Ok, no more puns.
Background: I was a police officer (patrolman) for almost two years in a certain Northeastern US city that will remain unnamed. I got into it after a long bout of unemployment after college and a (former) friend was able to secure me a spot in an academy class with a job offer afterwards. I thought at the time that it might not be so bad, maybe I could be a good cop. One of the few.
It was pretty naive.
I'm out of it now and I teach History in a public High School, which is much more satisfying and also fun, challenging me to find ways to be subversive while still adhering to the curriculum. I studied History in college and was a champagne-socialist before I graduated. I'm also slowly grinding out my Masters' degree.
Examples of Things I can discuss:
* The Geriatrics Ward - For some reason at my precinct, we had a lot of old dudes who were near retirement. Some of them had the most interesting/horrible stories and crazy backgrounds.
* New Kids on the Bloc - I can also give a run-down on the younger officers and their many neuroses.
* My Brush With Internal Affairs - I started out working second shift, but A Thing Happened that encouraged me to go to nights for the rest of my stay with la Policia.
Did I ever kill anybody? No, actually I never even had to draw a firearm while on duty in my two years, though the baton came out at times. (Late night domestic violence calls for the most part.) I did not look forward to any call that might have potentially turned to violence.
The neighborhood I was in had a high minority population and was of average (US) affluence. We had some non-cop gang activity, but only a handful of homicides compared to other parts of the city.
I thought at the time that it might not be so bad, maybe I could be a good cop. One of the few.
It was pretty naive.
why do you say this and what did you expect you could accomplish being a patrolman?
how do you pass a lie detector test
By pure conviction to Mao Zedong Thought.
did you ever get a kids cat out of a tree
No, but I did take a kid's injured dog to the animal hospital once.
have you ever walked a beat
which police academy movie was police academy most like
Well Police Academy 1 was the one that took place at the academy, but Police Academy 4 was the one that most resembled police work.
why'd you stop
Corruption is prevalent everywhere in our society, but in a police department it's usually coupled with (direct application of) violence. I started to hate myself doing it and I knew I wasn't doing a very good job.
why do you say this and what did you expect you could accomplish being a patrolman?
You've got to put some time in being a patrolman to get anywhere and I was hoping to make it either into Internal Affairs or Detective work. I decided against it, obviously. Policing is just a ritualized affair in making sure that the citizenry conforms to Bourgeois standards of morality and behavior. Obvious, but I guess I needed to see for myself.
also write these things:
Examples of Things I can discuss:
* The Geriatrics Ward - For some reason at my precinct, we had a lot of old dudes who were near retirement. Some of them had the most interesting/horrible stories and crazy backgrounds.
* New Kids on the Bloc - I can also give a run-down on the younger officers and their many neuroses.
* My Brush With Internal Affairs - I started out working second shift, but A Thing Happened that encouraged me to go to nights for the rest of my stay with la Policia.
What happened that encouraged you to go on nights?
What are the best tools and methods for taking down cops in full riot gear?
What are some not-well-known procedures police execute for actions like protests?
What would it take to drive more people out of that profession?
What is the typical relationship you found between a pig and the community in which he shits?
what were you doing specifically that you hated so much
also write these things:
Examples of Things I can discuss:
* The Geriatrics Ward - For some reason at my precinct, we had a lot of old dudes who were near retirement. Some of them had the most interesting/horrible stories and crazy backgrounds.
* New Kids on the Bloc - I can also give a run-down on the younger officers and their many neuroses.
* My Brush With Internal Affairs - I started out working second shift, but A Thing Happened that encouraged me to go to nights for the rest of my stay with la Policia.
Mainly it was the choice between enforcing laws I don't agree with or choosing not to and hoping my superiors didn't find out. I gradually stopped agreeing with law enforcement in general after seeing the affects of prison and poverty on families. In the end, I spent most of my time hiding in the precinct doing pointless bureaucratic paperwork.
The Geriatrics Ward -
We had two expats located here doing cop work. One was a former N. Irish, Belfast cop who got some severe PTSD during the Troubles. Emigrated to the States after he got death threats. Funny guy for his hatred of his own life. Pig.
The other was a Korean ex-pat that I found out was a former bodyguard for Imperialist Strongman President Chun Du-hwan. Degenerate.
Another guy was a Corrections Officer who switched over to policing after the FBI investigated him and a group of others for beating prisoners. Like almost to death. Scumbag.
Captain was a Vietnam Veteran who was amongst the most racist people I've ever met. Told stories of people he fucked up when he was younger or murdered while in the army. Monster.
The New Kids on the Bloc -
Only one guy I'll go in to specific detail, but he did private security before becoming a cop. He body-guarded for a CEO on a fortune 500 company. Accepted all sorts of kickbacks. He lied under oath against some corruption charges brought up on this CEO and was quietly drummed out of the company after the CEO resigned. Told this story like you'd talk about a football game. Was fired from the force for taking bribes shortly before I left. Glutton.
Lots of these guys treated the Law and the State like a religion. Huge Authoritarian assholes.
My partner at night was a quiet Puerto Rican fellow who was very very Catholic. Completely reactionary opinions, but at least he didn't like getting his hands dirty with blood.
Me and Internal Affairs -
One day I received a call to respond to a brawl occurring in a pharmacy parking lot. Turned out to be two kids, both 17 years old. My day partner (an ex-marine) and I pulled the kids off of each other. I took one, he took the other. While I was chatting with one kid, the other kid, who was not resisting, called my partner "pig" and my partner took his baton and jabbed him in the gut. The kid doubled over and then my partner clocked him on the back of the head. Cops are taught not to hit there. It's a "red zone" to use one of their cutesy phrases. Kid blacked out, bleeding like a stuck pig. He told me to keep it quiet. Ambulance came to pick the kid up. When he woke, he immediately said the cop beat the shit out of him. Internal Affairs came in, and I didn't cover for the guy. Told them exactly what happened. The Blue Shield of Cop Brotherhood dissolved for me because I ratted one out. Everybody on that shift ostracized me. Snitches get stitches and such. So I went to nights.
Ironicwarcriminal posted:is being a cop or a teacher a more effective instrument of state power in keeping minorities down
I'm going to go with cop because a bullet hole is forever, whereas a kid only has to suffer me for 180ish days.
Most of the cops I've had to form relationships with have been authoritarian assholes who easily and completely rationalize violence against the poors and have a significant paranoid streak (everyone is a criminal mentality). Do your New Kids on the Bloc and Geriatrics Ward conform to these stereotypes?
What happened that encouraged you to go on nights?
What are the best tools and methods for taking down cops in full riot gear?
What are some not-well-known procedures police execute for actions like protests?
What would it take to drive more people out of that profession?
What is the typical relationship you found between a pig and the community in which he shits?
I would say that authoritarianism is more prevalent than paranoia and that new cops are more paranoid than old cops. It's all in varying degrees. Some of the guys were able to just treat it like any old job and compartmentalize the implications of their actions. I couldn't do it.
The underarms aren't well protected. This is why cops stopped doing the Weaver Stance, because it would show their underarms. Molotovs work pretty well, especially if you're up against a line. I only got to wear riot gear in the academy. It's heavier than it looks. There was no call for it when I was a patrolman. I was out by the time Occupy protests started picking up steam.
Driving them out of the profession would be difficult because they have the same mindset as the majority of Americans and rationalize everything they do according to that point of view. They're given extra authority and privilege so are even less likely to abandon it. I would only see it happening if people en masse started recognizing the state as illegitimate. Most people who can have their minds changed don't get involved in the first place. I'm just an idiot.
how do you disable the onboard video camera within cruisers, or delete the data it recorded
It's a large black brick in the center console. I'd imagine you'd have to rip the whole thing out. It has a battery back-up so you can't just fuck with the car battery. It also uploads data wirelessly if you're close enough to the upload point. Ours was in the parking garage at the precinct. Range seemed pretty good on that. Cops don't like being recorded though.
did you testify in court much/at all? did they give you specific training on how to write police reports/testify so that you give enough detail while not being tied down to anything so you're free to lie later?
Yeah, you'd have to stop in court every once and awhile. Traffic tickets, or if I responded to something and there was an arrest for a trial-worthy offense. There is specific training for report writing and such. I got it both at the academy and in review sessions at the precinct. The "official" training actually tried to be objective. It was your supervisors who'd come in and make "suggestions" afterwards about what should be in your report. There was a lot of stretching of the truth, omissions of information, and ambiguity going on. It didn't really matter though because the judge would side with the cop most of the time anyway.
Were you ever part of a policeman's association?
What happened to the cop you didn't cover for?
Do cops get along with management?
Were you expected to use racial profiling?
Thank You For Your Service
Edited by fanny_kaplan ()
also, did the cops around you actually care about weed?
Edited by Lykourgos ()
MadMedico posted:Did you know any cops who stole drugs from the evidence lockers?
or just from people right in their own house, during the bust, lol
Ollu posted:The other was a Korean ex-pat that I found out was a former bodyguard for Imperialist Strongman President Chun Du-hwan. Degenerate.
Haha did the dude ever talk about his service or ex boss, like was he there when the North Koreans tried to assassinate him in Myanmar or get to torture democracy activists?
