The Law Enforcement Officer Thread

What country are you from? What's your first language?

The US. First language? Either English or Italian, can't remember, though I forgot how to speak Italian as I got older.

Okay, then this shouldn't be so hard.

While it's nice to know international trends, most of the time, that isn't going to actually help in solving problems that are specific to an area.

Even in America, what works in say California may not work in Georgia.

California is a more liberal state with a more ethnically and culturally diverse economy and population. California in general is more open to LGBT rights and therefore, probably support protests and more progressive legislation and expectations.

Georgia on the other hand, is economically straddled along racial lines. Georgia is also part of Jim Crow south where there is a deep history of racism and institutional oppression that the minority population is still trying to recover from because the system still isn't fair yet. There are still historically black schools in Georgia that aren't funded properly. Georgia sucks in healthcare. California isn't that bad.

So, if you want to solve say, gang violence in Georgia, you need to look at programs that help black youth stay off the streets and get a fair education where probably they will have generations of poverty to overcome because most of the gang members in Georgia are black youth.

California's gangs while some are black also have a growing Hispanic crime wave including elements of MS 13, which have a different history, different motivations, and different objectives. You can't just give those guys better jobs and equal educational opportunities and hope it solves itself.

Why do you assume studying trends means applying policies from another area? It can helpful in more subtle ways than "They're doing good, let's do that!", and just because simply copying isn't usually helpful (though, there's nothing wrong with cultural crossover!) doesn't mean knowing about trends in other places is worthless.

If you have a sample of one, drawing any kind of broader conclusion is impossible, while the larger the populations involved, the more possibilities you have of understanding.

edited 9th Oct '14 12:21:00 PM by CassidyTheDevil

What the hell are you talking about?

Never have I said studying trends is worthless.

Look, I'm trying to be patient and I'm trying to follow you. But you're all over the board and you're not making clear correlations. The fact that I had to ask your country and language should tell you something.

I've been talking about solving distinct problems with certain police departments in the United States.

I honestly have no clue what you're trying to get at.

I dunno really what you're trying to say either. Are you saying you don't disagree and you were misunderstanding what I was saying, or you do disagree but not apparently in a way that's easy for me to understand?

(and yeah, I was never good at communicating, esp. stuff that's more abstract)

Watched Hard Boiled.

Hahahaha, oh man. After more realistic portrayals of police officers in The Wire and Michael Mann movies, it's hilarious to see a supercop running around all by himself and killing everyone. Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course!

Did you watch Hot Fuzz?

It's a documentary as far as I'm concerned.

It does tickle my fancy, all right.

Random question.

For this year's Halloween, I'm thinking about dressing up like this character◊, from a Canadian webcomic, Romantically Apocalyptic.

Now, I'm not so stupid as to bring a gun to campus, but what about the gas mask? Would a police officers in an university campus be startled by a gas mask?

1) I love that webcomic. D Roy you are becoming more and more the awesome little brother I always wanted.

2) Tell them first. Just let them know a gas mask is part of your costume and see what they say. I see no reason why they wouldn't allow it, but you may have to say, not wear the mask when traveling between classes while in classes is fine. It all depends.

I rather you ask and be sure that you're not going to be violating some rule or whatever and them be aware to look for the badass guy in full gear then you be tackled or caught on some disruption technicality.

Haha, why, thank you.

I see. Hmm...there are more than just a couple of police officers in my campus. Would I have to tell all of them, or just telling one would be sufficient?

Can you trust them? If anything you can pull a divorcee child move: get the cop who you know will prolly go for it. Then if someone else stops you then you can say, "But officer so and so said it was cool."

Or as your dean.

Chances are no one would mind. If it were any of my campuses, I wouldn't tell anyone I would just show up. But I don't want to I'll advise you and find out you were messed over for it.

Yeah, it would be good idea to check my university's officers first. Then again, I don't see them that often at the first place. XP

In another topic, I watched Person Of Interest, season 4 ep 3.

This dialogue happens after John Reese, played by Jim Caviezel, shoots a running suspect in the leg in the middle of Manhattan street:

Fusco: What the hell are you doing?

Reese: Catching the bad guys.

Fusco: You know, a little thing called backup? You know, sometimes we wait for it instead of shooting people, 'causing mayhem in the middle of Manhattan.

Reese: It's hot as hell out here. Figure I'd save us all some time.

Fusco: Listen, you're not a lone wolf anymore, pal. You're a cop, and you need to start respecting the job. There are rules and regulations that come with that badge.

You know, I think I'm so used to seeing the idea of Cowboy Cop being criticized in works (thank you, The Wire), that I see by the rule cops, even in fiction, to be a normal and good thing. I think if I see a Cowboy Cop, I would be more annoyed than anything.

When my dad hit 50, he was still on patrol. I always appreciated how he said he would just shoot the idiot instead of chasing them.

I never knew to what degree he was joking or not.

Now, if an officer decides to just shoot the running suspect...but instead ends up shooting a civilian and the suspect gets away, that would result in quite a shitstorm, wouldn't it?

You can't just shoot a running suspect.

You really can't hit civilians, justified or not.

Have you seen SWAT? Jeremy Renner's character pulls a buddy cop move like that.

The civilian sues the shit out of him and the city. He looses his job. Yeppers. Don't hit people. You have a civil case at best and a criminal case at worse.

Sounds about right.

Looking at the production history, Michael Mann could have been the movie's director! Darn. Then again, he must have been too busy with Collateral, which was awesome.

Came across this the other day, a midwestern US police officer talking about real stories from his job. Couple of tearjerkers in there ("CEOh shit" for starters, about a welfare check turning into a suicide investigation), but most of them are funny as hell, illustrated with various images in an Imgur album.

(Stories are all told only after the relevant case has been through the court system, and the names are all aliases.)

Cadaver dogs are getting more credit and acceptance as reliable tools in solving crimes.

Dogs have been used in natural disasters, 9/11, and all sorts of missing person's searches to great success. They can find bodies easy. But the science is improving to the point where more courts are accepting cadaver dog "traces" where the dog alerts that a body was once there, such as in a trunk of a car, as a good pointer on where to continue to search or to comb deeper.

This is pretty nifty. Cadaver dogs also have better success rates then drug dogs because at least with bodies, they all smell the same. They may smell heavier based on levels of decomp, but otherwise, every cadaver dog is looking for the same thing while drug makers are constantly changing formulas and what not as to trip up and confuse dogs, let alone how they are packaging.

Cadaver dogs? Never heard of it, but man, they sound like a brilliant idea! Also, I love dogs. You can never have enough of them and you should have them everywhere. Well, except around those with dog-allergies.

In another topic, a slasher victim recounts the ways how police were less than effective with his circumstances.

Yikes.

edited 21st Oct '14 9:08:50 AM by dRoy

Isn't there an issue with how sniffer dogs are susceptible to the "Clever Hans" effect (leading to false positives) which will be independent of the target scent? This may become a big issue when switching from a search tool where one is trying to locate a testable amount of a chemical substance to a "proof of location" where the dog may be used to say "Well, if he didn't murder them, then how come he had the smell of dead body in his car?".

No one uses the dog alone.

In the Casey Anthony case, several cadaver dogs alerted that there was something fishy with her car, but because no other evidence was found, it was thrown out.

The article posted mentions another case where cadaver dogs found a rug in the woods. Due to analysis of the rug as well as other evidence found in the house, the man was arrested even though no body had been found. The evidence suggested that the man went back after the initial burying and removed the remains a second time.

We've been arresting, convicting, and even executing people without bodies. But the dogs are becoming more widespread as a possible tool. But just the dog's word alone isn't enough.

Watching Broadchurch right now. Your basic "Quiet friendly little town is shaken by a murder" mixed with your Odd Couple investigative team. You have the lady detective with roots in the community who has found out that her expected promotion has been yanked out from under her so a more experienced detective can be placed there to stay out of trouble after a recent case went pear-shaped on him.

David Tennant plays the aforementioned reassigned Detective Inspector. He's very grumpy, very unkempt. You know, Scottish. Kind of looks like a young Columbo. We're about a third of the way into the series so far and we're enjoying it. I keep hoping that the killer turns out to be played by Christopher Eccleston or Billie Piper, but that's probably not happening.

Awesome article on the Secret Service Security Dogs.

Apparently, the recent fence jumper was intercepted by Hurricane and Jordan, two K9 units. He hit the dogs, they were cleared for duty. The dogs put him in the hospital.

The article also gives a breakdown on the preferred breed of dog used and their life. When they're retired, the handler who's been training them gets them and they're pretty well treated with little signs of adverse reactions to service.

I've seen K9 training in law enforcement, it's amazing what these puppies can do and how successful they are at stopping someone without actually endangering their life.

My dad actually got a guy to surrender from baracading himself in his house by threatening to send in the dogs. Of course, no dogs were on the scene. But it got the guy out without anyone being hurt and that's what's worth it.

Yes, I'm on a puppy spree.