What's your local Police Department like?

[Mark42]

My rural town does not have a police department. We are patrolled by the local State Troopers. They are about 5 minutes from my house, so I see them cruising often.<br /><br />The barracks has camera, 2-way speaker and remote lock release at the bullet proof front door. When you enter the foyer there is a raised front desk behind bulletproof glass. There are some comfortable chairs and coffee table in the foyer. If they unlock the door to let you into the office area, you will see the typical rows of grey metal desks, finger print station and hallway to the lockup. The other door leads to the weight room. Now this is a nice weight room. Fully equipped with various professional pieces of body building equipment. You will not find an officer in the building who is not over 6 ft and built like the Terminator. These guys are huge. And serious. And armed to the teeth. Being located on an exit ramp from I80, they often have chases and shoot outs with the drug runners from NY to PA/OH. I80 is a big drug corridor and they like to keep their 10 mile stretch clean. <br /><br />When I leave for vacation, I fill out a form telling them where I can be reached, who has keys/access to the house, and permission to inspect the property. They do a great job. What they do not like is calls to come mediate a dispute between neighbors because one dog pooped on the neighbor's yard. They take a very dim view of these nuisance calls and let you know it.<br /><br />I have to admit, I like having Troopers as my law enforcement pros rather than a local P/D.

 

[pjc]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

 

[xikxak]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

Mark 42, same story here,only they are 2 min away.I prefer it to local pd also. Dave(NJ, the part with fish,clams and bikini clad women. ha) Dave

 

[one more cast]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

We have the county sheriff dept. They have whats called the citizens patrol. A bunch of retired folks who take turns riding around in the police car with the yellow lights and respond to things like traffic control and lock outs. It is a great program and frees up the officers for more important calls.

 

[JB]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

Of the 35 "official" residents of Whitt, 2 are State Troopers. Both good guys, but their assigned areas are elsewhere.<br /><br />We fall into the jurisdiction of the Parker County Sheriff, but Whitt is in the far NW corner of the county and we don't see Deputies until after something has happened (which isn't very often). Most of the time the Deputies "take over" a situation from local citizens who are alert, assertive, conservative and, if needed, armed.<br /><br />Two examples: Local citizens busted a meth lab and a dealer, then called the Sheriff. Local citizens chased and apprehended a chemically altered young man who had just shotgunned his pregnant wife. Deputies had to rescue the perp from them.<br /><br />Yeah, yeah. I know that isn't the "right" way to deal with those things, but it works.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

The PD I am part of is not huge, it has maybe 12 officers, several detectives, a drug task force, the captain, and the chief. It is a conventional setup, just smaller. Our town of over 8000 people is rapidly expanding, so the need to increase the amount of officers is now apparant. That is why they are aggressively developing their reserve program. The Chief wants to only hire new officers from the reserve pool. That way he knows them, the other officers know them, they have seen them in action. In the past, the reserve program didn't amount to much, but now with the new emphasis on hiring, the reserves now get the same level of training as the full time officers. <br /><br />When I applied for full time 2 years ago, they hired prequalified people over me, but the Chief really liked me. He told me to join the reserves if I want to be full time. I initially dismissed it because I didn't feel I had the time. I was approached several times since then to join the reserves, basicaly told if I join and kick arse, I will get the next opening. With the expansion and several officers retiring or moving on to the county or state, there will be a lot of opportunity to get on full time this year. I decided to bite the bullet and make the sacrifice. I won't have a lot of time for fishin' this year, but thats okay, the fish will still be there.<br /><br />We also have our county Sheriffs department, which is quite large. They are not as polished or squared away as the city (and are not paid as much), but the appeal of county is the vast area there is to operate in as opposed to city. Then there is our state police, which is a good outfit. I wouldn't mind being state, but they like their troopers to have some years of local law enforcement under their belts. There is no Barny Fife action here, thank God. No yokal cops with ill fitting uniforms or any of that. Its all professional here.

 

[Twidget]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

Our area is an example of extremes. <br />The PD for my town(25k pop) is great(with the exeption of the two Chips wannabes). They have excellent response times and seem to be well trained.<br /><br />Little town adjacent to us to the north has the Keystone Kops for their PD. Its sad to say, but that PD seems to be the place they go when no one else will hire them. They specialize in speeding tickets for 3mph over the limit on back roads. No, I didnt say that because the got me, thats just their reputation in the area.

 

[Terry H]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

I remember a few years ago when a rodeo bull escaped from the fairgrounds and wandered the streets. When the local authorities got the call you'd a thought it was "Bonnie & Clyde" all over again. Instead calling on a couple 'o buckaroo's to herd the critter into a trailer or into someones corral, they filled him fulla lead. Before the dust and gunsmoke cleared, there'd been more than 50 shots fired. We are a small town but for some reason we hire patrol folks from places like Los Angeles and Portland. Not much happens, but when something does they make up for the quiet all in short order. Reputation amongst other local enforcement agencies is "Shoot first.....". They pretty much run the show here, but some day we will take it back...I always says.

 

[Terry H]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

One other thing, when I say we have big city cops applying for jobs here, it's the rejects from those departments that come here...I must stay annonamous (sp?) now.

 

[neumanns]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

We contract for 20 hrs patrol per week plus any calls from the neighboring town. There PD is very profesional, curtious, comunity orientated. Odds are if your comming into town a little fast you'll get a wave from the officer just to let ya know. They are very good at using common sense and realize that just cause a ticket could be issued don't mean it should be issued, In my opinion this is the way it should be. I recognize all the local officers and would not hesitate to help any of them on or off duty. Good bunch of guys that still allow things like riding the wheelers through town etc even thought technically not allowed, so long as ya use common sense. I like living where if ya wanna take the 4-wheeler to the hardware store wich requires riding down main street ya can. Hey what can I say, sometimes it's nice to enjoy your toys and where ya live. I hope it stays that way forever...I know a lot of places are no longer that way, even some around here.

 

[12Footer]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

Our local county is sort of "in-flux" at pressent. The Sheriff went to the same church as me, and often played guitar with the chior and band. I voted for this guy, and thought all the rumours about him were pre-election BS hype...There were rumours of favoritism, altering or burying arest records, and other tales of inpropriety. I assumed he was a good Christian,so these rumours had to be lies....turns out, this guy was a REAL butt-monkey. After loosing the election, he refused to meet with the new sherrif, offer any transitional help, and even banned him from the building until the terms changed.<br />It also turns out that most of the rumours were TRUE. He has yet to show his face at church since the elections. It just goes to show ya, you never know what happens behind the scenes and you can never judge a book by it's 'cover'.<br />I'd like to be able to say ours is the only Florida county with such tales of woe, but---The next county to the east of us has elected a former sherrif (two terms earlier), and now that he is back in the big chair, he is cleaning-house of all he figures have "dissed" him. "Revenge is a dish sherrifs should not eat". But hey, that's just the way I see it.<br />I feel sorry for all the good people who will lose thier careers over one clown's pride.

 

[DJ]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

Phoenix and the surounding burbs are desperate for police officers because of the explosive growth. The State (DPS) is desperate too.<br /><br />Because of that situation, the agencies keep stealing employees away from each other. It has caused, from what I hear, a bit of anomosity between the agencies.<br /><br />I have no problems with the local PD. They seem to do a good job. I went on a ride along a while back. Boy, you talk about an experience.

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

Our small city of 26,000 employs about 55 people dressed in " "Blue!!" They work 3 shifts,8am-4, 4- 12pm, 12-8am!!! Over all they are a good bunch of guys!!! The force is starting to take on a bunch of younger men and women!!!! Ninety nine percent of patrols are by car and 2% of foot patrols mainly in the down town area of businesses!!!<br /><br />The police building is about 15years young with a court house on the 2nd floor, a pistol range that can't be used because of poor ventilation!!! The police station is located in the center of the city!!!!

 

[deputydawg]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

My department is small. We have the local city PD. Two officers working 24 hour shifts 3 days one week, 4 the next. They only patrol 8 to 4:30 at night, and after school. Other than that they take calls and we at the Sheriff's Office cover for them when we can. Our county is 5,000 square miles. We cover 8 towns 4 major highways, and about 5,300 regular citizens. One town in the far end of the county has a population of around 300. They have a police chief who doubles as the city street worker, utilities worker, parks department, water department, and fire chief. He doesn't do much, we take care of his town. The local city with the 2 man department has a population of 1100, so not much happens. <br />My department contracts with all 8 towns for law enforcement. We have 3 full time deputies, 3 part time deputies and a handful of reserve deputies. I started the reserve force 2 years ago. Now one of our famous law makers is trying to ban reserves in this state after one gave him a ticket. <br />We are located very close to I-80 which even here is a major drug corridor. 3 of the highways crossing our county have been identified by the DEA as major drug traficking routes.(coulda told them that)<br />We serve a major recreation area, when it rains enough to fill the lake. In the summer months we have many cabins that fill up adding about another 1,000 people to the population. There are usually between 5,000 and 15,000 people at the lake camping, boating and fishing over the summer weekends. Holiday weekends we will see between 20,000 and 25,000 people at the lake.<br />Our response time to tyhe towns we serve is nothing to brag at. We work one man per shift, and the distance is a big pain. It takes a lot of time to get from one end to the other. The county is a square, 25 miles across each way. The state patrol here is not worth talking about either. They specalize in traffic, and never answer any calls. They never get off of the interstate, so we might see a trooper once a month if lucky. I haven't seen a trooper here since October when he came to do a school program.<br />In 2004 we worked 1138 case investigations ranging from attempted homicide to forcible rape all the way down to a dog running loose. We average one meth lab every other month. We are locataed between 3 college towns, and have a lot of rural area. Very popular with meth cooks. <br />We are also a part of a multi jurisdictional drug task force. We get money assistance and manpower assistance for drug investigations. <br />We also use a neighborhood watch, and count on the old hillbilly backwoods justice to help us out. Some things are better that way. A few of our towns solve a lot of their own problems in their own way.

 

[BLU LUNCH]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

I town which I live in about 50k has a excellent PD every officer is well like and well trained. WE ARE PROUD OF THEM!!!!!!!!

 

[BLU LUNCH]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

The town which I work in Newington Ct had a officer killed in the line of duty last week he was shot and held hostage and died of his wounds. The gunman shot himself in the head 14 hours later. Offcier Peter Lavery was answering a domestic call when he was killed,He was a 19 year veteran of Newington PD the funeral is Tuesday. I don't how to post a link but try wfsb-tv3 wtnh-tv8 wvit-tv30 Pray for his soul.......

 

[Bass Man Bruce]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

I have no idea what they're like. I hope it stays that way!

 

[kenimpzoom]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

I never had to deal with the local PD.<br /><br />Recently they got into trouble for giving the officers incentives to write traffic tickets and make arrests.<br /><br />Ken

 

[Sea Six]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

Judging by the arrest reports I read in the paper, I guess our local PD is finding the right bad guys! Our biggest problem seems to be drunk driving tourists

 

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: What's your local Police Department like?

Gee, I think we have a different set up to all of you.<br />Our State is pretty big in area, with only 3, maybe 4 million people.<br />We only have one Police Force. They all go through the same Training School, and are posted throughout the State. They get shifted around for promotion or by personal request.<br />They look after Policing and Traffic.<br />The only person elected to Office is the Minister of Police in the Government. He is a Politian.<br />A neighbour is a Policewoman - real gorgeous too.<br />If you do nothing wrong, you never know them.<br />They do an excellant job.<br />Each State has their own Force and they all work together. There is a Federal Force but you never see them. Not sure what their responsibilities are, although do know they are working in the Solomons and Papua New Guinea at the present.<br />Cheers<br />Phillip