Cheating death and fighting communism: that is how a fellow officer once described our job. It was meant to be funny, but as time went on it seemed all too true.
I spent more than ten years in law enforcement, all of it on the street in uniform patrol. I've been a patrol officer, instructor, sergeant and lieutenant.
Do not report crimes here. Nothing here should be considered legal advice. All opinions are my own.
Yes.
Working the road. Where else?
Until you've had to make decisions on when to deploy a dog in a real-life, volatile use-of-force situation, and then justify those decisions to your chain of command, an internal affairs investigation, a city attorney and (probably) a court, how exactly do you figure you will have the credibility to tell others what they need to know?
It's one thing to know the law from reading a book or attending a training class, its another to apply it appropriately in the field. It is a bit like training in the dojo vs. a street fight. Or perhaps a better analogy is the guy sitting on the couch watching a football game who has never stepped onto the field, yet thinks he knows better than the players.
Reality is a harsh, unforgiving mistress. Until you've danced with her a while, you simply don't know what you don't know.
Its possible, but how valuable is that information to the officers? Not terribly valuable probably. The cops either know the names already, or have no way of knowing if the subject being arrested is giving them good info.
A more likely scenario would be the subject provides the officers with very detailed information on the dealers and is given a court date for some time in the future in exchange. Then the officers can determine if the information is good. If so, the officers can appear in court an explain to the judge that the subject was cooperative in an investigation and request favorable treatment of the informant.
One of the functions of a police officer is to enforce traffic laws. So, while on patrol I would be looking for both criminal and traffic vioations. Since most criminals use a vehicle in some way (to get to a crime, to flee a crime, to move stolen property, etc.), making traffic stops will frequently result in the discovery of criminal activity.
I have made major felony cases by stopping people for relatively minor traffic infractions. Folks like Timothy McVeigh, Ted Bundy and others have all been located on traffic stops. I can't tell you how many terrorists, murderers, rapists and others have been arrested after a seemingly small traffic violation.
Starbucks Barista
If a homeless person wants to use your bathroom, are you supposed to stop him?
Personal Stylist & Life Coach
What makes someone qualified to life-coach someone else?
Programmer
Is Mark Zuckerberg really a genius programmer? Or was he just lucky?
Maybe not. If you have been convicted of certain crimes, there isn't much you can do about that. However, without any prior arrests or convictions, you may still be able to obtain employment as a police officer. A solid military record with an honorable discharge (staying in the active reserves is even better) will go a long way to showing you aren't the person that you may have been in the past. The longer the time space between criminal activity and when you apply is better. Also, holding a secret clearance shows you have previously passed a background check, which helps.
You didn't mention if you were speeding. I'd suggest paying the ticket if you were. Other people were speeding worse than I was doesn't generate much sympathy from a judge.
If the trooper was using laser, then you were definitely the person he measured going whatever speed was on the citation. If he/she was using radar, there could be some doubt that an experienced traffic attorney could bring up in trial.
The above is not legal advice, of course.
Did you know that speed is the #1 contributing factor to traffic fatalities?
Unlikely. It would indicate to me that the person overspent on education and might be a poor steward of the department budget.
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