Mm... So everyone in here is going to become a Police Officer...?

Everyone? No. Not me. I'm a german firefighter.

Edited August 7, 201114 yr by xDodox

To the person who asked about the Florida LEOs: Not Broward, but I'm a deputy in Hillsborough County (Tampa, FL). I will say this, however. The "Police Women" series and most other police shows are not entirely accurate and some situations you see on camera are staged. One situation that irked me was seeing that female deputy escorting a suspect with one arm and talking to her son on the phone with her other arm. Obviously this is a TV moment to show compassion to the viewers, it is an officer safety nightmare and would never happen off camera. What you didn't see (and I am friends with a Broward deputy who was on that particular call), was 6 or so deputies and detectives just off camera ready to tackle the guy if he made any moves.

I've had the Cops TV crew ride with me once before here in Hillsborough. (side not: I haven't been aired on an episode yet... but someday I will be famous! lol). I can tell you this, most "police work" is writing reports and when I had the Cops crew with me I was taken out of my zone squad and was allowed to respond to anything in the district or neighboring district that was considered cool enough for the show. After I respond to the call and handle the scene (I automatically become the primary officer with the TV crew), we go and re-film the initial part you see on TV. So the call is real, but after the call we go back and film the "I love my job because I get to help people, and oh we've just been dispatched to a stolen vehicle". Some things you see are entirely accurate, and some portions of the show are staged.

To the person who asked if we love our job. I certainly do, but I know many who hate the job. My advice for anyone who wants to pursue this career, go and do ride-alongs with your local department and the department you will apply to and see if it is for you. Many people who ride-along with me realize it isn't what you see on TV, and for every 10 minutes of crazy vehicle chase action you may have hours or even entire shifts of essentially being a secretary with a gun. But to the point, I absolutely LOVE my career and could never see myself doing anything different and I've only been a sheriff's deputy for about 3 years. I think it is a wonderful career if you genuinely want to help society *AND* you can maintain effective control of a scene both verbally and physically if needed. "Command presence" has been tossed around in this thread and everyone is correct. This is the most important aspect of being a law enforcement officer, and really many other careers. You can relate it to your every-day life, when you meet people you make first impressions. As an officer arriving on a chaotic scene, the first impression you portray must be professional, confident, and competent.

So the best part of my job is every part, in my opinion. I get to handle a variety of problems and have the responsibility placed upon me to solve them or provide the best remedy possible. The most common call I respond to on a consistent basis (that is law enforcement related) is domestic disputes, and these require me to show compassion and attempt to resolve their problems without destroying the family or their individual lives (contrary to popular belief, we don't want to arrest people if we don't have to). The variety of my work and no call every being the same keeps me on my feet and I try to always be prepared for anything that will be thrown my way.

Cons: lots of paperwork and report writing, but at least in my department almost everything is done on the MDT (laptop) now. Obviously we are dealing with the scum of the earth at times, which can be very dangerous. Since I work in unincorporated Tampa, at times the call volume is very high and I find myself just driving call to call to call all night long which is why my secretary with a gun comment comes from, other deputies call themselves secretary on wheels (show up, investigate, write report, drive to next call and repeat). Doesn't always happen like that, and of course you throw in the violent in-progress crimes into the mix and we certainly have our hands full.

All things considered, it is a very rewarding career for the right people.

I figured you'd have some input like that, thanks. I've been told by family members of officers that 70% of the job is paperwork, but when asking an officer from a neighboring city he said "I'll put it this way: I've had a bank robbery, two assault calls and a pursuit in the last month." Reports are absolutely necessary to document the crime when it comes time to go to court (I got called up for Jury Duty at age 22 so I know how important that really is for a conviction). And I think it will depend on me enjoying the experience I had before I sit to write down the report that determines whether it's for me or not. During my first ride along with my towns F.T.O., we didn't get into any wild car chases, shoot any crack addicts or crack some skulls with a night stick. Instead we talked about the job, why it might be right for me, and experienced day to day activities. In this order we had:

-Building check (Certain buildings in the town request that officers show up every now and then to check for signs of break-ins or trespassing).

-Traffic stop: Speeding. (He showed me step by step how to run a license in the computer, what comes back and what it all means. When I remarked about her previous couple of tickets, and the speed she was going currently, he still decided to be nice and let her go, because it was prom night at the local high school, and she was going to pick up her sister.)

-Traffic stop: Expired tags. (I remarked that the male passenger was moving around a lot, digging for something, while the car failed to stop for a bit. The F.T.O. said that he was probably looking for his I.D. When I told him it was her purse he was ripping through, he jumped out immediately and approached the drivers window. lol He said when he got back that he smelled a heavy scent of perfume in the car that was probably just sprayed. He suspected they had a small amount of drugs but didn't do anything about it.)

At the end of the ride along, I felt as if it had been too short. I take that as a good sign. I'm looking forward to requesting another one with a different department to see how things vary from one area to another.

Edited August 9, 201114 yr by unr3al

I don't think you can do ride-alongs in the UK, especially not now with all the riots in London :(

Well, maybe not a ride along, but you could always play red-rover with the riot walls!

(am kidding)

i is police chief in lapd and i iz also plying lcpdfr :OOOOO

lol, I'd actually like to see a video from a real cop playing LCPD:FR and see how they are actually playing it if it differs from myself and the other gameplay videos. :thumbsup:

I'd actually like to see a video from a real cop playing LCPD:FR and see how they are actually playing it if it differs from myself and the other gameplay videos.

As would I. It would be cool if a police officer made a game play video and posted it, showing how they themselves use the mod. Might give some pointers and tips to some people.

I can probably upload something tomorrow after I get off work. Fraps and 0.95 are not a good combination on my laptop, but I can probably put together a decent video.

I can probably upload something tomorrow after I get off work. Fraps and 0.95 are not a good combination on my laptop, but I can probably put together a decent video.

+1

That would be nice. No pressure though, no one is making you do it.

edit: 500th :P

Edited August 19, 201114 yr by Iconography

What do you want to see in particular? Due to the constraints of GTA there doesn't appear to be much difference in when I play GTA realistically based on how I handle my job real world, compared to videos from others. I'd say the primary difference when I'm playing is how I respond to the various calls. Most times at work when I respond "code" I don't always use my lights or sirens because they tend to make people act funny, so I run fast and just use my lights/sirens to clear intersections or move one or two vehicles.

To be honest, I myself just want to see how you handle various types of circumstances, such as someone burglar robbing someone or a traffic infraction.

I'm in my last year of bachelor in criminology at the university in Belgium Doing my internship this year with the federal police.

Then one year of master to go and then off to the police academy! Hope to become a homicide detective.

In my opinion, and I do know a lot of police models since I learn all about them, the UK model is one of the best in the world. The only let down there is that the regular officers can't carry

weapons. The USA model is also nice, but the problem there is that they are too fond of gun use and the jurisdiction isn't always clear. You have federal(FBI), state, local,...

Btw, for you USA boys out there. Know that the Belgian police used to be trained by Americans in the past. For example our former drug unit which was absorbed later on

in the federal police was thought by your DEA officers ;-)

The only thing Belgium can be proud of in police matters is that we invented the dog units/K9 units. For the non-believers: "Official use of police dogs was recognized as being of value on the European Continent as early as 1859, with the Belgium Police in Ghent using dogs to officially patrol with the night shift."(Wiki)

What would be your ideal police model in the world? And try to be reasonable ;-)

That's because we don't need weapons, as an example take the United States of America they all have guns and look at what a mess it causes. No offence to all the Americans here, just an simple observation.

I don't think you can do ride-alongs in the UK, especially not now with all the riots in London :(

You can certainly do them in England mate, so I'm sure you can do them in Scotland.

Guess its my turn then after reading the 7 pages in this thread and some were very amusing to read. I'm a serving Police Constable (Officer to those who don't know what that is =P) in Britain. Do I enjoy it? HELL YEAH! Its the best job in the world, but I'd also say to those who want to join be prepared to become a bit of an office clark because some of the paperwork especially in England is endless!

Curious what you would call a 'mess' in the US really. The legality of gun laws has allowed many civilians with CCW's to save people in the US, compared to those who buy illegally (in which case chances are they'd still get guns anyways even if it was illegal to have one), not to mention people with household weapons that saved themselves from a home invasion, etc.

Curious what you would call a 'mess' in the US really. The legality of gun laws has allowed many civilians with CCW's to save people in the US, compared to those who buy illegally (in which case chances are they'd still get guns anyways even if it was illegal to have one), not to mention people with household weapons that saved themselves from a home invasion, etc.

I know I should explained that one, ok before anybody mentions "Hollywood Crap" what I'm refering to is the fact that guns are illegal in Britain therefor less likely a Police officer gets shot. I suppose the word "mess" was unfair, what I should have said was it leads to a more dangerous enviroment. I'm not saying for one moment that the States is some crazy place where everyone has a gun and someone gets shot every 5 minutes, put in my opinion I think its a lot safer if not every member of the public is allowed to license a gun. Just to repeat that for anyone else reading this its just my opinion I'm not critising.

Sorry forum doesn't seem to want to let me edit my last post. Yeah but Synapt if those guns weren't in circulation then those homeowners would have no need for the guns that saved them in first place. Although realisticaly now its hard to believe if a law past in the states to allow firearms that it would reduce firearm related crime significantly.

So you're saying that there's really no way at all for criminals to get guns in/into the UK if they REALLY wanted one? Though you're not too far off on the fact that people might get 'shot' often in the US, but you're also talking a country of 313 million people across something like 3.8 million Sq miles, compared to the 62~ million and 94 thousand Sq miles of the UK :P

Always gotta calculate the other statistics

Actually you can legally get a gun in UK for certain purposes.

'Shotguns thus defined are subject to a slightly less rigorous certification process, in theory a UK citizen has a right to own a shotgun, and the Police must prove the person is not suitable to hold a shotgun certificate.'

http://www.shootinguk.co.uk/goshooting/starting/126232/Shotgun_licence__shotgun_certificate_application.html

Actually you can legally get a gun in UK for certain purposes.

'Shotguns thus defined are subject to a slightly less rigorous certification process, in theory a UK citizen has a right to own a shotgun, and the Police must prove the person is not suitable to hold a shotgun certificate.'

http://www.shootingu...pplication.html

Yeah you can also get a license for a .303 rifle under certain conditions. But it is extemely easy to lose your license, i.e. you have a domestic and said partner decides to say you threatend her with said shotgun, there aren't many questions asked you just lose your license and have to surrender your shotgun.