Top 10 Things Cops Don’t Want You to Know, and Everything You Wanted To Know But Were Afraid To Ask
Have you ever seen a police officer, and wanted to ask that burning question you’ve always had, but never found the nerve to ask it? Is there a rumor out there you’ve always heard, but wondered if it was true or just a myth? Well, Hope in the Homeland surveyed over 100 people, and turned over the Top 10 questions to our resident law enforcement official. Below are the most informative (and entertaining) questions and answers.
Question #10: Do cops have monthly quotas for tickets? Am I more prone to getting a ticket at the end of the month to meet monthly quotas?
I often hear people say that police officers are more prone to give tickets towards the end of the month in order to meet their monthly quota. The truth of the matter is that the days of ticket quotas as a means to gauge officer productivity is long gone. In fact, in most states, law enforcement quotas are against the law, and expressly prohibited by policy. This myth came about due to the fact some agencies, more specifically smaller local agencies, are funded by ticket revenue. To combat the tendency for the public to think officers unnecessarily write tickets to fund their departments, some agencies are funded through other sources. For example, the largest state police department in the nation is not funded by ticket revenue, but by motor vehicle registrations fees.
So while there might be some places you are more likely to get a citation, it does not have anything to do with a mad dash at the end of the month to meet a quota.
Question #9: If I get involved in an accident, am I legally required to call the police? If not, what information should I obtain from the other driver.
I get asked this question quite a bit, actually. If someone is injured, unlicensed, or uninsured, I would recommend calling the police to come take a traffic collision report. If only property damage is involved, you are not legally required to contact the police to generate a traffic collision report. If you elect to exchange information with the other driver, as opposed to obtaining a police report, you should obtain, at a minimum, the following information:
- Driver license number
- Driver’s name
- Driver’s date of birth
- Driver’s phone number
- Vehicle license plate number
- Vehicle make, model and color
- Driver’s insurance company and policy number
Question 8: I’ve been pulled over many times and let off with a warning, without the officer even looking at my driving record. I’d expect that experience is very different for people of color. When does an officer give a warning versus a citation? What steps do you take to suppress bias in your decision making?
This question strikes at the very concern the law enforcement industry is currently facing with the public we serve. Let me answer the hard question first. Everyone has personal biases; it is part of being human. Until officers are replaced with robots, departments will continue to go to painstaking efforts to drill into their officers that personal biases shall be checked at the door.
In answering when does an officer give a warning versus a citation, the answer is much more simple. Officers are given an immense amount of discretion when taking enforcement action on infractions (normal traffic rules). The point of traffic enforcement is to modify behavior. It is about encouraging the motoring public to safely operate motor vehicles in hopes to decrease traffic accidents and fatalities. If I can get someone to drive safer with an encouraging discussion, then I will give a warning. If the driver, or the driver’s record, indicates the driver needs a more structured form of encouragement, then I, along with most officers out there, will give a citation.
Question 7: Do crimes in the projects [or low income areas] get as many resources allocated towards solving it as crimes in more affluent areas of a city?
Absolutely yes! It is extremely disheartening to hear political “leaders” suggest that police departments do not take crimes seriously, simply based on the location of the crime. This claim is most often done for personal and political gain. Even more disheartening is that the public, with the assistance of the media, believes this falsehood. Police officers don’t get to choose which crimes to investigate, and which crimes we can file as “unsolved.” In all honesty, it is our goal to solve any crime placed in front of us. If I can link in an earlier question, solving crimes is more of a gauge of an officer’s productivity and ability than the number of citation he or she issues.
Question 6: Is being openly gay in law enforcement difficult? Do gay officers get a hard time from other officers?
Society is changing…and if you are with the right agency, so are they. Most people/officers don’t really care about their co-workers’ sexual preferences any more than they care about if they are right-handed or left-handed. How an officer is treated boils down to their character and abilities on the job. Are they an honest person? Are they an effective officer? Are they a hard worker? Are they willing to lay down their life for the man or woman standing next to them? Those are the questions we use to measure a person’s ability to do this job. Some of the best men and women I have served with over the past 15 years have been openly gay men and women.
Question 5: Do radar detectors even work? Should I spend money on buying one if it will help me get out of a ticket?
Finally, an easy one! Radar detectors work. But so do police radars. By the time the radar detector picks up the radar that has already detected your speed, and your ears have enough time to hear the detector screaming at you, and your brain has enough time to signal your foot to ease off the gas and hit the brakes, the officer has already obtained your speed and is most likely putting the patrol vehicle into drive to catch you. So should you spend money buying one if it could help you from getting a ticket? Nope! Save your money and train yourself to drive slower and safer.
Question 4: Do cops and firefighters get along? I heard there was a bit of a rivalry there.
Cops and Firefighters are like brothers and sisters. When times are good and nothing bad is happening, we enjoy a sibling rivalry that involves jabs, practical jokes, and a bit of hazing. But when times are tough and lives are on the line, there is no one I’d rather trust my life with than a trained firefighter. Have there been instances that have resulted in increased tension between our occupations? Yes. But we both fall under the first responder umbrella, and I’d do anything I could to protect those men and women riding on that annoying, loud red engine.
Question 3: What’s the hardest part about becoming a cop?
No academy can adequately prepare someone for the reality that causes many people to rethink this career choice. Law enforcement is an ugly, toxic, and sometimes heartbreaking business. When one realizes the evil other people are capable of, it becomes a real eye-opener. Learning to embrace the physical and mental dangers associated with police work is often the hardest part of being an officer.
Question 2: Is it true that when an officer discharges his firearm, the objective is to kill? Why don’t officers ever try to merely wound or incapacitate someone that causes a threat?
The short answer is no, a police officer is not trying to kill anyone when they are forced to fire their weapon. Most departmental policies state something similar to the following: an officer is legally authorized to discharge a firearm when confronted with an imminent deadly threat, or to prevent and/or stop a deadly felony.
That being said, shooting is a very precise and accurate activity. We train our entire careers with our sidearm. Moreover, we train to hit the largest part of the target (the torso). Add in a stressful situation, a moving target, background safety, and other variables, shooting accurately is nearly impossible. Aiming for someone’s hand while they hold a deadly weapon, or shooting them in the arm while they charge you with a knife is unrealistic. When an officer shoots someone, they are trying to stop the threat or violent behavior. Unfortunately, death is sometimes the byproduct of that, but is never the goal.
And the most asked question in the survey… With the current feelings towards law enforcement these days, would you do it all over again? How would you feel about one of your children following in your footsteps?
I had to do some serious soul searching for this question. While I realize that the institution of law enforcement is experiencing an enormous amount of strain with several sectors of the public, I did not join this occupation because officers are beloved by all. We sign up to be police officers to make our corner of the world just a little bit safer. It sounds cliché, but believe me when I say this: 99.9% of all officers truly want to make their communities safer…even if that means laying down our lives to attain that goal. So would I do it all over again? In a heartbeat. Do I want my children to follow in my footsteps? Absolutely not! I would rather my children do something much safer, that was less likely to ruin their marriage, and didn’t put them in regular contact with the ugliness of humanity.
If you, your spouse, or your child is thinking of a career in law enforcement, I would encourage you to start your discussion with these responses. Because the reality is there is a percentage of us that do not come home safe at the end of every shift. However, I can say wholeheartedly, no occupation, in my opinion, is quite as rewarding as wearing a badge.
