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 Some Officers Get it: Remember Why You’re Here 
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 Post subject: Some Officers Get it: Remember Why You’re Here
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 9:45 am 
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http://www.lawofficer.com/news-and-arti ... _here.html

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Remember Why You’re Here
[...]
Ol’ Bullethead is extremely lucky. I work in one of the coolest units in police work. We’re a high-profile, multiple-agency unit that does nothing but chase really bad guys. If you didn’t kill someone, rape someone, kidnap someone or hurt a child, we don’t really care about you. We put our time in trying to find the scum of the earth. And, once we get them, it’s nothing but a warrant arrest. You got it right—we rarely write reports, and when we do, they’re short and sweet.

The folks in this unit are all seasoned cops, problem solvers and the go-to guys for our own departments. When the people in this unit aren’t finding super scum, they’re fielding questions from troops needing mentoring and guidance or conducting training at their own agencies.

A short time ago, one of our guys, an 18-year cop, identified a location for someone he was chasing for murder. The team headed out to snatch up this creep. Another guy on the team is a 10-year cop sitting high on the sergeant’s list for his agency.

The creep we were looking for had moved away from the nasty area where he committed his murder to a distant suburb. We set up on the place, and within an hour, we had identified the murderer. Once our plan was in place, we sprung the trap.

I jumped into a car with the 18-year cop. We were the first element of the arrest team, and we were supposed to meet the other element at the target. For the plan to work, we needed to get to the target quickly and at the same time. Of course, let’s not kid ourselves, we ain’t the Blue Angels—a couple seconds one way or the other won’t kill us.

My partner starts flying down residential streets like a NASCAR driver. This is when amateur hour began. We were a block away from the target when a guy stepped off the curb. My partner didn’t even tap the brakes. I’m not sure what he was thinking, but it was probably “I’m important, so move or I’ll run you down.”

Then the law of unintended consequences jumped up and bit us in the ass. As my partner speeds past him, the guy turns and throws a bottle at us and shatters our mirror. Not a reasonable response to speeding, but something that could have been avoided by tapping the brakes.

Now what? My partner is livid because of his “I’m important” complex, but he still has a mission—arresting a murderer. That requires a certain level of concentration, which he no longer has, and now he has something else to deal with.

The arrest of the murderer comes together fine because everyone else was still in the game. So, 18-years goes back to arrest the kid who broke his mirror.

Amateur hour kicks into overdrive. As soon as 18-years snatches the kid up, the family starts coming out and asking questions. Instead of answering them, 18-years goes into defensive mode, telling them to copy his name off of his raid jacket and refusing to answer questions.

Then 10-years cop shows up, and instead of helping me deescalate things, he starts stroking up the family even more, and he ends with a straight challenge to fight the kid’s family.

At this point, ol’ Bullethead has lost all belief that I’m part of a professional organization that’s here to make things better. I’m not in charge of this unit, but I’ve had it, so I start ordering these jackasses into cars and telling them to clear the area.

What’s the point? First, even seasoned cops in a high-profile unit can turn into complete idiots for very little reason. Second, we should remember why we’re here. The important work we were doing that day was overshadowed by the stupid actions of a couple of jackasses. We’ll all have to kill time in court because this kid is going to fight us, and we’ll probably end up in Internal Affairs as well. On top of that, one more family will forever hate cops for nothing more than the ego of one idiot who still doesn’t get that our power comes from the consent of the people.

We can all lose our cool from time to time, but when someone does, the rest of us should help bring things back under control, not pick fights. We’re supposed to be the professionals.

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 9:59 am 
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How about, Proper planning means getting early enough that you DO NOT HAVE DRIVE LIKE A MAD MAN ON A RESIDENTIAL STREET. If you're so professional, plan like it. Every one drive nice and slow, get there without running over the neighbors, and set up your pre arranged layout before you pull up to the guys house. Five patrol cars driving at the normal speed limit will be far less of a warning than five unmark's screetching to a halt from fifty on a suburban street.

I like the guys attitude at the end. but he has the same mind set as the others, he was just thinking that day.....

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 10:03 am 
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1911fan wrote:
How about, Proper planning means getting early enough that you DO NOT HAVE DRIVE LIKE A MAD MAN ON A RESIDENTIAL STREET. If you're so professional, plan like it. Every one drive nice and slow, get there without running over the neighbors, and set up your pre arranged layout before you pull up to the guys house. Five patrol cars driving at the normal speed limit will be far less of a warning than five unmark's screetching to a halt from fifty on a suburban street.

I like the guys attitude at the end. but he has the same mind set as the others, he was just thinking that day.....
Grading on the curve, I'd give him a B. He makes a good witness, but he just sat there like a potted plant while his temporary partner not only drove like an idiot, but aggravated a bad situation; he gets the B because he eventually shut it down.

Now, if I weren't grading on the curve, I'd be asking a few supplemental questions, starting with yours, and probably ending with, "And, well, after you wrote up this guy for his reckless driving and unprofessional conduct, what happened?"

I'm guessing his grade would go down, a lot.

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:04 am 
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I've thought about it, and have dropped his grade. More here.

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:29 am 
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joelr wrote:
I've thought about it, and have dropped his grade. More here.


Did you/can you/would you dare cross-post that to their website?

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 11:21 am 
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bensdad wrote:
joelr wrote:
I've thought about it, and have dropped his grade. More here.


Did you/can you/would you dare cross-post that to their website?
No/no/sure.

That said, sometime tomorrow, I'm likely to send a link to Bullethead, and invite him to respond.

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 2:08 pm 
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The bolded part is a good message, but the rest of the article doesn't support that message completely, if at all.

Standing by and doing nothing, is almost worse than what "18-year" did. The narrator of the story pulls himself out of the mud just a bit near the end when he finally says he told "18-year" to shut his mouth and get out of there.

However, there could be a lot of details left out of the story, spurring me to false conclusions. But, barring that, the cops should set a schedule that doesn't require them to drive like the Dukes of Hazzard to meet at the target on time.

That and only that would have prevented the whole damn thing.

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 2:15 pm 
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EJSG19 wrote:
However, there could be a lot of details left out of the story, spurring me to false conclusions.
Me, too. It's possible that this was time-critical enough that fast driving was necessary; it's possible that Bullethead anonymously dropped a dime on his coworkers; it's possible, etc. etc.

But Occam's Razor cuts pretty well; that's possible, but it's not likely.

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 2:20 pm 
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How he noted the whole affair on his daily report would be the strongest clue to his true professionalism.

What part of "just the facts" do these cops not get?

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 2:30 pm 
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joelr wrote:
EJSG19 wrote:
However, there could be a lot of details left out of the story, spurring me to false conclusions.
Me, too. It's possible that this was time-critical enough that fast driving was necessary; it's possible that Bullethead anonymously dropped a dime on his coworkers; it's possible, etc. etc.

But Occam's Razor cuts pretty well; that's possible, but it's not likely.


Well given this:

If we compare how much time is saved by driving fast, compared to the speed limit it puts the cop's story in perspective. Now I'll spare everyone the 8th grade algebra problem of "two speeding trains coming toward each other, one at 40 mph and the other at 65 mph, when do they meet..."

But this sounds like a residential area. Speed limit we'll say is 30 mph. Assume the trip was 2 miles, at 30 mph it takes you 4 minutes. 60 mph it takes you 2 minutes (not counting stop lights and traffic).

Is 2 minutes such a huge time loss as to make the arrest impossible? I doubt it.

Therefore, on the cop's excuse to drive fast in a neighborhood, I call bullshit.

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 2:48 pm 
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EJSG19 wrote:
Therefore, on the cop's excuse to drive fast in a neighborhood, I call bullshit.

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 3:07 pm 
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Exactly, which is why I posted had they properly planned, arrived on scene early enough to coordinate and then arrived in a calm manner, they would be miles ahead.

If I am a felon on the run, the sound of six cars skidding to a stop in front of my house will get me running way faster than six cars coasting to a stop, with the doors already open, and a quiet bailout and deployment


This is simply of grown med trying to play "SWAT- the movie".

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