Now ye're talking - to a US police officer Part II

What is your opinion on guns? Do you have your own gun or collection of guns outside your police issued weapon(s)? Do you feel with the proliferation of guns in America that they are needed for personal protection or do they increase your risk of accidental injury or death?

Personally, I’m neutral on guns. I have my issue Glock 19, carbine & shotgun and a smaller Glock 43 I carry as my off duty, otherwise that’s me. Having been in the Army, I’m comfortable around them, but it’s just not anything I’ve ever gotten into. More guns don’t make anyone safer. There are ample stats which bear out that owning a gun significantly increases the odds of it being used against you, stolen or a child will use it. Owning a gun also dramatically increases odds of a suicide by gunshot. I can’t understand the need to carry for the majority of the population. I find it interesting how people will say “I need a gun for protection”, yet if you ask do you have a first aid kit or fire extinguisher in your car, blank stare (and I have both in case you ask 😊). Likewise, I’ll ask how many people do you know who have been a victim of a crime compared to people you know who have been in a car accident? Again, blank stares and the “well, yeah, but what if something happens...?” Most cops carry an off duty for personal protection which I support, as cops are trained and have to qualify regularly. I would submit most people who do carry are crap shots, have no stress shooting/target discrimination training and pose a greater liability. Sure, the guns rights advocates would round on me with all their scary stories about the suburban soccer mom who shot the bag guy, but it’s over blown. This FBI report from 2014 largely discredits the “good guy with a gun theory” A Study of Active Shooter Incidents in the United States Between 2000 and 2013 — FBI

Having said all that, guns are here, it’s a personal choice, I’d be a fan of simply more restrictions on ownership, but they’ll never go away here.

Looking at what we see over on the news in Ireland regarding the US police force are most American cops racist? And is the reason they do not like blacks is because of their high crime statistics. We have a similar problem here with the travelling community. And how can this be fixed?

No, most US cops are not racist no more than most Irish are drunks. As of 2017 (last easy stat I could find) there are 719,515 sworn officers working for 17,985 LE agencies in the US. It's unfair to assert all cops are racist. So, odds are there are extremists in there somewhere. Given the current environment, if there is a racial component to a police action, especially deadly force, it’s a global news event. There have been several police shootings over the last two months that you have probably never heard about, in those the perps were all white, so other than the local news, it’s just not a story.
Race relations and LE have a complex history in the US. I spoke to this on the previous AMA if you are interested. I would imagine the Travelers in Ireland is an analogous situation.

Did you watch Live PD? Any opinions on same.

Seen a few bits and pieces here and there, it’s a bit over hyped IMHO, but it is I suppose a “day in the life of” sort of thing. What I've seen didn't make a strong impression either way.

Trump often touted he had the support of Law enforcement groups, And even got presidential Endorsements from some of them. Is this true among many Rank-and-File Cops?

Trump did get some police union support; it didn’t surprise me. There is a general conservative trend in LE as a subset of the population but not overly so. Having said that, it is by no means universal and Trump is just as polarizing in LE as anywhere. Given nearly 70 million voted for him, no real surprises there. I think the unions endorsing him made a poor choice by getting involved in presidential politics, more so in the polarized environment we are in right now. Politicians keep score, and in the long run, those endorsements will hurt the unions & cops more than help. The police unions should keep things at the local & state level IMHO.


How do you feel the COVID-19 Pandemic has Affected policing in America over the last year?

COVID has created challenges all right. We are now taking many of our calls for service via phone, officer parks up, rings the complainant & does it all via phone. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still doing plenty of face-to-face policing, but we’re keeping our distance & wearing masks. We have stopped some pro-active policing programs, community engagement, etc. By directive from our DA, we are also not making certain arrests for non-violent offences. Our detectives are having to do interviews via video chat (less than ideal), some court hearings are via video and most of our grand juries and some court cases are on hold. It’ll take us ages to dig out from this backlog.

Would you have any experience of policing large concerts or sporting venues during events?

Sure, concerts, matches, marathons, etc. Generally, pretty easy OT (event organizers have to foot the bill for the most part). The annual biker gathering is a pain predictably as have some concerts, i.e., the heavy metal crowd are generally a bit rougher than Michael Bublé if ya get my drift. But for the most part these events are fine, usual drunks, rows, but no more than any other day at work really. Some officers do a lot of these as they follow the local team and like being paid to watch the match from the sidelines. I prefer the running races, etc, more my style.

What’s the percentage of women in your force?

I don’t know the exact number, but from observation it’s probably around 20%, our current chief is a female as is my SGT and Lieutenant, both very capable officers.

Would you find it harder dealing with a violent incident if your partner was a woman or are, they actually better at calming down offenders?

We don’t see male/female in each other, we see cops. I’ve had great female partners and crap ones, just like males. Calming people down, again, it’s individual dependent, some good, some not. I do agree that females can have a different set of emotional skills which can help in some circumstances.

Is the murder rate high in your area?

No not overly, more than last year but not dramatically.

Is juvenile crime high and how are they dealt with? What works to reduce it?

There is a juvenile court & offender system that is woefully underfunded and under resourced. It works on conflict resolution, jail diversion all of which are good. However, in the US, these sorts of things politically, are viewed with suspicion and suffer from underfunding. America seems to like locking people up for almost anything. I’d submit it’s a better investment in the long term to invest in social & education programs, but it’s hard to run for office on a platform of “vote for me, it’ll be better in 20 years”.

This ties in with previous questions relating to funding of the police versus other services and also your comment as to the amount of time spent doing mundane tasks but are there any police activities which you think would be better carried out by administrative staff allowing police more time to police?
I suppose it depends on what defines a mundane task. Yes, there could be some level of “officials” who respond to the noisy neighbour & barking dog calls sort of thing, but again, who is going to pay for it and are we just creating another layer of officials & bureaucrats? TBH, our admin time is spent report writing, which is simply a function of the job. Well written, detailed reports take time, and help get a conviction, but none of us like sitting typing, do we? At the end of the day, your police are the bottom line, dial 911 and we’ll show up. This is where there is a conflict between the “defund the cops & hire more social workers gets muddy”. Example: Parent calls saying child is out of control & fears for her safety, cops get sent. Arrive & the 16-year-old son, who is a 6ft lump of a thing is in a mental health crisis and pacing up & down holding a screwdriver. Is this a police issue or a social one? Do we leave & say “sorry, this is not a police issue, call a social worker”. Of course, the answer, like many things is in the middle & more nuanced. But when no one else will come out at 4AM, we get the call.

Also, I'm living in the US for a couple years and am bemused at the isolate structure of police forces with every town/city having its own one. Do you think that there is much inefficiency because of this which could be improved if policing was done with a more cohesive structure?

I spoke to this on the previous AMA, check the link in the intro to this AMA.


When you first moved there did you find it hard to adjust to the weather?
What has been the highest temperatures you've experienced there and does it ever get so hot that you just can’t go outside.

Probably hottest I’ve felt was around 50C. Too hot, depends on what you are doing I suppose. I won’t run in the middle of the day, but we still have to work in it wearing body armour, polyester uniform & our kit. Not fun directing traffic for hours at a fatal accident on black asphalt in August.

Do you and those you know there have any opinion on Senator Ted Cruz? Do people see him as a bit of an idiot or actually respect him?

I do, but I don’t want to talk politics here.

And how much is a litre or gallon of petrol and do locals complain about it being expensive

Petrol prices are online 😊 and if petrol were free, someone would still complain

We see many western countries with high gun ownership rates per capita with nothing approaching the gun homicide rates in the US. There is clearly not a gun problem, but a violent society problem in the US.
What do you think is the police's role in solving this problem? Is this something that can be addressed by law enforcement at all?

I don’t think this is so much a police issue as a society one. We can lobby for stronger gun laws, licensing, background checks, etc. but we can’t fix society. It’s a very complex issue and I’m not sure even the social sciences can answer this one.

I remember in the previous AMA you mentioned you were originally from Dublin, have you lost your accent? If not, do the people you encounter on the job act differently when they realize you're not American?

I spoke to this on the previous AMA.

Can you listen to music on patrol (assuming the announcements will cut in on the music)? If so, what?

Yes, we can have the radio on in the background. I prefer jazz, classical & 80’s rock. I keep low as it will be recorded on my body mike, and you don’t want a defense attorney to be hoping they can use your music taste against you if you are a true metalhead or listen to soft rock 😊

What was your best day on the job? The result you are most proud of?

Got a good arrest on a bank robber, caught him red handed with the cash after a short foot pursuit. Driving around looking for the suspect, saw this bloke who just didn’t look right, didn’t have PC to actually stop him. So, parked up & just started walking towards him, just said hello as I got closer, he took off, ran after him, caught him. He had the bag from the bank in his backpack. Good days work.

I have more of a prison sentence question comparing sentences in your area/district, the hardline US states and the softer states, and Ireland. Trying to avoid tarring the whole of the US with one brush. As you may well read, here we have regular occurrences of people arrested for crime (often what can be called petty crime until they hit it big) with up to 100 previous convictions. Concurrent sentencing has a lot to answer for in that regard. Can similar occur in each of the respective area mentioned above and how would that criminal be dealt with? I get the impression looking in at the US in general that harsher sentences don’t seem to work and I think your earlier AMA mentioned this. But there has to be punishment for the crime as an overly soft approach as we have now does not work. Where is the balance or best approach of any jurisdictions you know?

Yeah, this is complex, especially with juveniles. Long rap sheet for minor stuff, they know the drill, arrest, release, probation, hearing, wash rinse repeat. I agree, there should be some sort of sanction, but jail is not always the answer. If you dig into these cases, you’ll often (but not always) find a substance abuse, mental health or social issue at the root of it. These are time consuming, resource intensive, issues to unravel, and there is no guarantee of success. I don’t have an answer as such, but I know what we are doing is not working. The “three strikes you are out” thing was popular in the late 1980’s, so now we have more people incarcerated per capita than any other country in the world and it’s not like it put the brakes on crime did it?

Would you find you have made good friends in the job?

Sure, have some great mates, just like any job. Remember, just like firefighters paramedics, & the military, our lives are literally in each others hands daily. It makes for close bonds.

Would you know many that have dated or got married to someone they arrested?

Not that I can think I have heard of it happening, but the stories never seem to end well. This pretty much a bright line you don’t want to cross, it’s a career ender for the most part. There were two officers here fired for getting involved in with victims/suspects, bad break up, one call to IA and it was pretty much over. By policy in my agency, we can’t get involved with anyone we've sanctioned.

What's your opinion of Jeremy Dewitte? Do you think he is being harassed or is his behavior unlawful? Are there a lot of people who impersonate police officers in the US?

I had to look this guy up, so bear with. All I know is from the open-source online news. From what I can tell this guy is edging very close to the line with his escort service. To the untrained eye, people think “cop” with his uniforms, etc. Given the way he acts, repeatedly, makes me wonder is there some sort of complex there, but not for me to know. But no, he’s not been harassed IMHO. If he modified his behavior, followed the spirit not just the letter of the law, then he’d be just another security company.

Cop impersonators do show up occasionally, usually some pleb will flash a badge or try to stop someone with a blue light. We had one here a while back stopping women trying to get their information. Thankfully he was caught a week later.

Did you ever have to assist with a delivery of an unexpected baby?

Yes, I’ve delivered two babies. It’s a bit messy, and thankfully the paramedics showed up promptly as it is more their expertise. And no, no one named the baby after me.

What are the rules around tattoos and hair styles for an officer? Could you get a tattoo that could be seen as someway political; just say it was covered at work but the public can see it during your non-working hours and some members of public might find it offensive.

Hmmmm, it depends by agency, so I’ll tell you what I know. Our rules are nothing visible above the shirt collar, on the hands with the exception of an ink marriage band/ring. Any tattoos deemed offensive/inappropriate by the dept. must be covered while on duty. If you had obviously offensive/racist tattoo, even coved at work, that would be looked at closely and could be grounds for dismissal under the policy of extremist association. It’s a very sticky wicket, and I’m not aware of it being an issue in my agency, but I’m sure it comes up. That brings you into a minefield of free speech vs. hate speech. Otherwise, grooming standards are generally conservative, men’s hair can’t touch the collar, women’s hair must be worn in a bun/plait or in a “manner not to cause a safety hazard or unprofessional appearance”. Last year our agency allowed beards, has to be a full beard (no goatees, van Gogh’s, or whatever), no more than one quarter inch neatly groomed. Thats popular with some, me, I prefer clean shaven, personal choice.

A bonus round while herself is out:

here is what a the general arrest scenario looks like: Lets say it's an assault.

We arrived, find the victim, make sure they are safe, get a description of the perp. We'll say he's close by, I find him, he matches the description and has bloody knuckles. That's enough for an arrest. He's cuffed, frisked and put in the back of my car (our cars have prisoner cages, we don't use a paddy wagon). My partner will have the paramedics check the victim's injuries & we'll offer same to the perp if he has any complaint of pain/injury. Lets say victim needs stiches. He goes with EMS after we get basic information, my partner will go to the ER to get a quick statement form him. I'll ID the perp, usually a drivers, license, and off we go to jail. We normally don't read the Miranda warning unlike in the movies. The Miranda is only for post arrest questioning. I don't need to ask questions, I have positive ID from my vic, perp has bloody knuckles, it's pretty self evident what happened.

Arrive at jail, I strip all my weapons off into a lock box. Walk perp in, he'll be searched again by the jailers, belongings inventoried, issued jail scrubs if needs be. He's photographed, fingerprinted and escorted to a cell. I complete a booking sheet, charge sheet, arrest affidavit articulating I had PC to make the arrest. Here is where I have to write a good affidavit as the judge will base their bond on what I say. If it's more serious injuries, I'll describe that as best I can to help the judge understand what happened so he/she can set an appropriate bail bond. I leave once the arrest review SGT is happy with my paperwork, then I'll do my own incident report. My partner will email me pictures of the vic's, injuries & their statement, all gets added to the report. Email report etc to my SGT for approval, she's happy with it. It gets transferred in the system so the detectives can be assigned the case. Any physical evidence I have, say I seized a club or knife from the perp, I bag & tag that for evidence and drop that off at our secure evidence lockers.

This process can take ages. If the jail is rocking on a weekend night, I'll have to wait there until the jailers are ready. perp is cuffed to a bench, I'll try and get a start on my report. I've waited up to two hours to process a prisoner. Painful.

Meanwhile, the perp will cool their heels until they are magistrated. We have "jail call" judges at 0700 and 1900 daily. They'll nug through the prisoners decide on bail terms, bonds, or pre-trail detention. If they bond out (post money to assure they'll show up in court), they are released. If not, they are transferred to a longer term holding facility. They get their call, some call families, some attorneys, whatever. Most wont get a lawyer until they've been released.

It's time consuming, detail oriented paperwork, makes for poor TV & movies, but it's a large part of what we do.

More tomorrow after work, sometime this year, our network cyber security team blocked foreign websites from our network.....sigh...

I watched a documentary on a police department in the US. Their funding comes from the town and that meant they had to go around asking residents to pay money towards having policing. B in the end enough wasn't raised and two officers were let go.

Is that the way funding works there or just some places? It just seemed strange that being a police officer meant as much job security as working in a bar, and no incentive to try to progress through an actual professional career.

Too a point, yes. LE in the US is funded by the entity the agency serves. IE Feds are paid for by the US Govt, State agencies by the respective state, County by their county and city by the city that agency serves. In the US, there are local, state & federal taxes to pay for all this as appropriate. Many cities & counties services be it police, fire, EMS, roads, parks, schools, etc. raise taxes typically by property tax, sales tax (think VAT) and to a very lesser extent by a local income tax. When the economy goes down, revenue goes down and cities have to make hard choices, which can include layoffs. Bigger cities are not immune from this. Detroit had a major budget meltdown a few years back and they laid off cops, fire, EMS, etc. Fire stations were shuttered, schools closed. It looked pretty rough but it is the reality of local control in the US. Netflix had a good documentary about the Flint, MI PD and their struggles in a very tight budget.

As for officers going door to door, perhaps they were doing that off duty through their union or other lobbying. It would be illegal (at least here in TX) to be doing that on the job. Another similar matter, many of the states have enacted laws where on $10 (in TX) of a traffic ticket goes to the police, rest goes into a state fund. It’s to stop “policing for profit”.

if arrested, you are separated from your family (as in you are put in custody/lock up). should the same apply to illegals that are arrested?

Touchy subject, some clarification. When arrested by the police, as I described in an earlier post, the arrestees are processed. It would be unusual for us to arrest a whole family, but not impossible. In my jurisdiction, the adults go to jail, juveniles go to a separate juvenile detention facility. Anyone under 12 would be turned over to the state child protection agency if we can’t find a responsible relative. These kids would be put in a very short-term foster home until a responsible adult can be found and this is very much a last resort. We separate the juveniles as the main jail has no facilities for kids and you don’t want children in an adult jail.

At the border, the illegals are “detained”, which is a different status as the laws are different for immigration violations. They can be subsequently charged with unlawful entry to the US, but initially it’s a detention. I’ve visited some of the border facilities, they are even more depressing than our central booking intake on a Saturday night and not a fun or happy place for anyone, let alone a family. Initially males & females are separated, kids will stay with the mother generally. After that it can get complex. If one of the parents is wanted say, or has other charges, they’ll be diverted to another part of the system to be formally charged, etc. These are generally offenders wanted in the US, who will go into the criminal system, no place for children.

If a family is detained at or near the border, and other than the crossing there is no other factors, I’d generally be OK with keeping them together as much as possible. There is a grinding practicality to it unfortunately, Border Patrol just doesn’t have the room to give every family their own space so it gets messy. I certainly don’t agree with separating kids 100’s of miles from one of the parents, that serves no purpose in my mind and is the result of a xenophobic policy from the previous administration. The border debate is a story for another time in of itself.


what % of shootings do you think are unjustified, and of that portion, how many go unpunished?

I really don’t have stats on that. LE in the US is a fractured combination of city, county, state, tribal and federal agencies and there is no central clearing house of LE data on this. Near me there is a small town, their PD is 9 officers, 2 of whom are part time. If they have a shooting, they are under no obligation to have anyone outside their own town get involved. They could investigate it themselves and draw their own conclusions if they chose to do so. I only use this hypothetical as an illustration of how hard it is do speak to this nationally. There is no state or national reporting requirement for police involved shootings, so it’s hard to draw a conclusion.

So, to your question, its hard to say. All shootings are investigated, usually goes to a grand jury, and the more respectable agencies will have an outside entity conduct the investigation to provide impartiality. Historically juries give cops great deference in the use of deadly force, and even some questionable shootings have resulted in the officer not being charged or sanctioned. This can be contentious to say the least, families & the public become frustrated by what is perceived as a one-sided system. Remember, what seems unreasonable to the public could be a very justified use of deadly force in the given situation and those officers have maybe seconds to make that decision.

Is there a way around joining the NYPD without US citizenship?

Well looking at their website, it doesn’t look so. Many states require police officers to be US citizens, and it’s not something which can be waived.