BlueSheepdog
10 Years Experience
Around the Way, FL
Male, 40
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.
see my answer in the follow up question
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Never bothered me.
I think I only had to say something to someone once who was recording me. In that case a pedestrian had been struck by a car and was laying in the road. The pedestrian was significantly injured. Some idiot decided he wanted to film the injured person and me. While distasteful, it isn't illegal. However, when the cell phone video superstar was standing in the roadway blocking the ambulance crew from getting to the injured party, I was happy to escort him to the sidewalk.
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I hope you are not planning a career in law enforcement. Even the lowest of ethical standards require you to do your own homework.
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It depends on the circumstances. For example, if police received a 911 call from a building and the doorman tried to block the officers' entry, he would be arrested for obstruction.
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Obstetrician Gynecologist
Do you find it creepy when men want to go into gynecology?
Stand-Up Comedian
What's your worst bombing story?
Toll Collector
What happens when a car blows past a tollbooth without paying?
You should contact a Maryland police department for information.
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Yes, but only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
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I've not had the chance to observe the dispatch center of a very large agency (such as a NYPD, LAPD, Chicago, etc.) What I've seen in medium sized departments (100-200 officers), you would have a dispatcher on each channel. A single channel might be dedicated to a specific area or precinct, while another might be dedicated to records checks.
So if a department had three precincts, there might be four channels (a dispatcher for each of the three precincts plus one for running warrant checks, license checks, etc.) Then there would be at least one supervisor who would make sure everything is running smooth. There would be call takers (people answering the phones) who might be cross-trained to dispatch.
Typically, there will be extra people available to bring up an extra channel if a special event happened. For example, lets say you had a vehicle accident with a death. The traffic homicide unit plus the officers working that scene might go to an extra channel to work and keep their radio traffic off of the precinct channels.
I hope that helps.
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