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NOTE; ALL ENTRIES IN GREEN INDICATE AN ENTRY INTO THE DIARY ON DAYS THAT LAWMAN DID NOT WORK.
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February 1, 1999
Ask a Cop
Reader wrote:
I read your entries everyday and I enjoy your thoughts and insights on
being a policeman. I am a 22 year old female and I am seriously
considering a career in law enforcement myself. My question is this:
How
do you think that the women in your department are treated? Are they
taken seriously? Do you have any close women friends on the force?
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question. God bless
you and thank you for all the hard work you do!Lawmans Reply:
First, I am happy to hear you enjoy the web page. I always love to hear from readers of my web site.
I can speak for my department. Women are treated fair at my department. We have females in our chain of command all the way up to Assistant Chief of Police. I have worked for female Sergeants who I have great respect and admiration for. Female Officers I have dealt with on the job are competent and effective in thier duties. Times have changed, and women in Law Enforcement are viewed as equals. It is not that way everywhere. My wife worked for a place years ago in which women were secretaries and men were managers. I was glad to see her leave that place after she finished school. She now works for a banking firm that holds the same attitudes towards its employees; it's not what gender you are, but how you do your job that counts.
I don't have any close women friends on the department. My squad is one of the few that doesn't have a female officer. I am assuming that you mean like a 'best friend' when you say "close friend." If a person wears the uniform, I consider him friend automatically, be they male or female. However, the Acting Sergeant I spoke of who is leaving the squad is about the only close friend I have on the police department.
You will enjoy Law Enforcement. You will find that when you get into Law Enforcement you instantly gain a new family of friends. Be careful when you hit the streets.
Thanks for your Ask a Cop question...
February 2, 1999
I took the day off today. I had a lot of homework for school and was able to get the much needed day off. This semester I have a Visual Basic Programming class and an English class. Both classes are involve a lot of homework.
My department encourages getting a degree (like most businesses). We have tutition assistance programs and they work with you so I can still go to school when my work schedule conflicts with my school schedule. I do have to use vacation time on those days the two schedules conflict, but I am greatful that they let me go for a bit on those days to attend school. They could make it difficult for me if they wanted to.
I will be working tomorrow on dayshift. I have a routine on dayshift. I start the shift with breakfast at a local restaraunt with some of the other officers. Early in the morning is usually slow for the first two hours giving us time to eat.
After breakfast I sometimes like to run a little radar here and there. It seems that everyone is in a hurry to get to work in the mornings and go fast to get there. They forget about their own safety and that of other motorists on the road. Sometimes they get mad when I stop them, hindering them from getting to work ontime. Oh well.
Thanks for listening, until tomorrow...
February 3, 1999
ASK A COP
Lawman,
> I hope that you don't mind if I ask you a few more questions? you do
> not have to put these on your website, but if you would like to, thats
> fine with me. I am kind of confused about the BLET--do all departments
> require it? When should I take it? How exactly does the hiring process
> go? I would appreciate answers to these questions very much---I have
> been a little unsure about them for a long time! Thanks again :-)LAWMANS REPLY
BLET, Police Academy, Rookie School, what ever a state calls it, for the most part should be the same as far as training goes. Each state requires that you complete BLET to be a law enforcement officer. Some states give you one year to complete it (very few departments, if any, will let you hit the streets without it).
Each state is different as far as cost and when you can go to rookie school. One state has one rookie school for all of the police/sheriff agencies in that state and costs about $2,000.00, while in my state you can complete it at community colleges in the area. You have to be "sponsered," which is little more than a law enforcement agency saying you are not a convicted felon or mentally ill. It costs nothing to the student.
In both of the states I know of, you can enroll in Rookie School without being employed by an agency (it may be different in other states, I am not sure). If you can go to rookie school without being employed by an agency, I would sign up and complete the process. It makes Law Enforcement job hunting much easier if you have the Rookie School training, and around here it would be next to impossible to get hired without completing Rookie School.
The hiring process for bigger departments is a long one. First you have to complete an application that is long (about 7 pages or so). Next you have to pass a physical agility test, a doctors exam, pshycological exam, lie detector test, and finally be interviewed by an oral review board. In contrast, smaller departments here want a application and proof that you have completed Rookie School (State Certification you are given at the completion of Rookie School).
Thanks for your email!
February 4, 1999
Once a year our evidence control people send us a stack of forms that contain every piece of evidence we seized and placed in evidence control during the year. We have to go through each one and sign the form indicating whether to release the property back to its owner, or destroy the property. It takes hours to get through all the forms, and it was that time of year today.
I looked up each name on all of my property sheets (defendants name) to find out the disposition of the case, thereby giving me the information I needed to decide what to do with evidence in each case. Each case was looked up in the court computers. It is fascinating to see what the courts have done with all my cases. Sometimes it makes me wonder, "why bother." Many of the people I charged with having a crack pipe for example were dismissed. The same stands true for people I arrested that possessed a small amount of cocaine. Our courts are so overrun with cases that the courts dismiss cases just to have more time for other cases. The judges often let people go with little more than 'have a nice day' for what I consider to be serious cases. The jails are full they tell us, and so people who should spend some time in jail are put on probation. These unsupervised 'Probation' sentences do very little. People can be placed on unsupervised probation here, leave the courts, commit a new offence, go to court the next day and the probation issue never comes up on the new case. The judges use it more as a threat than anything. Probation here isn't real unless its intensive probation where a probation officer monitors a convict on a regular basis. Then, and only then, have I ever seen a probation sentece revoked and the person sent off to prison.
I did eventually get to the streets today, and answered a couple calls. None of the calls were very exciting, an accident and a little disturbance.
Thanks for listening, until tomorrow...
February 5, 1999
ASK A COP
Dear Lawman, I am writing in hopes that you can help me out on a
problem that I am having. I applied with a local department about three
months ago and was told that it would take about a month to figure out
who they wanted to hire and conduct backgrounds. I waited about a month
and a half after everyone on my list was notified about my background
before calling about the status of my application. They told me that
they are still conducting backgrounds. Now only three other applicants
are applying for two positions that have opened up. It has now been
three months and I have not recieved a letter or a phone call. What
should I do? I do not want to call them alot and bug them because that
might hinder my chances of getting hired. On the other hand I really
want to know what is going on and if they have already hired someone.Is
this normal for the application process to take this long? And please
keep in mind that this is a small department with only about 10
certified officers. Please give me some advice!!!! And by the way your
site is great I visit everyday.LAWMANS REPLY
I remember those days! I was finishing Rookie School and trying to get my first job in Law Enforcement. I kept contact with the departments, always asking how many other applicants applied for the same Law Enforcement job I was. I also remember being disappointed because the hiring process dragged on and on.
Anyway, I don't think your situation is unusual. I worked at a smaller department when I first started out in Law Enforcement (about 80 sworn officers) for a couple years. I had similar experiences to yours when I applied to various departments. Several departments I had applied with then told me we are going to hire in June or July (during these months the new fiscal year begins with many municipalities around here). Sometimes things would change for the municipality I was applying with and the hiring process would mysteriously bog down, leaving me wondering if they were actually going to hire anyone.
I always thought that calling the department on a regular basis that I wanted to work for would keep my name fresh on the mind of those that were involved with the hiring. I still think that way. I accredit my current employment with maintaining contact with the recruiter I was dealing with. I would call about once a week, and eventually the recruiter knew me by voice.
Calling the people that are involved in the hiring process regularly shows them, in my opinion, that I really want to work for their department. On the other hand, when you don't call them for a month you are easily forgotten among other applicants. Remember this is only my opinion. It worked for me, but it has been years since I applied to any department. Times change, and I would hate for you to call regularly and irritate the prospective employer. When I was applying to departments (smaller ones) I didn't see any of the prospective employers get irritated at me for calling. Often I made it a kind of 'social visit' with an undertone that said, "please hire me." That approach seemed to work for me. At least consider it.
Thanks, and good luck!
February 6, 1999
The last two days of day shift were somewhat unusual. Both days involved deceased person calls. Yesterday's deceased person call was a man in his 50's. Years ago he had been bitten by a Brown Recluse Spider on his leg. I am not sure of the details, but I got the impression that the spider bite happened during the night then, and it wasn't noticed until later since he was asleep. His leg had to be amputated from the knee down because of the spider bite coupled with a pre existing condition (poor blood circulation). I never knew the spider had such a powerful bite. He moved downstairs in the apartment building after the spider bite (I would have moved out). Anyway, I don't know if that really had anything to do with his death, but I listened to his girlfriend as she told it and found it part of a sad life.
He also didn't have a very good heart. This is probably what actually killed him (heart disease). He wasn't employed because of the amputated leg, and from the looks of the apartment, didn't go out much. Being dormant and not exercising (he may have not been able to with his health conditions) he died alone watching tv. It looked like he tried to get to the telephone, but didn't make it.
Today we had an unusual deceased person call. This was a horrific scene. The call came out as a deceased person found in a crawl space under a house. The house has been abandoned for three or four years, and there is no telling how long the body had been there.
The detectives aren't calling this a homicide yet, but it certainly looks that way. It appears as though the person was strangled. The person, a female, has not been identified yet. She wasn't carrying Identification. Detectives have a lot of work ahead of them on this one.
Thanks for listening. I am off until Wednesday. I go on Midnight shift then.
Stay tuned....
February 10, 1999
It's been a little nuts around this part of the world the past couple of days. First, an officer was shot from one of the local agencies here. He is doing better, but will be in the hospital for awhile. I don't know the officer, and don't remember ever meeting him. The incident was suppose to have happened during a traffic stop according to the officer who was shot. The vehicle supposedly got away and a suspect vehicle description was broadcast. At that point every officer in this part of the world began looking for the bad guys.
This is where the story really gets strange. A day later after the shooting (yesterday), reports come out that he was shot with his own gun, and the officer possibly did it to himself! It sounds like there never was another vehicle or another bad guy that shot the officer. I don't know any more than that. If the officer did shoot himself, it sounds like he lied about the incident. I will be watching the story and let you know how things come out, but at this point it sounds like an officer who snapped.
Incidents like that almost never happen that I know of. An officer telling the police someone shot him, and that someone in the end turns out to be himself is beyond weird. I wonder what made him snap like that; job stress? It certainly is a mess.
Line up began this shift with one of the brass talking about a civilian employee at the department. The civilian employee has worked there for years (as long as I can remember) at the department. The brass in one swift blow delivered his message, saying the civilian employee "dropped dead today." Several officers in the room knew the employee well and didn't know of his death. Several officers went home on a sick day after the news of his death, unable to work and cope with the news at the same time. I knew him as well, but never worked with him. He was at work when he had a heart attack and died at the hospital a short time later.
He was always willing to talk with anyone, and never put himself above anyone. He always listened when a person had something to say, and never spoke bad about anyone that I knew of. He also recently adopted a child (he was in his 50's). I will miss him, and dedicate this entry to his memory.
February 11, 1999
Still no new reports concerning the officer that was shot yesterday, other than the officer is saying that he was shot by someone else still. He made no comment about the ballistics tests on the projectiles and his own gun matching. The department however has called off any search for the alledged gunmen. I am just sitting back and watching to everything that developes, and find myself amazed beyond belief.
I had one call last night, and it was a 'doosy,' A fella was shot in the back as he tried to flee from his attackers at a local nightclub. This particular club is drug haven USA. If it's illegal, you can find it there, no questions asked. The fella is going to be in the hospital, but will live. I have arrested him before on traffic charges. He told me that he used to sell drugs and at one time had a run in with one of his business partners (another drug dealer). It seems the victim owed money to another drug dealer. Revenge in the mind of the attacker was to shoot him, even though the debt was 2 years old. I will be working on it again tonight and hope to find out more information. My investigation has few leads, and I may try a local tv station in an effort to catch the bad guys (2 of them).
Other than the shooting call I wrote a couple of tickets, speeding and no operators license.
Tired, been a long night.
Thanks for listening. Until tonight...
February 12, 1999
More has come out about the officer I mentioned in the past two entries. The officer is now saying that he did shoot himself. Officers are saying that he was under a lot of stress, and due to a number of factors causing that stress, he shot himself. That wasn't the smartest way to handle stress, and has effected many people. Everyone from officers that were initially looking for the suspects, which never existed, to the officers family. It's a sad story that developed over the past few days. The officer will probably be charged with Filing a Fasle Police Report to add to his already troubled life.
I will keep you up to date. It seems a little bit more comes out each day. Stay tuned...
February 12, 1999 Part Two
ASK A COP
Hi!! I have one quick question...
I am a member of a high school Mock Trial team and am the investigating
officer in the case, Lee Steele. I just would like to know if you had
any tips on how to talk like a cop. I hope this does not sound weird, but
I was just wondering.Thanks for everything you do!! I really like the web site too!
LAWMANS REPLY
Thanks for your Ask a Cop email! I enjoy hearing from my readers of this web site.
How to talk like a cop, hmmmm. I never really thought about it, but we will give it a try. In a court setting, we usually have a certain demeanor. You will find that we, for the most part, speak with confidence. We focus on the evidence against the defendant and are careful not to put our foot in our mouth so to speak. For example, if a defense lawyer asks how far a certain distance was, we use words like "approximately." We listen carefully to defense lawyers for their mind games. Sometimes they will deliberately misquote your testimony when asking you a question and hope you won't catch it. If you do mess up, you can expect a defense lawyer to point it out, at least in the closing arguments.
During a trial we also use jargon (whether we admit it or not, we do have court room jargon explicit to police). For example we generaly say in our testimony phrases such as "the defendant..." or "As I recall..." Other jargon may include (depending on the officer) "Upon arrival...". In DWI trials, the famous "he didn't perform to my satisfaction" is a common one, right along with, "he consumed a sufficient quantity of some impairing substance to appreciably impair both his mental and physical ability."
The rest, in my opinion, is based on an officers personality. We never get involved with showing any kind of agitation (or at least we do our best). In court, always have a demeanor that is professional, business-like, and don't argue with a defense lawyer. Most people in a disturbance out on the streets want, or demand, the last word. That is the furthest from the mentality that an officer wants to display in court. Calm, professional, and business-like is the bottom line and pretty much sums it up.
Thanks to all my readers for stopping by, and keep the email coming.
Stay tuned....
February 13, 1999
It has been a busy night, which is typical on the weekends. The first call was an assault call. Two room mates got into it over another woman. One wanted the woman to stay, the other didn't care if she stayed or went. They got into a fight because the one who wanted the woman to stay took offense that the other fella didn't care if she stayed or went. I know what you are thinking, 'that doesn't make sense,' I thought the same thing. Anyway, the fella who wanted the woman to stay is now staying in the hospital for the next few days (at least). Seems his room mate cut him up with a dinner plate, through muscle and tendons, all the way to the bone. I think alcohol had a lot to do with their problem, they were both drunk.
The next call took me to a 911 hang up. When I got there no one would answer the door, even though I could hear a male and female arguing inside. I got really concerned when I didn't hear the female voice any more. I eventually forced my way in. Under the circumstances forced entry is permitted, the fella didn't like it much though. I found the female inside, being quiet as ordered by the male. I finally got it out of her that she didn't want the police. I was looking real hard for a reason to take the fella to jail, but couldn't find one. So, the female for now will continue to live in that environment, along with her 2 month old who was also in the house.
The next call took me to another domestic. I was initially called to 'stand by' while the wife picked up some belongings out of the house. The husband didn't like it at all. At about the second "stupid *** bit**" that came out of his mouth (I am trying to keep this page rated G) I stepped in and told him to shut up. It was obvious to me the wife was scared of him, and trying to do the right thing and get away from the thug.
I had a few other calls, including assisting on a reported stolen vehicle which turned out not so innocent of a victim in the end. The fella who reported his vehicle stolen eventually told us the whole story. He was a married man who picked up a prostitute and fell asleep with her in a local motel. When he awoke, the car, his wallet, and the prostitute were gone. We located the car with another fella in it, arrested him, and found cocaine on him. He now lives in the local pokey (jail).
The punch line to tonight: People are crazy, crazy, crazy...
Thanks for listening. Until tonight...
February 14, 1999
This shift was a little on the slow side. None of my calls were really interesting, except perhaps one. Other officers responded to an unknown trouble. When they arrived they found chaos and aruguing between two neighbors and their families. The officers had things calmed down and everyone back into their own homes, or so the officers thought. Later, I responded to back up another unit on a fire call at the same house. As it turned out one of the family members of the other house set fire to the neighbors home. We had a pretty good idea who, but can't prove it yet. The fire department arson investigation team took over after the fire was out and are investigating the incident. The fella we think set fire to the house is 6'4'' tall and 275 pounds, complete with an attitude.
I often wonder why people act as they do. I have to remind myself constantly that not all people act nuts. We as officers for the most part only see people at their worst. That makes it easier to get a distorted view of society as a whole. Think of it, would you set fire to a neighbors home? Do you meet people very often who you think are capable of committing such an act? We see people like that every shift. It begins to get hard sometimes to keep my own views on track.
I have to go to court soon (in an hour). It is difficult in this line of work to work a Midnight shift and then go into court. I am already very tired. I hope I don't fall asleep in the courts, judges don't seem to appreciate that. :)
I am off until Thursday. Tune back in soon, I may make an entry of my off days...
February 19, 1999
I took yesterday off. In between school, work, part time jobs, and home my head is swimming. Tonight I assisted officers who I kinda thought didn't do the best job they could have. It wasn't my case, so their wasn't much I could do.
The call came out a 'suspicious person' which involved a white male standing around in a local drug store. The fella had been seen at other stores trying to steal narcotics from the pharmacy. That was more than enough to detain him, which we did.
The problem was that he was obviously not telling the truth about his name. He told just enough to keep the officer who was handling the case from arresting him, but it wouldn't have worked with me. The officer released the fella, and shortly thereafter I discovered his real name from my computer in my patrol car. It turns out that the fella was wanted for felonies, including kidnapping. I thought the officer should have at least followed him until I completed my computer work. That would have been one dangerous criminal off the streets.
Have you ever known lazy people where you work? Law Enfocement is no different. There are officers who would rather let someone walk than to do a little work and investigate. I have to wonder why they are in Law Enforcement anyway if they don't want to work. But, then again, that's just my opinion, and it doesn't count under the circumstances presented during this call.
I probably will go looking for the fella myself. He has changed his name, but it was close enough that the computer soundexed and brought his real name up with a little work. I also asked for consent to search his car out in the parking lot, and from that was able to learn where he is living now. I will soon revisit him and put the fella where he belongs, in jail (the victim in the kidnapping case was a child I think).
Sorry about missing yesterday, I needed a day off. It was good to relax for a day, tommorrow is back to the grind....
February 20, 1999
I got my warrant for one of my shooting suspects from the February 11th entry. I went looking for him, but couldn't find him. He has moved from the last known address. I have found out he is still in the city, and that he knows I am looking for him, but I have no idea where he is. The shooting took place at one of our local headache bars. This is the second shooting incident I have worked at this particular bar.
When we have a particular location that becomes a consistent problem, we try to address it. Agencies I imagine have different procedures on repeat call locations such as this one. Our agency initiates what is called a "Directed Patrol." Officers from all squads have to spend a small amount of time at the repeat call location and document the time spent, and actions taken, on a form. The bar now has a 'Directed Patrol' for all squads. The bar owner is visibly a little more stressed each time I go to the bar. Tonight he 'went off' on me so to speak. He is unwilling to offer any assistance in helping catch the second shooting suspect, and I basically told him that he would continue to see police around his business for some time to come. If it has an adverse effect on his business, so what. Someone is going to get killed there if it continues to operate as it has. Many drug dealers I have arrested in the past hang out there. Where there are drugs there will be violence. It is a sad but true fact.
Since I am on tact shift I am working weekends. I will be showing up and spending a lot of my time at this bar. He will either change his clientel or I will try to close him down. I don't need the headache on my beat, and the citizens who live around the bar don't deserve to hear gunshots nightly.
My attitude towards the place goes along with "beat pride." Mainly in the city jurisdicitons, areas are divided up into beats of some type. Most of us take pride in our beats, the accomplishments we achieve in our beat, and handling calls that come out on our assigned beat. It is the same beat night after night, and I have worked this particular beat for about 8 years. You get to know the people in your beat, and become friends with some of them. It is MY beat, and criminals on my beat will go to jail if I can arrange it, especially the drug dealers.
I am off until Friday.. I will try to make entries in between now and then.
Thanks for listening....
February 28, 1999
Sorry I haven't made any entries during the past week. I have been using all of my spare time getting ready for finals at school (the University runs 9 week sessions). This session has been really instense, much more so than sessions in the past.
Please stay with me, the last final is this Thursday. Then I can live once again....
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