A lot of places in the NE including the county I grew up in have armed reserves but they still don’t perform full spectrum or standard police duties under normal circumstances the way west coast reserves do.Originally Posted by TGS
A lot of places in the NE including the county I grew up in have armed reserves but they still don’t perform full spectrum or standard police duties under normal circumstances the way west coast reserves do.
Wouldn't it be great to have her for a partner?
"No way Sarge, I already had her!"
"That's what you get for being late."
I can think of one Sergeant who’d do that. Whoever he was currently mad at had to ride with the squad idiot.
Just a dog chauffeur that used to hold the dumb end of the leash.
And I have a squad idiot, who just this morning a ROAD officer asked for help. The same squad idiot who was giving DWI advice to my trainee when I returned from the bathroom. My trainee was sent to the Sergeants's office to use a computer and instructed to not engage the idiot again, because his DWI advice was nine times AFU. Took an hour to undo a 10 minute conversation. And the trainee and the ROAD officer had questions, so he offered (incorrect) answers. Idiot officer is on his fouth department in a decade, and most of us wouldn't trust him to sit right on a toilet seat. When I, the only FTO on the shift, and the Officer In Charge when there is no supes, was minutes away.
Sorry, fresh wound, aggrivated. Might be a little full of myself, but you gotta know these people involved before you draw conclusions.
pat
A good bit of what she says I had huge eye rolls.
"We expect police, in the course of a single shift, to go from serving as medics, as mediators, as mentors, to acting like warriors. Any one of those jobs is incredibly difficult to do well. Doing all of them, it's impossible."
I take issue with that statement. It's not impossible at all. It takes training and experience. She admits in the article that she wasn't very good at certain aspects and with 24 hours a month on the streets, I can see why. Is it easy serving all those roles she mentioned? No, not easy....but not impossible. I see cops do well at a myriad of skills and if she weren't just dipping her toe in the job to get some street cred, she might rise to the occasion herself.
"There are two arrests I feel worst about. I just feel a sense of shame when I think about them"
She mentions a shoplifting call where the offender had an outstanding warrant for FTA and that they "had" to arrest her. Yeah, that's nothing to be ashamed of. That person had their chance to appear and explain/defend themselves yet they chose not to. That's the thing about breaking rules...there has to be consequences.....or it's all for naught. The other one she mentioned was for a DV arrest where a 17 year old smacked her mom. If you don't make an arrest and the 17 year old takes a hatchet to mom 30 minutes after you clear the call, you'll have to answer the tough questions.
"And the framing of “us versus them,” “everybody wants to kill you,” and “you have to constantly be prepared for everyone to try to kill you” certainly struck me, as I was going through the experience of being a recruit at the police academy, as critical to understanding why policing is so violent in the United States."
I'm nearing the 25 year mark in this gig. I have yet to be "so violent" as she puts it. I haven't been to a call yet where I dictated how violent the encounter was going to be. That has always been on the offender/suspect. I've also attended the funerals of four coworkers murdered in the line of duty. I get what she is saying as some of our cadets come out scared to approach a car. But it's like teaching someone to catch cobras or Gaboon vipers: there has to be a healthy respect for the dangers of the job built in to the training, or someone is going to get bit.
Academia and good intentions only takes you so far. Nobody gets good at this job "dipping their toe" in three days a month and IMHO, if you aren't good at something, you shouldn't be be professing to be an expert in that field nor touting your time in service in pushing your book. You gotta dive in the deep end of a rough zone where violent acts are the norm, where bodies hit the ground constantly from ODs and pipe beatings, where folks aren't impressed with your badge and gun...much less your graduate degrees and your latest book you authored. Places where very few want solutions because often, the biggest problem in their lives are themselves.
Regards.
A time tested leadership strategy:
I just watched it again after your post. Four dollars on Amazon Prime. It’s a great movie
Just a dog chauffeur that used to hold the dumb end of the leash.
I looked up the Washington DC Police Auxiliary program. The Law Professor stated that she was a reserve officer from 2016-2020--this is assuming that she served from the first month of 2016 to the last month of 2020. The Washington DC program requires that the person serve at least 24 hours per month--the equivalent of three 8 hour shifts per month. That is the equivalent of working about 5 months full time as police officer. How much credence would you give a police officer trying to speak as an authority on policing who served for only 5 months full time--especially one with an obvious political agenda? That is also assuming that the person is not including the 800 hours of required training as part of the time served. The requirements of the Washington DC Police Auxiliary program with the hours and required training found here on p. 30 of the document that TGS posted a link to: https://go.mpdconline.com/GO/GO_101_03.pdf.
Last edited by Ed L; 02-18-2021 at 06:45 PM.
I wasn’t even out of training and riding solo after 5 months.
Three months in the Academy and two months of FTO. I was just ready to start solo patrol. You are not getting good information about the job from a boot.
Just a dog chauffeur that used to hold the dumb end of the leash.
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