Feb 19, 2008
Hi all…
Thanks for the great conversations of late. It hit me yesterday: Who am I to decide what I should write about. So, if you have a question or an issue related to police work, cops, or anything evenly remotely related, simply place it as a comment to this post. I will be honest and upfront, as always. My plan is to make this a monthly post, so that you control direction of this blog. Take care!
Feb 4, 2008
Are you a Hillary fan? Do you want McCain? I do not divulge my votes, but found this interesting survey that asks 20 questions and then pairs you up with a candidate. Entertaining and informative, I thought.
Elections really matter to cops, because we know that in the end it is money that drives our profession. When that money is government money, you start to pay attention.
Also interesting to me is that cops tend to have quite conservative values (I am pretty conservative, and usually the liberal in the room at Roll Call), yet we are union employees. So who on earth are we to support? The ones that sound good to me on policy are usually against union benefits (which I need). And the opposite is also true: pro-union usually equals anti-gun, anti-death penalty, etc. Sigh.
This survey called me a “Populist-Leaning Conservative.” Same to you, dude…
Let me know your results!
Dec 23, 2007
By now, most of us have had it with this story. As reported on Yahoo news, and every other place on earth, former Milwaukee Police Officer Oscar Ayala-Cornejo decided to lie about his citizenship to allow himself to become a police officer. I can understand (more…)
Nov 20, 2007
I wish we could all put this to rest, already. TASERs work. The Thomas A. Swift Electronic Rifle (named by the inventor, who was a fan of the children’s books) sends electricity through the body and incapacitates the recipient. In doing so, it saves lives — cops’ lives and suspects’ lives. Period.
However as a Canadian officer correctly points out, the alternative is often the use of a firearm — deadly force to be sure. Taser’s own website (admittedly a for-profit company) indicates numbers that are so drastically in favor of TASER deployment, that argument is difficult.
If you don’t trust the company that makes them, how about the departments that use them. In almost all major police departments, the TASER is considered “intermediate” force. That means it can be used when someone is fighting, charging, threatening to injure or kill, or displaying a non-deadly weapon at the police. With the TASER, that individual is immediately and effectively incapacitated. I was “TASERED” in the police academy. It hurt. But one minute later I was fine. The same could not be said of a steel baton to the knee (guaranteed lifetime injury), a bite by a police dog (arrgh), or a gunshot (duh!).
Watch the video here, and ask yourself the single, key, and only question about TASERS: Would I rather get hit with this, or one of the alternatives. The dog in the background of this video is ready to take care of business. I think the suspect himself explains the benefits of the TASER better than I ever could. That should settle the argument.
Sometimes police work is ugly. That is the suspects’ fault, not the cops’. Remember my favorite quote:
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
Sleep well.
Nov 12, 2007
My favorite quote:
“The world sleeps peacefully at night because of good men willing to do violence on their behalf”
As many of my readers know, there is a strong link between America’s military and our police forces. A significant percentage of the officers that patrol the nation’s streets also wear another uniform. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard or reserve, we owe them all a debt of gratitude.
Most Americans will never serve in either capacity. That is just fine with these “double” heroes; their calling is as much personal as anything. Over and over again, I have said “goodbye” to officers as they shipped out to a new war zone. This time the fighting is thousands of miles away, and more dangerous than we could imagine. Yet our police officers continue to park their patrol cars and pick up the Humvee keys.
I just want to say “THANK YOU,” from a greatful nation and a fellow cop. Be safe out there.
Oct 29, 2007
I have a bunch of “dumb criminal” stories milling about smartly in my head. Once in a while I see one that just makes the ‘A’ list. Check out the genius who left his pants at the scene of a burglary. But wait, there’s more. He didn’t limit the idiocy to depositing his pants at the scene (possibly forgivable, since he was fighting with the homeowner / victim.) He left them there with pockets full of stolen property from other crimes in the same neighborhood.
Every so often during my tenure as a detective, I would sit on the witness stand and describe for the jury what the suspect had done. As I heard the words come out of my mouth I would think to myself, “thank god they are still dumb, or we might not catch anyone!”
Oct 28, 2007
The British public is simply enamored with police blogs. I have a few listed on my blogroll to the right. Being the natural investigator that I am, I started reading them. It turns out the reason is quite simple:
Their blogs are outstanding! Cop Blogs fall into one of two categories. A few are “official,” such as this LAPD blog and this one by the Chicago Police. The rest are “unofficial.” That is usually a nice way of saying that they exist to bitch and moan about their jobs. Believe me, if police officers didn’t have something to complain about, we would complain about that.
The problem in this country has been that police management is often so overbearing that the author knows their career is in danger if they speak up (this New York cop lost his job.) Hence my efforts to remain anonymous.
Anyhow, I found this outstanding British blog. It gets thousands of hits, and it is easy to see why. The British service is a bit different than ours, however to some degree cops are cops. I spoke to a few civilians who agreed that the key to a police blog is that it should open the window to a world the reader doesn’t completely understand. Many people are interested or fascinated with police work, but few ever get to hear the real deal. I commend inspector gadget for making this possible for his British public.
I hope as the Philosophical Cop develops, I can offer you the type of access that the Inspector’s readers enjoy.
Oct 23, 2007
One of my pet peeves has always been the genius who refuses to listen to a uniformed officer giving a simple, lawful, and clear order (see this post for an example.)
Without judging the specific tactics, I think my point is well made in the video below. That drunk should have listened.
Oct 22, 2007
Police work is a 24/7 business. That comes with some good and some bad. On the negative side, I frequently have to work weekends, holidays, nights, etc. The trade off has been that I more or less avoid “Monday Syndrome.” After all, as any psychologist worth their weight knows, it is the end of the weekend that kills you. I never have a weekend, so… you get the picture.
Until today. My partner’s weekend just happened to coincide with the “real” one, so we both jaunted off to work early Monday morning. I made it there just fine. My partner, on the other hand…
No one hurt, by the way; just an ego slap. Have a good week.
 | philosophicalcop on We Are On Twitter! |
 | Steven on We Are On Twitter! |
 | stev on NYPD NYFD Overtime: Well Done,… |
 | Clady on We Are On Twitter! |
| philosophicalcop on We Are On Twitter! |
 | el coronado on We Are On Twitter! |
