops were pigs, Ron Settles, Eula love shooting, Signal Hill, Adelanto, chokehold stuff etc.

Perhaps it has been a large snowball. Most of my buddies are retired. Have/ had many in the LBPD who have retired in past few years and LASD.

Cheers, Steve
I retired 2 years ago from LBPD, I did 29 years, I'm sure I know many of your friends.
 

jetboatperformance

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First of all Thanks to all that serve , no one typically likes LEO interaction in their lives unless the need help.... clearly a difference in todays public and media "attitude" ..... recently John Kennedy (senator) said "if you need help next time call a crack head" Folks like Lebron James just pour gasoline on the smoldering fire ("your next comment") . In DC they want security but they want the security forces to be "unarmed"... people behind this movement (celebs etc ) have armed security ?? And citizens are arming at record rates , obviously feeling less secure , Border patrol is "baby sittin" vs apprehending bad guys .. Valery Jarret seems to think the cop should have talked the knife wielding physco chick out of sticking the other girl with a butcher knife ... Pretty topsy turvy world we live in
 

Cole Trickle

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if they get rid of Qualified Immunity then police officers will not be able to afford to be officers without the risk of loosing there own personal property, they will have to almost buy a kind of malpratice insurance


If they ditch QI it would be financial suicide to remain an officer. The union/city will have to purchase policies for all officers and i imagine that $$$ will come from the pockets of the men/women wearing the badge. I imagine in Blue states you will see the LE budget be slashed and pay effected accordingly. The qualified individuals will walk/retire and they will be forced to hire sub par individuals for less pay.

There is no way anyone in there right mind should be looking to be an officer. It's a hard job normally and a terrible job in todays day and age.

I have a bunch of friends 20+ years in that are ready to leave.
 

Wizard29

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Some (not all!) join law enforcement because it's good money with no degree required and they really have no other options. I worked with several of those and it was obvious they were in for the wrong reasons. Many of those have the potential to be the bad apples.

While that may answer the question of why anybody would want to be LEO in the past, I'm not sure that's really a good reason any more considering recent developments. Someone would probably have to be pretty hard up these days for that to be a good enough reason.
 

LAPII

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Here's a question for LEOs. Has use of the body cam helped or hurt you in performing your duties? And is that because of the neighborhood involved or in general?

At first, I thought they would be a great idea to protect the good officers and weed out the bad. But after recent incidents and seeing how, even when the video seems to support the officer's decision, I'm not so sure anymore.

Great observation and in my opinion (27yrs in), cameras ended good police work, and created a false solution at very expensive cost (millions) to tax payer, it was sold to the coppers as protection against false complaints. How has that worked out so far?
 

t&y

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Great observation and in my opinion (27yrs in), cameras ended good police work, and created a false solution at very expensive cost (millions) to tax payer, it was sold to the coppers as protection against false complaints. How has that worked out so far?
It's worked out great. It's also cleaned up a lot of the testimony in court when the defense tries to allege something wasn't stated, agreed upon, consented too, or a witness/victim alleges they never said this or that.

I get your point, but part of this job is adapting and overcoming what we are faced. You simply cannot police the way we used to. That is not saying what was done in the past was illegal or out of policy at the time. It really is separating those that can do the job while under a microscope, and those that can't. Cops in the streets today are held to a much higher standard than we have ever been, and we are all are forced to be better cops.

Don't take this as a negative comment towards you personally. I too was very skeptical of cameras. It is an adjustment, but an attainable one.

Now.... in regards to departments creating units to specifically audit recording looking for minor policy violations that have ZERO to do with any actual police work... that is complete bullshit. Hopefully my cop shop never get there, but I know it exists already at other agency's. For those none cops scratching their heads... Think some nerd reviewing an audio between two cops that has absolutely zero to do with any public contact or criminal case, and one of those cops swears while describing something. It's bullshit, but it is becoming a reality.
 

Dbroncos

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20 years in, its been a great career but looking at all avenues to get out now. looking to freeze my pension and pull it in 4.5 years at 50. Its just hard to find something that is able to support a family.
 

LAPII

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It's worked out great. It's also cleaned up a lot of the testimony in court when the defense tries to allege something wasn't stated, agreed upon, consented too, or a witness/victim alleges they never said this or that.

I get your point, but part of this job is adapting and overcoming what we are faced. You simply cannot police the way we used to. That is not saying what was done in the past was illegal or out of policy at the time. It really is separating those that can do the job while under a microscope, and those that can't. Cops in the streets today are held to a much higher standard than we have ever been, and we are all are forced to be better cops.

Don't take this as a negative comment towards you personally. I too was very skeptical of cameras. It is an adjustment, but an attainable one.

Now.... in regards to departments creating units to specifically audit recording looking for minor policy violations that have ZERO to do with any actual police work... that is complete bullshit. Hopefully my cop shop never get there, but I know it exists already at other agency's. For those none cops scratching their heads... Think some nerd reviewing an audio between two cops that has absolutely zero to do with any public contact or criminal case, and one of those cops swears while describing something. It's bullshit, but it is becoming a reality.

I dont get wrapped around personal, agree to disagree, your last paragraph says it all, and remember at my agency, civilians run the department like a lot of other Departments.
 
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Ballyhoo

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I always thought that there was a law where public servants, police and fire especially, could not be sued for making a mistake. If an officer followed departmental policy and someone died, that officer could not be prosecuted because they performed as they were trained.

Guess I was either wrong all along or there is no longer such a law. Anyone know?
Its called, qualified immunity. Liberals want to take that protection away.
 

Ballyhoo

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if they get rid of Qualified Immunity then police officers will not be able to afford to be officers without the risk of loosing there own personal property, they will have to almost buy a kind of malpratice insurance
If they take away qualified immunity, pro active police work is over. Cops would just respond to calls and when decisions need to be made, request that a supervisor respond to make that decision.
 

Ballyhoo

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Here's a question for LEOs. Has use of the body cam helped or hurt you in performing your duties? And is that because of the neighborhood involved or in general?

At first, I thought they would be a great idea to protect the good officers and weed out the bad. But after recent incidents and seeing how, even when the video seems to support the officer's decision, I'm not so sure anymore.
Body cams have helped LEOs more than it has hurt them.
 

jetboatperformance

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Dare I say too "good clean quick shoot " on the knife wielding attacker , Officer apparently didnt hit the victim
 

charred1

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To bad the family of the girl being attacked doesn’t stand up and thank the officer for saving the girls life.
 

Mike K

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U couldn’t pay me enough ... all this anti-cop stuff is gonna backfire like you can’t believe ... kinda like if LeBron called the cops right now and said “ hey come to my $100 million dollar home in LA ... theres an intruder inside” . 😜
 

Christopher Lucero

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I’d agree. Our department won’t provide them, and TON of guys have just bought their own.
I recall in some of the research on recall memory that eyewitness accounts, especially under stress, and especially when time elapses and the memory becomes solidified...details that seemed unnecessary in the moment are forgotten. Memory is notoriously unreliable. We are all subject to poor recollection. Add to that the instituionalized habit of 'whole truth' being only what is useful to the (prosecution/defense) attorney's cause and it becomes easy to game the system. Video evidence goes a long way to solve those problems - the entire record is available.
 

Bear Down

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Dare I say too "good clean quick shoot " on the knife wielding attacker , Officer apparently didnt hit the victim
He was a great shot! I guess he was a marksman in the national guard. Makes sense...

Only thing I see that could maybe be a negative against him is it looked like he started to draw his gun as she was getting up.. not sure if he saw the weapon or why he did and if it's against protocol to do so. I'd hate to see them spin as he drew it to kill poor young black woman who was trying to defend herself against racist cop..

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk
 

LuauLounge

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We are headed to no police response.

911, please leave a message at the tone or visit our website for more information. Thank you for calling your public safety agency.
 

t&y

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He was a great shot! I guess he was a marksman in the national guard. Makes sense...

Only thing I see that could maybe be a negative against him is it looked like he started to draw his gun as she was getting up.. not sure if he saw the weapon or why he did and if it's against protocol to do so. I'd hate to see them spin as he drew it to kill poor young black woman who was trying to defend herself against racist cop..

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk
Reports of an assault with someone using a knife. You arrive and see an assault occurring in front of you (which in general they don't do once we show up). Drawing your weapons at that point could either have been because the observation of the knife, or intent to detain at gun point. I don't see any of that as a policy or best practice issue in this case. I have no idea when he saw the knife but I'm glad he was ready.
 

t&y

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We are headed to no police response.

911, please leave a message at the tone or visit our website for more information. Thank you for calling your public safety agency.
Lol.. Everybody loves fireman for doing just that. My only thing is if I have to sit around all day and just wait for a call, I want my own recliner and fridge stocked full of ice cream.

Hey hose draggers... tell me I'm wrong 👍 😂
 

jetboatperformance

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Lol.. Everybody loves fireman for doing just that. My only thing is if I have to sit around all day and just wait for a call, I want my own recliner and fridge stocked full of ice cream.

Hey hose draggers... tell me I'm wrong 👍 😂
Those Cats also must work out alot, locals drive the big red trucks to all the local restaurants for chow daily or ... I see them in Vons shopping for firehouse chow
 

AZmike

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I left 3 years ago after serving 12 years. This was the best decision I've ever made in life. I can't imagine why anyone would want to do it these days. I did it because my father did it and he had an excellent career with excellent benefits and to this day makes a great living from it. Unfortunately the benefits, pay, political bullshit, and assholes who think they now how to do job have ruined the profession. When I here young people wanting to enter this profession. I try to tell them about all the problems involved with it. Be a fireman if you want to help others and make a difference in your community.
 

brownsuger

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I've been on the police commission in my town for over 20 years. We have a small department (15 officers) and I have had a small part in hiring all of them. When we used to advertise an opening we would get as many as 80 applicants for 1 opening... So I've been in on a lot of interviews over the years. Anyway, we have an opening coming up (officer retiring) and we advertised that around the Midwest as we normally do. This year we had 5 applicants... 5.... by law we are required to have 10 on our hiring list at any given time. Hard to do when you only have 5 applicants. I can't even imagine how few are applying at big city departments....
 

Christopher Lucero

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Everybody loves fireman
well, not EVERYone.
Let me ask.
Firemen seem like a sort of 'soft squad' to enforce safety without being armed. In times I have seen them come in conflict with armed officers and be in disagreement about what to do, the conflict did seem to turn sour pretty quick...involved moving big red truck to facilitate traffic flow.
As a citizen, I've seen their soft authority deployed occasionally to enact safety without the black/white authority. What do you make of this?
 

ChiliPepperGarage

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well, not EVERYone.
Let me ask.
Firemen seem like a sort of 'soft squad' to enforce safety without being armed. In times I have seen them come in conflict with armed officers and be in disagreement about what to do, the conflict did seem to turn sour pretty quick...involved moving big red truck to facilitate traffic flow.
As a citizen, I've seen their soft authority deployed occasionally to enact safety without the black/white authority. What do you make of this?

You are describing a MVC scene. In our county fire owns the scene unless their is a threat and then LE will secure the scene before we proceed in.

When placing apparatus in the roadway the number one concern is scene safety. We train on a regular basis on this. "The big red truck" is parked so as to protect the EMS crew and ambulance, and becomes a barrier against the way too frequent impaired or inattentive driver that likes to plow into the middle of an incident.
Sometimes, LE (especially CHP) wants to keep traffic flowing and thinks that should be a priority over scene safety and will try to flex their muscle.

Fortunately, this is usually a rare event and where I live, a non-event. First of all, our county sheriff is a member of our fire department 👍 ;) but more importantly, we work closely with NHP and all the deputies on many calls. If we tell them we want to take a lane they will back us up. Same holds true of NDOT who will sometimes help with traffic control. These guys also know that if something bad should happen and they get hurt we are the ones that are going to come save their lives. And we know if we get into a bad situation they will do the same for us.

So yes, you can use your term "soft squad" if you want but I guess you could say the same for a construction zone where they shut down a lane and force you to wait for a pilot car.
 
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ChiliPepperGarage

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Ohhhhh OK . . . . How can you tell if a Fireman is choking ? . . . . He stops telling everybody he's a Fireman. :p

I heard it as, "How do you tell someone is a fireman? You don't, they'll tell you"!

I will admit, I do wear a department ball cap and t-shirt when not on duty but hey, I do this shit for free so you gotta get some perks. 👍
 
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