Jump to content
SASS Wire Forum

Right, Lady, Go Ahead And Try


Subdeacon Joe

Recommended Posts

18 hours ago, Cyrus Cassidy #45437 said:

 

Cops in every department are different, have different uniforms, different expectations, and different ways to set up the bat belt.  I have known several cops to carry their baton as depicted in that photo, despite the fact that ASP recommends carrying it on the weak side.  Some departments mandate every bat belt be set up exactly the same; others allow the officer to configure it to their liking as long as the leather style matches the department's style.  Cops on the West coast have a culture in which spit polish, starch, and shirt garters are considered absolute necessities.  On the east coast, the sharper your uniform (spit polish, starch, and shirt garters), the more of a rookie you are.  In their mindset, having a worn-out, sloppy looking uniform means you are an experienced officer.  


My department had cargo pants, but a different look than the ones depicted in the picture.  Those were more common with paramedics.  Other times, SWAT teams may be equipped in such a manner; black isn't the only way things are done.  That said, one poster in this thread stated specifically that this was in New York; I'm guessing NYPD's "Emergency Services" unit, aka the SWAT team.  No SWAT officer carries a duty belt loaded down and configured like a patrol cop -- they don't need all those things, and they are encumbered with others.  

 

Here is me on my last day on patrol before retirement, July 16th, 2016...wearing cargo pants.

DSC_0113.jpeg

Hey!  Didn't you give me a ticket back when I lived in Parker?  Green Mazda twin turbo?  J/K!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, Captain Bill Burt said:

Hey!  Didn't you give me a ticket back when I lived in Parker?  Green Mazda twin turbo?  J/K!

 

Probably...we had an illegal ticket quota.  Don't get me wrong, I easily doubled or tripled the minimum number every year, and hitting the minimum was easy just by doing the bare minimum.  Writing traffic tickets in Colorado Springs is like shooting fish in a barrel.  It just irked me that we had a quota to begin with because the Supreme Court has said it's illegal.  That said, my passion was drunk / drugged driving.  I even spent 4 years in a specialized unit where I did nothing but DUIs the entire time.  I made over 1000 DUI arrests , and when I went back to regular patrol kept adding to the number.  

 

I routinely cut breaks to regular work-a-day Joe and Jane Q. Public who were going a little fast or had a tail light out, but if I caught someone driving impaired, I threw the book at them.  I charged every piddly-stupid traffic infraction I could think of.  My record was on a DUI / Hit-and-run / injury / property damage crash where I threw 17 charges at the driver.  Doing that did two things for me:  1-  It gave the DA a plea bargaining tool; i.e. "Plead guilty to the DUI and we'll drop the other 16 charges."  2- It kept my ticket count up so I could afford to give breaks to Joe and Jane Q. Public without missing my quota.  But drunk / stoned drivers can kiss my tartan Scottish arse.  

 

When I was in the DUI Enforcement Unit, I was by de facto a member of the Major Accident Unit, as well.  Any fatal crash, and my job was to process impaired drivers for felony charges.  Most of the drunk drivers I locked up for killing someone will still be in prison when I retire from my second career.  As a result, I carried a grain shovel to pick up all the human body parts after we were done diagramming the scene.  The fire department was kind enough to hose it off for me.  Like I said, drunk / drugged drivers can kiss my tartan Scottish arse.  

 

Now, all that said, I probably spent 5% of my time doing traffic enforcement.  Don't forget I spent the bulk of my career on the southeast side on the midnight shift.  So my life was all guns, drugs, and gangs.  On an average work day I'd pull my gun three times.  I even tangled with the Russian mafia a few times, and had a price on my head by the local 81 St. East Side Hustlers (a Crip gang) and La Familia (a Surreno gang).  When I moved to the northeast side, my assigned sector bordered the southeast division; I literally worked across the street from where I had previously been.  They called me, "ghetto north."  It was the same crap with only a slightly lower body count.  A few years later I moved up to the northwest side, headquartered near the Air Force Academy.  This is the part of town that has the fewest cops, and I had spent most of my career making fun of them for never doing any "real police work."  They assigned me to work the Fillmore corridor -- i.e. guns, drugs, and gangs, although I was on the day shift by then.  So of all the "real police work" being done in that division, I was doing most of if :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.