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Hey guys, I am currently in the final phases of the police academy and applying for Ormond Beach PD. I have done a few ride alongs with my dad, a sergeant on the overnight shift over here. But we never got much into the thick of things because he plays a more supervisory role on his shift.
Anyways, I'm making this blog to maybe touch base with anybody that might be considering a job in law enforcement and is in the academy, or maybe didn't know about this program and may be interested in doing something like this.
Although kind of self explanatory, I'll explain what a ride along is. A police ride along is a strictly observational ride along with an officer either randomly picked or by your choosing during a shift. The ride along must be approved before anything. You must sign a waiver basically saying if the shit hits the fan and you are injured/killed provided it was not caused by the negligence of the officer, they are not liable. It is sent up the chain of command to the chief of police who approves it and then you can ride along. Some agencies have restrictions though. Some only allow ride alongs for potential applicants only, and others for those only in the academy, etc. But for the most part if you are sincerely interested you may be able to do one of these!
For me it was a strictly educational experience. I even brought an academy prescribed question sheet so if I were to go on a ride along with an agency I am interested in working for I can ask the officer decent questions that will help me make an informed decision.
10:00pm. Upon my arrival at the agency, I was waiting for the officer I was going to be riding with when he is dispatched to a signal 22, disturbance call. I was hastily given my visitor badge and had to be transported by a back up officer to the scene because my officer, officer warmington was already on scene. I waited anxiously at the front of the PD parking lot when the sergeant for the shift pulled up and greeted me with 'get in the back, kid' via a directional thumb motion.
Get in the back? Ah the front passenger is crammed with police stuff, lol. I squeeze in the back of the police car and they really aren't lieing when they tell you this shit uncomfortable. Didn't want to think about the feeling when you're handcuffed. It was like a plastic mold for a seat, easy to clean/search for prisoner dropped contraband but not comfortable in the slightest. It's unfortunate that police have to resort to using seats like these but it's the nature of the beast I suppose.
We come upon three other police vehicles when the sergeant calls in 10-97 on the radio, arrived on scene. Quickly I realize the calls nature, troubled children causing trouble in the neighborhood. There was a language barrier, the Spanish family's' house was tagged (Spray painted) reading "RAGS" in your stereotypical gang design/style. They must be under the impression this family is from the Middle East or something. These four children are being talked to by other officers and I stayed with them to determine what is going on.
A group of kids pulled up in a mustang and started threatening them, saying they know it was them who egged there house and that they better watch out. Turns out this tagging was an incident prior to this and was brought to the attention of the gang unit who assured them no connection to any known gangs in the area. We got their information and a description of the vehicle. With no sign of the suspects we couldn't really do anything but look out for them driving around. The officer gave them some advice and reassured them he will be on the look out.
That's when I was handed off to officer warmington, a real good guy and an excellent police officer. In his mid 40's, he is a retired officer from Wisconsin having been in everything from the SWAT team to the narcotics division, even homicide detective and back again. A great guy who knows his stuff. We started off the night responding to a 911 hang up call. Dispatch called back and was greeted with an answering machine. Upon arrival at the residence we find a man packing things into a book bag getting ready to leave. We exit the patrol vehicle and the look on the guys face just screams 'ah jeez what the hell did she do?'
We talked to the guy who told us that him and his girl were arguing and he was getting ready to leave. He wasn't just going to let him go though. After receiving his I.D. the officer did a check which yielded no results. After a back up officer arrived he knocked on the door to get the woman to come out. He need to check on her well being and make sure she wasn't hurt. Hell, for all we know she was killed during the 911 call and he was leaving the scene!
Turns out she is okay, explained that she is 'fed up' with him and they need a break. Alright, everything is verbal, he is leaving so no need to make a big deal of things. After staying to make sure he left the backup officer put me on the spot. "So in this call who was the contact and who was the cover officer?". An easy question, my officer was obviously the contact and he arrived during this incident so he was the cover. But it was cool to see the principles we are learning in the academy in action. It really sets in the idea that you aren't just learning these things to pass a test and move on, you are going to be applying these lessons learned everyday on the job.
After that we started driving to a place in town where the residents are complaining of a bunch of speeders. While we are driving there I bust out my handy dandy question sheet and asked a ton of questions, ranging from who supplies my uniforms to the basic questions like how often are over time details allowed. We arrived at the spot and we didn't get any good speeds on any drivers. He took this opportunity to explain to me how they tune the radar. It was quite interesting and was much more simple than I imagined.
He busted out two tuning forks. Each gave a frequency equaling a certain speed. He knocked one and the rader picked up 65 mph. The other, 35mph. Everything in working order! Haha, pretty simple stuff. He has to log that he performed this check at the beginning and end of every shift, but hey it's fun! After that we drive down the main road of his zone, South Atlantic Ave. We were having a conversation about how promotion opportunities work when he just goes silent and looks at oncoming traffic.
"Man this sucker is flying..... wait for it." You can do radar while moving? Wow didn't know that! The driver gets closer and suddenly you hear a tone from the radar as it locks on to the vehicle. It sounds like bombs dropping in a galaga arcade game. Some kind 8-bit tone that goes from noisy static to a clear signal upon sufficient lock on. The driver flew by us and the radar stopped at 55mph. 55mph in a 35mph! "Oooook, this guy's getting a ticket". As we pull a U-turn and activate the emergency lights. He FLOORS the gas to catch up the vehicle. There really is nothing like roaring engine of a crown victoria opening up pedal to the metal. It really gets the adrenaline flowing.
We pull the vehicle over and discover it has six occupants. I had to stay in the vehicle for this. Although you hear all the time on the news about 'routine' traffic stops, but the reality is no stop is routine. You have no idea who you are pulling over and their intentions. I had to stay in for safety and I understood completely. I kept thinking what ifs. What if the driver just learns out and shoots him in the face, driving off tires screeching. What if he smells the odor of marijuana and we need three other police officers to control the situation? What if everyone is drop dead wasted?
I felt confident that I could radio for back up in anything happened. I dedicated a special place in my memory for my officer's call sign and know enough radio protocol as to where I could at least call for back up if my officer was in trouble. Turns out the driver was a black female, taking her buddies out with her for a night on the town. My officer says to me once he returned to his vehicle, "Now I'm pretty laid back. I may pull someone over for ten over the limit and give them a little a finger wave and a tap on the wrist depending on their record. But 55 in a 35 is a blatant violation."
He scratched out the ticket and showed me the ticket amount, $280. Youch. But hey, they would really be saying ouch if they got wrapped around another car going as fast as they were right? They were very cooperative and everything went smoothly. Time passes by and we find ourselves doing what're called CORF cards. Crime Opportunity Report Forms. We skulked around the hotel/motel parking lots looking for things like GPS units, noticeably valuable items that are left out in plain view in the parked vehicle.
It's basically just a card that goes underneath the windshield wipers saying, "Hey we noticed that you got some nice stuff out in the open in your vehicle, it's just itching to be noticed and you could be a victim of a crime." A little food for thought card just to keep people in the know that things do happen and it's prudent to take measures to reduce the likely chances it happens to you.
After stopping some people without lights on their bikes at around 3am, determining they aren't really doing much, and two more traffic stops later, 5am rolls by and there is one hour left of my officer's shift. I'm pretty beat so I ask to call it a night.
Overall it was a great experience! I highly recommend anyone who is interested in law enforcement to see if a local agency offers this service because many do. Wow I've typed all of this already? These MX Blues are such a joy to use  . Didn't expect myself to go on such a tangent but if you took the time to read everything I hope I have given you a good read and informed people of the great opportunity that is a police ride along!
TL;DR : Police ride alongs are a good skill toi have.
 
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I'm majoring in Criminal Justice right now... sounds so exciting ^^
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Does anyone smell bacon?
User was temp banned for this post.
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BUT WAIT! What if he had *SMELLED MARIJAUNA* ??
Like, dude. I don't think you really considered this fully. Imagine the officer walks up the vehicle and he DETECTS THE ODOR OF MARIJUANA. That's a pretty fucking dangerous drug (with plenty of statistics to back it up, mind you). Are you sure only three extra officers would've been enough? I would call in a unit just to be sure I could control those criminals.
User was temp banned for this post.
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On December 19 2011 03:45 Romance_us wrote:
BUT WAIT! What if he had *SMELLED MARIJAUNA* ??
Like, dude. I don't think you really considered this fully. Imagine the officer walks up the vehicle and he DETECTS THE ODOR OF MARIJUANA. That's a pretty fucking dangerous drug (with plenty of statistics to back it up, mind you). Are you sure only three extra officers would've been enough? I would call in a unit just to be sure I could control those criminals.
Not saying it's dangerous, just the fact that there were 6 people in the car. Would need more than one person to handle 6 people!
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On December 19 2011 03:47 UisTehSux wrote:Show nested quote +On December 19 2011 03:45 Romance_us wrote:
BUT WAIT! What if he had *SMELLED MARIJAUNA* ??
Like, dude. I don't think you really considered this fully. Imagine the officer walks up the vehicle and he DETECTS THE ODOR OF MARIJUANA. That's a pretty fucking dangerous drug (with plenty of statistics to back it up, mind you). Are you sure only three extra officers would've been enough? I would call in a unit just to be sure I could control those criminals.
Not saying it's dangerous, just the fact that there were 6 people in the car. Would need more than one person to handle 6 people!
IT IS DANGEROUS DON'T DENY IT
edit: banned. How authoritarian of you 
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My dads been a beat cop for the past 33 years and hes been thinking of retiring really. A couple tips I would give you would be to commute an hour or more to work every day and get a post hopefully in a suburb. My dad says it keeps the job away from home and you won't ever have to worry about your home life being in danger or harassed for arresting one of your kids friends dads.
I find it funny that you would ask when overtime was available. My dad's precinct gets expected to have people on overtime almost nonstop due to a variety of factors. Life when 9/11 happened I didn't see my dad for months beacuse he had to be at the airport and on call. The political conventions are also something that they get called out from all over the place. seniority is a big thing in the cop world as my dad being the longest serving guy on the force (even more then the police chief which might be one of the reasons why hes retiring to avoid being asked to take the job) my dad works at a department that does 6-6 shifts so he gets a lot of days off along with a lot of work. They're not making the crown vics anymore so my dad's department at least is switching to chargers. they're also switching over to a completely computerized way of doing things in my state so they can have a huge cut down in the time for paperwork and just letting computers do it. like scanning his id and putting in the details will just put things though the system instantly instead of getting a ticket for it.
I don't know what you've heard about the changes to non lethal weapons that officers get now but instead of the shotgun's filled with ball bearings they're issuing out (first a bright yellow tazer on the other side of the gun belt that cops are expected to use to draw down with instead of their gun even if it doesn't work on drug users) but my dads getting a painball gun with tear gas balls (they release a puff of tear gas when they burst on someone).
I know you where probably expecting a bunch of trolls but the majority of people you will meet in real life are going to be extremely supportive of they're local cops. I'll make sure to keep an eye on the thread and report people for you.
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On December 19 2011 03:45 Romance_us wrote:
BUT WAIT! What if he had *SMELLED MARIJAUNA* ??
Like, dude. I don't think you really considered this fully. Imagine the officer walks up the vehicle and he DETECTS THE ODOR OF MARIJUANA. That's a pretty fucking dangerous drug (with plenty of statistics to back it up, mind you). Are you sure only three extra officers would've been enough? I would call in a unit just to be sure I could control those criminals.
User was temp banned for this post. Driving while high is dangerous. I've seen it first hand.
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If you want further information about the actual application process and the competitive nature of becoming one, send me a PM. I've gone on many ride alongs and done numerous R.I.D.E. programs as well. I can give a lot of pointers for when you do apply.
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@OP,
I am in the same boat as you. I am 22 years old and have worked 3 years as a Corrections Officer gaining experience in the Law Enforcement field while I attend college. I recently started working just part-time so that I could focus on my studies and get my degree (BA in Psychology and AA in Justice Studies). I have also been on Ride-Alongs with various State, County, and Municipal agencies around the state, and in my home state as well. It's definitely a career of a lifetime (literally) but you have to definitly put the time into getting involved and also have to work hard to stay on the top of your game day in and day out. Being dedicated to the lifestyle is just the first step in the right direction.
~Jitsu
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Very good read, I enjoyed it. What makes this especially interesting is that it's real first hand experience not some TV-bullshit.
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Great read! My friend is very interested in becoming a cop and then working his way up to an intel officer. He is in college right now, any tips on where he should be applying himself? I feel like he doesn't know that next "step" to take. Thanks!
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having always had negative experiences with police, I do not share the same enthusiasm. Being pulled over and asked repeatedly if I've been taking drugs and forced to wait 30 minutes while trying to take a friend back to his house late at night, being pulled over and having police finger their guns while talking to me to try to intimidate me, and then not in my personal experience, watching homeless people being beat to death on camera like rodney king style, and watching 4 police tackle and beat an individual before one of them (white) gets up, pulls away, and takes out his gun and shoots the person on the ground (black) who had his hands behind his back already via the other police on him, and really, police and anyone who likes them have to have the mentality that people who don't have shiny badges are there to be abused as they feel like. in other words, sociopathy.
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On December 19 2011 03:51 sermokala wrote:My dads been a beat cop for the past 33 years and hes been thinking of retiring really. A couple tips I would give you would be to commute an hour or more to work every day and get a post hopefully in a suburb. My dad says it keeps the job away from home and you won't ever have to worry about your home life being in danger or harassed for arresting one of your kids friends dads. I find it funny that you would ask when overtime was available. My dad's precinct gets expected to have people on overtime almost nonstop due to a variety of factors. Life when 9/11 happened I didn't see my dad for months beacuse he had to be at the airport and on call. The political conventions are also something that they get called out from all over the place. seniority is a big thing in the cop world as my dad being the longest serving guy on the force (even more then the police chief which might be one of the reasons why hes retiring to avoid being asked to take the job) my dad works at a department that does 6-6 shifts so he gets a lot of days off along with a lot of work. They're not making the crown vics anymore so my dad's department at least is switching to chargers. they're also switching over to a completely computerized way of doing things in my state so they can have a huge cut down in the time for paperwork and just letting computers do it. like scanning his id and putting in the details will just put things though the system instantly instead of getting a ticket for it. I don't know what you've heard about the changes to non lethal weapons that officers get now but instead of the shotgun's filled with ball bearings they're issuing out (first a bright yellow tazer on the other side of the gun belt that cops are expected to use to draw down with instead of their gun even if it doesn't work on drug users) but my dads getting a painball gun with tear gas balls (they release a puff of tear gas when they burst on someone). I know you where probably expecting a bunch of trolls but the majority of people you will meet in real life are going to be extremely supportive of they're local cops. I'll make sure to keep an eye on the thread and report people for you.
regarding the "work away from home" thing: here you aren't even allowed to work close to your hometown
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I hate cops. I was arrested for DUI when I was completely sober because of an utterly subjective sobriety test. I was arrested and taken back to the station where I blew .0000 into their breathalyzer twice, gave blood and was released. They still tried to prosecute based on the completely subjective sobriety test, ignoring the hard scientific evidence that they themselves collected from me. I hired a former prosecutor as my lawyer who got my case dismissed after one hearing and helped me to sue the officer for harassment. After realizing his life and career was over because of his abusive treatment of honest citizens, he committed suicide to get out of the problems he'd created for himself. Absolutely pathetic. At least in the United States, many (NOT ALL) but many officers have absolutely no care for the actual citizens and care only about their numbers, harassing and arresting honest people who are doing absolutely nothing wrong.
The LEO who arrested me was Officer Kevin Weeks of the Tempe Police Department. Jim Tinker, former Phoenix Prosecutor helped to shut him down and called his case against me "An embarrassment, devoid of any merit or logic".
Don't be one of these guys. After experiences like these, can you really blame honest citizens for not wanting these bullies around?
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Interesting read, thank you!
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This isn't really the thread to tell your story about how you don't like cops. you can take your propaganda about it to the ows thread.
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This is very good article. Im happy to hear an actual account of how it actually is in the force.
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On December 19 2011 06:59 Mr. Nefarious wrote:
I hate cops. I was arrested for DUI when I was completely sober because of an utterly subjective sobriety test. I was arrested and taken back to the station where I blew .0000 into their breathalyzer twice, gave blood and was released. They still tried to prosecute based on the completely subjective sobriety test, ignoring the hard scientific evidence that they themselves collected from me. I hired a former prosecutor as my lawyer who got my case dismissed after one hearing and helped me to sue the officer for harassment. After realizing his life and career was over because of his abusive treatment of honest citizens, he committed suicide to get out of the problems he'd created for himself. Absolutely pathetic. At least in the United States, many (NOT ALL) but many officers have absolutely no care for the actual citizens and care only about their numbers, harassing and arresting honest people who are doing absolutely nothing wrong.
The LEO who arrested me was Officer Kevin Weeks of the Tempe Police Department. Jim Tinker, former Phoenix Prosecutor helped to shut him down and called his case against me "An embarrassment, devoid of any merit or logic".
Don't be one of these guys. After experiences like these, can you really blame honest citizens for not wanting these bullies around?
If find your glorying in the fact that he committed suicide pretty disgusting. I don't think you've promoted your view at all by posting in this thread.
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EPT
