Officers Who Blog

In case you want to read about a couple of people who actually apply all the stuff we fuss about, here are two:

The Policeman's Blog:

I simply don’t get to chase people any more. By the time a call comes in and is routed to the nearest unit, the offender is long gone and I turn up with my briefcase and take a statement. We usually know who we’re looking for, in cases of domestic violence or when the victim and offender know each other, so there isn’t really the incentive to go charging through broken windows and over fences, with the attendant risk of injury.

Having said that I still get the chance to go running after someone and the other night I did just that. Never found him of course, only really caught a glimpse at the end of the garden. But it was good fun calling out to him to give himself up and shining the dragon light in peoples back gardens and jumping over fences. If you get the chance to chase anyone it’s funny how any common sense leaves you and the only thing left is the “hunting” instinct. Makes me realised why I joined all those years ago. Nowadays though I have to carry so much equipment the villain gets an even better headstart.

having missed him I'll have to change tactics: I think I’ll just pester his girlfriend into giving him up. I’ll knock on the front door loudly at 8:00 am every morning when I’m on dayshift and 9:45 pm when I’m on nights. You may be wondering why I don’t just go round at 5:30 am or 11:45 pm and really inconvenience them.

You won’t be surprised to know that it’s against force policy to do this. Routine arrests can only be arranged between 8:00am and 10:00pm. You probably won’t be surprised when I tell you that my force has determined that arresting people outside these times contravenes their human rights (Article 8 Right to a Private Life)

Despite the obstacles to me arresting him, most of them imposed by senior police officers, I’ll give him a week to give himself up then call his employer and tell him I want to speak to him during working hours – he either talks to me next week or loses his job. I don’t suppose I’m allowed to do this either (Article 11 Freedom of Assembly and Association), probably.

Cop Talk:

It doesn't happen too often, thank goodness, but every so often officers end up arresting other officers or police department employees. I spent 9 months in 1990 on an investigation involving one of our narcotics investigators. He was using someone as a confidential informant who was on probation. A really big no no in Iowa. The guy was making narcotics purchases for the investigator, then the investigator would put in his paperwork that someone else made the purchase. In short, he committed perjury by not correctly identifying the informant. Myself and two other detectives arrested him at the end of the investigation. It was an unpleasant 9 months and at the end I was consuming large amounts of Maalox.
Last week it was noticed that some money was missing from the department. People who have their vehicles impounded pay a $20 fee to the police department to get their cars back. This money is collected at the front desk, which is where civilian employees work. In short order the culprit was identified and he was arrested. I just can't fathom the stupidity of the young man who did it. He was in our Police Cadet program, just 20 years old, preparing to become a police officer. The city was paying him $29,000 a year in that position. If he'd been hired as an officer next year he would have started at $41,000 a year. So he's pocketing money at $20 a pop. What an idiot! It was determined that he took approximately $3,200. I hope it was worth it!

Interesting stuff.