stalker23 wrote:
This is an interesting topic. I am a "cop" as it is referred to in this forum. I generally like the term "peace officer" but I guess that is apples and oranges at this point.
First a small bio: I served in the ARMY for 8 years and deployed to Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait and Afghanistan. I now work as a Sheriff Deputy in Texas. I can think of nothing more honorable and rewarding than serving my country and the community I now live in.
Since I am exposing myself to this forum I guess I should at least give you all my opinion, even though it could be construed as biased.
The agency I work for prides itself on customer service. The same guy that gave you a ticket for speeding is the same guy that will drag your speeding butt out of the burning car when you crash! Yes I have met some arrogant peace officers however I have seen those same arrogant officers saves lives and put themselves in harms way for complete strangers. Why, because that is what “cops” do.
As far as quotas are concerned I hear this all the time. Each Department is different and I can only speak for Texas. Most agencies only see a very small percentage of citations they write. The rest is distributed to the State for disbursement to the General Revenue Fund and a variety of State Trust Funds and programs, such as: Child Welfare Training, Juvenile Justice and the Additional Court Cost Clearing Trust Fund. The percentage of money received from traffic tickets to be applied to each of the various funds is established by the Legislature. So basically it is of no benefit for a department to write tickets for monetary reasons.
The old saying it only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole tree holds true for law enforcement agencies. It is not a perfect system however without peace officers who would protect you from those that have no morals. Take a look at recent situations with the flooding incident. When a society that does not have any morals believes there are no “cops” around they take everything that is not glued down, assault and rape the innocent and trash the whole city. Now I do not believe the whole country has the same outlook as the area in discussion however it does make one think what the world would be like with no cops.
So in short don’t judge all cops by the few bad apples. Most pride themselves with helping the community they serve and 99% of them would put their lives on the line for you or me if and when the situation calls for it. I have seen it first hand. And the pay, well let’s just say you have to want to be a cop. Most cops I know work two or three side jobs just to make ends meet. So why do they do it? Because of the love for the job.
DISSCLAMIER: for all you lawyers, the statements and views in this message are purely my opinion and do not reflect the policy of any law enforcement agency.
PS. I love this game! What a way to relieve some stress. Although sometimes it creates more stress than I have ever known
Yup agree with you. Including the disclaimer, you've been around the block too.
Thirteen years in the Army.
Work as a peace officer now.
I can personally say I had multiple dealings with a young gentleman for driving too fast in a street legal car. Some time later I was coming in for shift change and there was a multi-car accident with lane blockage and pinned people. I stopped at the scene to see if they needed assistance and here's that young gentleman pinned in the car in the drivers seat with a passenger also pinned. Both are concious and really hurt. I hopped in the car and started talking with the young people to determine injuries and calm them down. The young man begins to go unconcious suffering from some really serious brain trauma on impact. I helped the young man to breath for thirty or so minutes while the cut him out of the car. About a year and a half later the young man is at a social gathering where I'm working as a side job, he walked up to me and began to cry and hugged me and said thank you, you saved my life. I told him that it was all part of the job, and that I was glad he had made such a great recovery. I didn't get any awards, pins, medals or any other recognition other than what that young man said. That was good enough for me.
It's interesting how a CEO, politician (insert what you will) can steal/ embezzle/ lie and dip into company pension funds (also insert what you will here) and after their caught it's no big deal. But then nobody wants to use them as a objects of scorn or as examples. Often times they come back more popular than before. But that's life.
There are some rotten apples in the barrel, as with any other business or organization. Like I tell people, there are jerks where you go to work, school (insert appropriate example) but again that's life. The vast majority of peace officers are hard working caring people who are profesionals at what they do. They do the job because they want to, not because they have to. I personally work about five side jobs for extra money, and took a significant pay cut to start in the field. But it's a rewarding career that I get satisfaction from doing.
My two cents.